Diclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belong to very rich people in Japan. Get your lawyers away from me before I bust out my whip! lol
Chapter Four: Getting To Know You
Chibi-Usa lay on her bed in her dark room at home, staring up at the ceiling in deep thought. It was 12:30 a.m. She should be asleep right now, but she couldn't help but worry about Ami in that world that she had gone to. That plus the fact that she would be alone with only one other decent person in the world to help her against that monster, should it decide to attack, wasn't helping to ease her thoughts.
She wasn't worried that Trunks would hurt her or anything. In fact, she remembered the stories that were told about him and his dead world from her own time. Many of those stories she had just overheard. No-one liked to speak about it. It was just too sad, but the subject did come up once or twice.
When Chibi-Usa had asked her father about it, he'd told her about how good a fighter Trunks was, and what happened to him shortly after he had arrived in their world.
She'd seen some pictures of him when he was around the age he is now, with the others, but for some reason she didn't immediately recognise him when Pluto had shown them those images of his world. She definitely had a blonde moment that day if she didn't know that it was him.
*Flashback*
Everyone was on the floor of the time room, trying to catch their breath. Some were lying down while others were barely managing to sit up straight. Pluto wasn't kidding when she'd said that sending only one person would be an energy strain. Even she was having some trouble standing, and had to lean on her key shaped staff for support.
Slowly everyone had gotten to their feet and changed back into their normal forms. Pluto then used the small amount of energy she had left to make a portal back to the Hikawa Temple. That done she changed back into Setstuna, and slowly followed everyone outside. She would need at least an hour of rest before she had enough energy to go back to the Time Gates in her sailor outfit.
"Everyone come inside and get some tea. You too Setsuna, you'll need your strength to get back to the Time Gates." Rei said while motioning for everyone to follow her. The sun hadn't even set yet, but everyone was so tired they could've collapsed right there on the hard cement, but they still managed to pull themselves to the Temple.
Setsuna was about to follow until Chibi-Usa grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Setsuna, I need to talk to you." She said urgently.
She just gave the small princess a puzzled look. "What do you need to speak to me for?" She asked in that calm and soothing tone only she and her mother could pull off.
Chibi-Usa decided to get to the point quick before the others came back. "When Mercury was going into that portal, she asked what that mans name was, and you said it was Trunks, right?"
"Yes?" Setsuna asked, a sinking feeling that she knew where this conversation was going.
"You didn't mean Trunks Briefs, did you?" She asked almost fearfully.
Setsuna sighed in disappointment. She had hoped that maybe Chibi-Usa wouldn't know about the stories of what happened to Trunks from her own time. "Yes, aino-chan, that's who I was talking about." She said quietly with regret in her voice.
Chibi-Usa slowly lowered her head, the sadness engulfing her. That was a terrible thing to happen to Trunks, and worst of all, Setsuna would have to be the one to do it too. She looked up at the senshi whom she admired so much with pleading eyes, silently begging for her to do something, *anything* she could to change what was to come.
Setsuna caught that look, and shook her head sadly as she knew what the pink haired girl was asking for. She knelt down to bring the young princess's eyes level with her own. "You know about what will happen, and you also know that it *must* happen." She said, regret showing clearly in her voice. "And therefore it is very important that you tell *no-one* about it, and let things go as they were intended. There is *no* way to prevent this. Understand?"
She nodded her head slowly, admitting defeat. Chibi-Usa not only knew about the stories, but she was also fully aware that what happened, *had* to happen. Otherwise, her mother, father and the rest of the senshi would all die before Crystal Tokyo would even exist. Before *she* would even exist, but hope had still not eluded her. Perhaps she could find some tell-tale signs that would allow Crystal Tokyo to exist without sacrificing Trunks.
*End Flashback*
It had only been a few days since then, and Chibi-Usa was still having trouble finding a way to help the situation. Maybe Setsuna was right, but then again, maybe she was wrong. She couldn't know everything. Right?
Frustrated with how things were going, she turned to her side and tried without too much luck to go to sleep.
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Ami and Trunks got along splendidly, but she went back to being the shy timid girl that most people knew her as when she was around Trunks. She was always like that, being shy and *extremely* polite around people she didn't know. Not to mention the fact that her finding out the embarrassing little detail of the sailor transformation still plagued her mind. Whether or not Trunks said they should forget it.
She would have to find a good lie to tell the others about how she had found out that their clothes melted off of them when they transformed, without cluing them in to *how* she found out.
Even though he was almost fully healed, Ami refused to let him leave bed. Trunks tried everything he could think of to get her to stop worrying, but nothing worked. Eventually nature called and he convinced her that it was safe for him to go across the hall and in to the bathroom. He also told her that he would have a bath and change his own bandages so she wouldn't have to.
He knew that she had sponge bathed him from the waist up when he was unconscious, but he didn't tell her that he knew. They'd both suffered enough embarrassment the day before. It was pretty obvious that, that's what she had done considering the bandages on his chest and arms and the fact that his legs were somewhat dirtier and untouched.
Trunks chuckled when he found out. Half out of amusement that she had gotten shy and didn't do it and half out of nervous relief that she *hadn't* done it.
When finished with his bath he headed for the guest room to find that Ami had put a clean change of clothes from his old room on to the bed, along with some new bandage wraps. He could also hear her with his extra sensitive hearing, downstairs trying to make something to eat.
'Man, she thinks of everything.' Trunks thought with a smile. He was glad that she was getting out something to eat. He'd eaten that one bowl of stew yesterday pretty quickly, but it was still only *one* bowl. Being inside of Majin Buu for so long and surviving off of the small amounts of Ki that he would give him didn't help his appetite much once he had some real food for the first time in weeks, and that's pretty amazing considering his Saiyan heritage. Today he was ready to devour an entire heard of elephants.
Once he finished getting dressed and changing his bandages, he decided to go downstairs and help Ami with what she was doing. Trunks didn't feel right about letting her do so much work around his own house (He noticed all the cleaning that was done) just for him, and he didn't want to be a bother either.
Ami was still working in the kitchen. There wasn't to much you could really make out of canned foods that could pass for a decent meal, but it was good enough. It was also a real lucky break that Trunks could use his powers to heat up the food he ate or water for his bath, so she wasn't too worried about what cold food or water would do to his health anymore, and he was recovering faster than she had ever seen anyone in her whole life. She was sure that with all that he was put through, not even Sailor Moon could heal as fast as he was on her own.
Her attention was drawn back to the large dirt pile in the corner. She sighed at the sight of it. 'It's just a stupid dirt pile, and it shouldn't be there anyway.' Thought Ami while trying not to remember all the weird vibes that she got from it. 'I'll just clean it anyway, it's making the room look filthy!' That decide she got out a small garbage bin, broom and dust pan and began to pick it up off of the floor. She was just about to throw the first dust pan full into the garbage until she was stopped.
"Hey, don't do that!" Ami was so startled that she nearly dropped the dust pan she was holding.
She obviously knew who had yelled at her, but she couldn't figure out why he had done it. What had she done wrong? She slowly turned around with the dust pan still in hand, to face a very pale looking Trunks in the door way.
"W-what's wrong, Trunks? What did I do?" She asked, but he didn't answer. Instead he turned his head to face where the rest of the dirt pile was.
Ami was shocked to see tears quickly forming in his eyes, but he wouldn't let them fall. He turned to face her again. "Don't throw that away. You don't know what that is." He clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white at his sides.
Ami didn't know what to do now. What was this stuff? Was it dangerous? Was it some kind of powdered chemical that could hurt her? Still confused, she just carefully put the dust pan on the floor and took a step away from it.
She then looked back up at Trunks, he was looking at the dirt pile again, and his hands were bleeding from digging his nails into them. "H-how could I?" He choked out in barley a whisper. Ami just looked at him in confusion. "How could I forget?" He said to himself the tears running freely down his face now.
Ami slowly walked up to him and made him unclench his fists before putting her hands on his cheeks so that he would look at her. "What's wrong Trunks?" She asked him softly. She was looking up at him directly in the eyes now, and the despair that she saw made her want to cry too.
"One of the monsters that attacked, had the power to turn people into stone." He whispered so low that she could barley hear it. "My mother was one of them." He continued, turning his face away to look at the pile of dirt again. "When I touched her arm she crumbled into to dust." He faced Ami again, and saw the horror written on her face.
"Oh my Kami!" She said, shocked to find that those had been human remains that she nearly threw away into the garbage without a second thought. What was worse, they were the remains of Trunks' mother.
Ami quickly wrapped her arms around him in a hug, trying to comfort him while he wept for his family. They slowly made their way into the living room where they sat on the couch that she had spent the night on. He wasn't making any sounds, but the tears on his face were enough to show his pain. It wasn't fair that this had to happen. Ami didn't get along with her own mother well at all, but if she were to die... she didn't even want to think about that!
She continued to hold him while not knowing what else to do, whispering soothing and comforting words to him. Eventually he hugged her back. This Ami was glad for. It would help him out more if he accepted what she was offering him.
"Thank you." Trunks whispered when he stopped crying about ten minutes later. He was somewhat ashamed to have been crying like that in front of her, but he knew that she would understand him mourning for his mother. Even if he hadn't known her that long. "Anytime, Trunks." She said giving him a comforting smile.
"I need to figure out what to do with her." He said quietly while letting her go.
She thought for a moment about how she could help him. "You can spread her ashes." Ami finally suggested.
His brow came together in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"If there was anyplace that your mother liked to go to in particular, you could spread her ashes there. As a way of letting her spirit be free to be in a place that she loves." She explained, hoping that he would like the idea.
Trunks thought about that for a moment. "I should take her to Chi-Chi's house then." He decided.
Ami looked up at him somewhat confused. "Um... who is Chi-Chi?" She asked.
Trunks smiled lightly at the memory of the woman who was like a second mother to him, always bugging him to study when Gohan wasn't around and always gossiping with his own mother about everything she could in order to get their minds off the Androids. "Chi-Chi was my mothers best friend and wife of Goku, her other good friend and most powerful fighter in the Universe. She lived in a small cottage outside of the Black Forest. We spent a lot of time there when she was still alive and when I wasn't out fighting so much." He explained.
Ami smiled at him warmly. "That sounds like the perfect spot."
**************************************************************
It didn't take long for Trunks to get to Chi-Chi's house with his mothers remains and Mercury riding on his back. What took a long time was the argument that he and Ami had as to whether or not she should go.
Ami argued that he was still a little weak and would need help if Majin Buu were to see him and attack. Trunks argued that he was a better fighter than she was and could take care of himself without her help. She then made a sarcastic remark about how he had managed to escape from Majin Buu's stomach all on his own, and that was it. She won the argument.
Ami went into the other room and changed into Sailor Mercury coming back out with a huge smile on her face for winning. Next they found a fairly average sized plant pot and put Bulma's remains in it.
Trunks smiled, remembering how tightly Mercury had held on to him when he took off. Evidently she was a little afraid of heights. When they got to the small house they were both surprised to find the Black Forest still untouched, with green grass and flowers still growing around the graves of all the Z-senshi.
Chi-Chi had Goku buried (Naturally) near the house in the forest, with a small shrine with the turtle symbol on it. It just seemed natural to put the rest of the fighters to rest here when they all died. Even his father.
When he asked his mother about it, she merely said that the androids preferred to attack places that were more populated, so they left the forest alone unaware that Chi-Chi lived there, and that meant that the graves would safe.
It was only a five, mabe ten minute walk to where they all were, and when they got there Trunks gently spread the ashes neatly over his fathers grave, hoping that's what she would have wanted. He shed a few more tears for his mother, and some for his father. They were together again in Other World at least.
Mercury wanted to say something that would help, but what could she say? What would anyone say that would make it all better? His whole family was dead. What could she do that would take away the pain?
"Um... can I be alone for a few minutes?" Trunks asked quietly.
Mercury looked up at him, surprised for speaking. "Ya, sure." She said while turning around and walking away slowly. She kept only a small distance away in the background where he couldn't see, she wanted to keep him in her sights and make sure that he was ok.
He sat down cross-legged in front of the graves and closed his eyes in meditation, or in prayer, Mercury couldn't tell, and he took in deep breaths to calm himself down. Mercury sighed. He would be fine if she left him alone for a few minutes. She turned to leave him completely alone this time. She wanted to check out the surrounding area anyway.
Trunks let out a sigh of relief when she left. He could sense that she was keeping an eye on him in the shadows, probably to make sure he was ok. Which he wasn't. He was so afraid of embarrassing himself and breaking down in front of her.
His eyes scanned the graves over one by one, and he couldn't help the tears that now flowed freely down his face. He had met them all when he had gone to the past, met his father, his mentor and Goku. They were all alive and well in that other world that his time machine had created, but here they were all dead and gone.
He missed them so much, even if they weren't exactly his family, and now he had failed them completely, in both worlds. What would his father think of him? Would he be ashamed to call him his son with how miserably he'd failed? These thoughts didn't help him out too much, and the tears just came harder.
*******************************************************
Mercury walked around the backyard of the small house. The grass needed to be cut and the bushes trimmed, but it still had the look of a garden that was once so well taken care of that it would put Eden itself to shame. She bent down and carefully took one of the pink roses in her gloved hands and smelled the sweet scent that it gave her.
Suddenly a flash of negativity crossed her senses. She got up quickly and looked around frantically for the source. She traced it back to the air in the distance and she could have fainted! It was Majin Buu! And he was headed straight for them! Mercury wasted no time in running to where she had left Trunks.
"Trunks!" She screamed to quickly get his attention. Trunks heard her scream and immediately got up, quickly wiping his eyes of the tears. 'What could be wrong?' He thought as she ran across the field and towards him.
She was running so fast that she ran right into him before she could stop, nearly knocking him over before he quickly regained his balance. "Majin Buu is heading straight this way!" She yelled, not wasting any time to get to the point.
Trunks gasped in both shock and slight fear when he heard that. How could he have been so stupid? Not only did he *not* hide his Ki on the flight here, but he also wasn't checking to see if Majin Buu was coming at all! The worst part was, was that he didn't even have the strength to give it a good fight. "It's alright, it's ok! I'll fly us out of here!" He said, quickly picking her up and shifting her into the sitting position in his arms before flying as far away as fast as could.
She let out a startled cry, obviously not expecting that, and she held on tight as he flied at what she could've sworn was the very speed of sound.
This time he wasn't stupid. Trunks didn't stop until he had to strain his senses to feel Majin Buu, and that took at least an hour and a half of frantic flying. There was no way that he was going to let anything happen to Ami. He had let everyone else down and he would not let her down too.
When he finally landed he only realized just how weak he still was. Mercury was immediately on her feet while he collapsed to his knees, trying to catch his breath. He then noticed something, his breath was coming out in steam, and there was a small layer of snow under his hands. 'I must've flown us all the way across the Earth!' He thought somewhat embarrassed. Mercury got down on her knees and placed her hands on Trunks's shoulders in concern. "Are you alright, Trunks?"
"Ya, I'm fine." He said between gasps. "Don't worry about me."
Mercury frowned. "I told you that you were still a little weak." She scolded him, her frown quickly becoming a smile. "Bet you're glad you brought me now, huh?"
Trunks couldn't help but laugh at her as she helped him up. He tried to walk on his own, but almost fell right on his face. So he leaned on her a bit to prevent himself from falling over. They both took a look around. They appeared to be in a small village at what looked like the very beginning of winter, and it was more than just a little could out. Especially with the wind. "We're going to need a place to stay until I can get us back to Capsule Corp, Ami." Trunks told her.
She just nodded at him before starting their walk again. They soon passed what looked like an old corner store, and Mercury suggested that they go inside to get something to eat. Trunks was only just reminded of how starving he was, when his stomach started to growl. *Loudly*. They both chuckled at the sound and went inside.
Mercury looked around and picked up a small capsule off one of the shelves and looked at it thoughtfully. She had to wonder what it was since it had a dairy label on it. Trunks had to explain to her what it was when he saw that she was holding it. He was pretty relieved to see it, not knowing if a small store like this would sell food capsules. "That's a dinocap." He began. "They're the items that Capsule Corp used to make. The dinocap that you're holding has lots of food in it."
"Oh, how neat!" Mercury replied excitedly, thinking of the genius it must've taken to create such a thing.
Trunks grabbed a backpack that was on an opposite shelf and they both started to just dump as many dinocaps inside as they could, not really bothering to check the labels as they did so. Mercury slung the backpack around her shoulder when they were done, and they both headed back outside into the biting cold weather.
"We're going to have to find a place with a chimney." Mercury stated a-matter-of- factly.
"Ya I know." Trunks replied, not looking forward to the search and th walk that went with it. Thankfully it only took them about twenty five minutes to find a place. It wasn't small, but it wasn't big either. It was a two story brick house, with the fireplace in the living room, but the heat could go throughout the entire house. They went inside, but Trunks had to break the door lock before he could, and they looked through the place. Only one bedroom out of the three could be used, but there was a couch in the living room that wasn't trashed so he could use that.
"This is perfect." Trunks said, grinning like an idiot. It was then that he realized that he was still wearing his sword, and it was killing his back at the moment. He unclipped it and leant it on the wall in the kitchen. The table in the kitchen was trashed, but the coffee table in the living room could be used.
Trunks used a small amount of Ki to start a fire in the fireplace, careful not to use too much in case Majin Buu sensed it. Mercury then knelt down by the coffee table with Trunks across from her, and got out the bag and started to open up the Dinocaps. She was shocked to see the amount of food that came out, (Mainly sandwiches and juice bottles, her favourite) and even more shocked to see how fast and how *much* Trunks was eating when he started. "I forgot how fast you ate, but I didn't know that you ate this much!" She said in amusement, quickly pulling out another Dinocap for him.
"Sorry, But I need to eat a lot or else I could lose a lot of energy." He said, a fresh blush gracing his cheeks with the embarrassment he felt. "It's just that last night I still wasn't used to the food, so I didn't eat much then." He explained.
"It's alright, Trunks." Mercury said, smiling brightly to show him that it was in fact ok. "Even if we do run out of food there must be more stores around here somewhere."
"Ok then." He smiled, relieved that she didn't think he was a pig. "Oh, and by the way, You get the bedroom and I'll take the couch. The fireplace works in such a way that it will spread heat throughout the entire house, so you don't have to worry about getting cold"
"No, you can take the bed, you're still weak." She said firmly.
"I got a bed last night and I'm feeling much better now, so you can have it." Trunks said not wanting her to win this argument. She was about to say something else but he cut her off. "If you refuse to take the bed then I'll just sleep on the floor, and that can't be to good for my health you know." He said with an evil smirk, knowing that this would win the argument.
Mercury looked at him in the shock that he would do that before that look was replaced with one of annoyance. "Fine, have it your way, but if you get sick it's your own fault!" She scolded lightly.
Trunks grinned at her and Mercury's annoyance immediately left her. She just couldn't stay mad at him. She liked him too much, unknown to her that he liked her a lot too.
To Be Continued........................
A.N: So what do you all think of this so far? Pretty evil with the Chibi-Usa scene huh? Please review this. I will love anyone who does. ^_^
Chapter Four: Getting To Know You
Chibi-Usa lay on her bed in her dark room at home, staring up at the ceiling in deep thought. It was 12:30 a.m. She should be asleep right now, but she couldn't help but worry about Ami in that world that she had gone to. That plus the fact that she would be alone with only one other decent person in the world to help her against that monster, should it decide to attack, wasn't helping to ease her thoughts.
She wasn't worried that Trunks would hurt her or anything. In fact, she remembered the stories that were told about him and his dead world from her own time. Many of those stories she had just overheard. No-one liked to speak about it. It was just too sad, but the subject did come up once or twice.
When Chibi-Usa had asked her father about it, he'd told her about how good a fighter Trunks was, and what happened to him shortly after he had arrived in their world.
She'd seen some pictures of him when he was around the age he is now, with the others, but for some reason she didn't immediately recognise him when Pluto had shown them those images of his world. She definitely had a blonde moment that day if she didn't know that it was him.
*Flashback*
Everyone was on the floor of the time room, trying to catch their breath. Some were lying down while others were barely managing to sit up straight. Pluto wasn't kidding when she'd said that sending only one person would be an energy strain. Even she was having some trouble standing, and had to lean on her key shaped staff for support.
Slowly everyone had gotten to their feet and changed back into their normal forms. Pluto then used the small amount of energy she had left to make a portal back to the Hikawa Temple. That done she changed back into Setstuna, and slowly followed everyone outside. She would need at least an hour of rest before she had enough energy to go back to the Time Gates in her sailor outfit.
"Everyone come inside and get some tea. You too Setsuna, you'll need your strength to get back to the Time Gates." Rei said while motioning for everyone to follow her. The sun hadn't even set yet, but everyone was so tired they could've collapsed right there on the hard cement, but they still managed to pull themselves to the Temple.
Setsuna was about to follow until Chibi-Usa grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Setsuna, I need to talk to you." She said urgently.
She just gave the small princess a puzzled look. "What do you need to speak to me for?" She asked in that calm and soothing tone only she and her mother could pull off.
Chibi-Usa decided to get to the point quick before the others came back. "When Mercury was going into that portal, she asked what that mans name was, and you said it was Trunks, right?"
"Yes?" Setsuna asked, a sinking feeling that she knew where this conversation was going.
"You didn't mean Trunks Briefs, did you?" She asked almost fearfully.
Setsuna sighed in disappointment. She had hoped that maybe Chibi-Usa wouldn't know about the stories of what happened to Trunks from her own time. "Yes, aino-chan, that's who I was talking about." She said quietly with regret in her voice.
Chibi-Usa slowly lowered her head, the sadness engulfing her. That was a terrible thing to happen to Trunks, and worst of all, Setsuna would have to be the one to do it too. She looked up at the senshi whom she admired so much with pleading eyes, silently begging for her to do something, *anything* she could to change what was to come.
Setsuna caught that look, and shook her head sadly as she knew what the pink haired girl was asking for. She knelt down to bring the young princess's eyes level with her own. "You know about what will happen, and you also know that it *must* happen." She said, regret showing clearly in her voice. "And therefore it is very important that you tell *no-one* about it, and let things go as they were intended. There is *no* way to prevent this. Understand?"
She nodded her head slowly, admitting defeat. Chibi-Usa not only knew about the stories, but she was also fully aware that what happened, *had* to happen. Otherwise, her mother, father and the rest of the senshi would all die before Crystal Tokyo would even exist. Before *she* would even exist, but hope had still not eluded her. Perhaps she could find some tell-tale signs that would allow Crystal Tokyo to exist without sacrificing Trunks.
*End Flashback*
It had only been a few days since then, and Chibi-Usa was still having trouble finding a way to help the situation. Maybe Setsuna was right, but then again, maybe she was wrong. She couldn't know everything. Right?
Frustrated with how things were going, she turned to her side and tried without too much luck to go to sleep.
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Ami and Trunks got along splendidly, but she went back to being the shy timid girl that most people knew her as when she was around Trunks. She was always like that, being shy and *extremely* polite around people she didn't know. Not to mention the fact that her finding out the embarrassing little detail of the sailor transformation still plagued her mind. Whether or not Trunks said they should forget it.
She would have to find a good lie to tell the others about how she had found out that their clothes melted off of them when they transformed, without cluing them in to *how* she found out.
Even though he was almost fully healed, Ami refused to let him leave bed. Trunks tried everything he could think of to get her to stop worrying, but nothing worked. Eventually nature called and he convinced her that it was safe for him to go across the hall and in to the bathroom. He also told her that he would have a bath and change his own bandages so she wouldn't have to.
He knew that she had sponge bathed him from the waist up when he was unconscious, but he didn't tell her that he knew. They'd both suffered enough embarrassment the day before. It was pretty obvious that, that's what she had done considering the bandages on his chest and arms and the fact that his legs were somewhat dirtier and untouched.
Trunks chuckled when he found out. Half out of amusement that she had gotten shy and didn't do it and half out of nervous relief that she *hadn't* done it.
When finished with his bath he headed for the guest room to find that Ami had put a clean change of clothes from his old room on to the bed, along with some new bandage wraps. He could also hear her with his extra sensitive hearing, downstairs trying to make something to eat.
'Man, she thinks of everything.' Trunks thought with a smile. He was glad that she was getting out something to eat. He'd eaten that one bowl of stew yesterday pretty quickly, but it was still only *one* bowl. Being inside of Majin Buu for so long and surviving off of the small amounts of Ki that he would give him didn't help his appetite much once he had some real food for the first time in weeks, and that's pretty amazing considering his Saiyan heritage. Today he was ready to devour an entire heard of elephants.
Once he finished getting dressed and changing his bandages, he decided to go downstairs and help Ami with what she was doing. Trunks didn't feel right about letting her do so much work around his own house (He noticed all the cleaning that was done) just for him, and he didn't want to be a bother either.
Ami was still working in the kitchen. There wasn't to much you could really make out of canned foods that could pass for a decent meal, but it was good enough. It was also a real lucky break that Trunks could use his powers to heat up the food he ate or water for his bath, so she wasn't too worried about what cold food or water would do to his health anymore, and he was recovering faster than she had ever seen anyone in her whole life. She was sure that with all that he was put through, not even Sailor Moon could heal as fast as he was on her own.
Her attention was drawn back to the large dirt pile in the corner. She sighed at the sight of it. 'It's just a stupid dirt pile, and it shouldn't be there anyway.' Thought Ami while trying not to remember all the weird vibes that she got from it. 'I'll just clean it anyway, it's making the room look filthy!' That decide she got out a small garbage bin, broom and dust pan and began to pick it up off of the floor. She was just about to throw the first dust pan full into the garbage until she was stopped.
"Hey, don't do that!" Ami was so startled that she nearly dropped the dust pan she was holding.
She obviously knew who had yelled at her, but she couldn't figure out why he had done it. What had she done wrong? She slowly turned around with the dust pan still in hand, to face a very pale looking Trunks in the door way.
"W-what's wrong, Trunks? What did I do?" She asked, but he didn't answer. Instead he turned his head to face where the rest of the dirt pile was.
Ami was shocked to see tears quickly forming in his eyes, but he wouldn't let them fall. He turned to face her again. "Don't throw that away. You don't know what that is." He clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white at his sides.
Ami didn't know what to do now. What was this stuff? Was it dangerous? Was it some kind of powdered chemical that could hurt her? Still confused, she just carefully put the dust pan on the floor and took a step away from it.
She then looked back up at Trunks, he was looking at the dirt pile again, and his hands were bleeding from digging his nails into them. "H-how could I?" He choked out in barley a whisper. Ami just looked at him in confusion. "How could I forget?" He said to himself the tears running freely down his face now.
Ami slowly walked up to him and made him unclench his fists before putting her hands on his cheeks so that he would look at her. "What's wrong Trunks?" She asked him softly. She was looking up at him directly in the eyes now, and the despair that she saw made her want to cry too.
"One of the monsters that attacked, had the power to turn people into stone." He whispered so low that she could barley hear it. "My mother was one of them." He continued, turning his face away to look at the pile of dirt again. "When I touched her arm she crumbled into to dust." He faced Ami again, and saw the horror written on her face.
"Oh my Kami!" She said, shocked to find that those had been human remains that she nearly threw away into the garbage without a second thought. What was worse, they were the remains of Trunks' mother.
Ami quickly wrapped her arms around him in a hug, trying to comfort him while he wept for his family. They slowly made their way into the living room where they sat on the couch that she had spent the night on. He wasn't making any sounds, but the tears on his face were enough to show his pain. It wasn't fair that this had to happen. Ami didn't get along with her own mother well at all, but if she were to die... she didn't even want to think about that!
She continued to hold him while not knowing what else to do, whispering soothing and comforting words to him. Eventually he hugged her back. This Ami was glad for. It would help him out more if he accepted what she was offering him.
"Thank you." Trunks whispered when he stopped crying about ten minutes later. He was somewhat ashamed to have been crying like that in front of her, but he knew that she would understand him mourning for his mother. Even if he hadn't known her that long. "Anytime, Trunks." She said giving him a comforting smile.
"I need to figure out what to do with her." He said quietly while letting her go.
She thought for a moment about how she could help him. "You can spread her ashes." Ami finally suggested.
His brow came together in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"If there was anyplace that your mother liked to go to in particular, you could spread her ashes there. As a way of letting her spirit be free to be in a place that she loves." She explained, hoping that he would like the idea.
Trunks thought about that for a moment. "I should take her to Chi-Chi's house then." He decided.
Ami looked up at him somewhat confused. "Um... who is Chi-Chi?" She asked.
Trunks smiled lightly at the memory of the woman who was like a second mother to him, always bugging him to study when Gohan wasn't around and always gossiping with his own mother about everything she could in order to get their minds off the Androids. "Chi-Chi was my mothers best friend and wife of Goku, her other good friend and most powerful fighter in the Universe. She lived in a small cottage outside of the Black Forest. We spent a lot of time there when she was still alive and when I wasn't out fighting so much." He explained.
Ami smiled at him warmly. "That sounds like the perfect spot."
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It didn't take long for Trunks to get to Chi-Chi's house with his mothers remains and Mercury riding on his back. What took a long time was the argument that he and Ami had as to whether or not she should go.
Ami argued that he was still a little weak and would need help if Majin Buu were to see him and attack. Trunks argued that he was a better fighter than she was and could take care of himself without her help. She then made a sarcastic remark about how he had managed to escape from Majin Buu's stomach all on his own, and that was it. She won the argument.
Ami went into the other room and changed into Sailor Mercury coming back out with a huge smile on her face for winning. Next they found a fairly average sized plant pot and put Bulma's remains in it.
Trunks smiled, remembering how tightly Mercury had held on to him when he took off. Evidently she was a little afraid of heights. When they got to the small house they were both surprised to find the Black Forest still untouched, with green grass and flowers still growing around the graves of all the Z-senshi.
Chi-Chi had Goku buried (Naturally) near the house in the forest, with a small shrine with the turtle symbol on it. It just seemed natural to put the rest of the fighters to rest here when they all died. Even his father.
When he asked his mother about it, she merely said that the androids preferred to attack places that were more populated, so they left the forest alone unaware that Chi-Chi lived there, and that meant that the graves would safe.
It was only a five, mabe ten minute walk to where they all were, and when they got there Trunks gently spread the ashes neatly over his fathers grave, hoping that's what she would have wanted. He shed a few more tears for his mother, and some for his father. They were together again in Other World at least.
Mercury wanted to say something that would help, but what could she say? What would anyone say that would make it all better? His whole family was dead. What could she do that would take away the pain?
"Um... can I be alone for a few minutes?" Trunks asked quietly.
Mercury looked up at him, surprised for speaking. "Ya, sure." She said while turning around and walking away slowly. She kept only a small distance away in the background where he couldn't see, she wanted to keep him in her sights and make sure that he was ok.
He sat down cross-legged in front of the graves and closed his eyes in meditation, or in prayer, Mercury couldn't tell, and he took in deep breaths to calm himself down. Mercury sighed. He would be fine if she left him alone for a few minutes. She turned to leave him completely alone this time. She wanted to check out the surrounding area anyway.
Trunks let out a sigh of relief when she left. He could sense that she was keeping an eye on him in the shadows, probably to make sure he was ok. Which he wasn't. He was so afraid of embarrassing himself and breaking down in front of her.
His eyes scanned the graves over one by one, and he couldn't help the tears that now flowed freely down his face. He had met them all when he had gone to the past, met his father, his mentor and Goku. They were all alive and well in that other world that his time machine had created, but here they were all dead and gone.
He missed them so much, even if they weren't exactly his family, and now he had failed them completely, in both worlds. What would his father think of him? Would he be ashamed to call him his son with how miserably he'd failed? These thoughts didn't help him out too much, and the tears just came harder.
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Mercury walked around the backyard of the small house. The grass needed to be cut and the bushes trimmed, but it still had the look of a garden that was once so well taken care of that it would put Eden itself to shame. She bent down and carefully took one of the pink roses in her gloved hands and smelled the sweet scent that it gave her.
Suddenly a flash of negativity crossed her senses. She got up quickly and looked around frantically for the source. She traced it back to the air in the distance and she could have fainted! It was Majin Buu! And he was headed straight for them! Mercury wasted no time in running to where she had left Trunks.
"Trunks!" She screamed to quickly get his attention. Trunks heard her scream and immediately got up, quickly wiping his eyes of the tears. 'What could be wrong?' He thought as she ran across the field and towards him.
She was running so fast that she ran right into him before she could stop, nearly knocking him over before he quickly regained his balance. "Majin Buu is heading straight this way!" She yelled, not wasting any time to get to the point.
Trunks gasped in both shock and slight fear when he heard that. How could he have been so stupid? Not only did he *not* hide his Ki on the flight here, but he also wasn't checking to see if Majin Buu was coming at all! The worst part was, was that he didn't even have the strength to give it a good fight. "It's alright, it's ok! I'll fly us out of here!" He said, quickly picking her up and shifting her into the sitting position in his arms before flying as far away as fast as could.
She let out a startled cry, obviously not expecting that, and she held on tight as he flied at what she could've sworn was the very speed of sound.
This time he wasn't stupid. Trunks didn't stop until he had to strain his senses to feel Majin Buu, and that took at least an hour and a half of frantic flying. There was no way that he was going to let anything happen to Ami. He had let everyone else down and he would not let her down too.
When he finally landed he only realized just how weak he still was. Mercury was immediately on her feet while he collapsed to his knees, trying to catch his breath. He then noticed something, his breath was coming out in steam, and there was a small layer of snow under his hands. 'I must've flown us all the way across the Earth!' He thought somewhat embarrassed. Mercury got down on her knees and placed her hands on Trunks's shoulders in concern. "Are you alright, Trunks?"
"Ya, I'm fine." He said between gasps. "Don't worry about me."
Mercury frowned. "I told you that you were still a little weak." She scolded him, her frown quickly becoming a smile. "Bet you're glad you brought me now, huh?"
Trunks couldn't help but laugh at her as she helped him up. He tried to walk on his own, but almost fell right on his face. So he leaned on her a bit to prevent himself from falling over. They both took a look around. They appeared to be in a small village at what looked like the very beginning of winter, and it was more than just a little could out. Especially with the wind. "We're going to need a place to stay until I can get us back to Capsule Corp, Ami." Trunks told her.
She just nodded at him before starting their walk again. They soon passed what looked like an old corner store, and Mercury suggested that they go inside to get something to eat. Trunks was only just reminded of how starving he was, when his stomach started to growl. *Loudly*. They both chuckled at the sound and went inside.
Mercury looked around and picked up a small capsule off one of the shelves and looked at it thoughtfully. She had to wonder what it was since it had a dairy label on it. Trunks had to explain to her what it was when he saw that she was holding it. He was pretty relieved to see it, not knowing if a small store like this would sell food capsules. "That's a dinocap." He began. "They're the items that Capsule Corp used to make. The dinocap that you're holding has lots of food in it."
"Oh, how neat!" Mercury replied excitedly, thinking of the genius it must've taken to create such a thing.
Trunks grabbed a backpack that was on an opposite shelf and they both started to just dump as many dinocaps inside as they could, not really bothering to check the labels as they did so. Mercury slung the backpack around her shoulder when they were done, and they both headed back outside into the biting cold weather.
"We're going to have to find a place with a chimney." Mercury stated a-matter-of- factly.
"Ya I know." Trunks replied, not looking forward to the search and th walk that went with it. Thankfully it only took them about twenty five minutes to find a place. It wasn't small, but it wasn't big either. It was a two story brick house, with the fireplace in the living room, but the heat could go throughout the entire house. They went inside, but Trunks had to break the door lock before he could, and they looked through the place. Only one bedroom out of the three could be used, but there was a couch in the living room that wasn't trashed so he could use that.
"This is perfect." Trunks said, grinning like an idiot. It was then that he realized that he was still wearing his sword, and it was killing his back at the moment. He unclipped it and leant it on the wall in the kitchen. The table in the kitchen was trashed, but the coffee table in the living room could be used.
Trunks used a small amount of Ki to start a fire in the fireplace, careful not to use too much in case Majin Buu sensed it. Mercury then knelt down by the coffee table with Trunks across from her, and got out the bag and started to open up the Dinocaps. She was shocked to see the amount of food that came out, (Mainly sandwiches and juice bottles, her favourite) and even more shocked to see how fast and how *much* Trunks was eating when he started. "I forgot how fast you ate, but I didn't know that you ate this much!" She said in amusement, quickly pulling out another Dinocap for him.
"Sorry, But I need to eat a lot or else I could lose a lot of energy." He said, a fresh blush gracing his cheeks with the embarrassment he felt. "It's just that last night I still wasn't used to the food, so I didn't eat much then." He explained.
"It's alright, Trunks." Mercury said, smiling brightly to show him that it was in fact ok. "Even if we do run out of food there must be more stores around here somewhere."
"Ok then." He smiled, relieved that she didn't think he was a pig. "Oh, and by the way, You get the bedroom and I'll take the couch. The fireplace works in such a way that it will spread heat throughout the entire house, so you don't have to worry about getting cold"
"No, you can take the bed, you're still weak." She said firmly.
"I got a bed last night and I'm feeling much better now, so you can have it." Trunks said not wanting her to win this argument. She was about to say something else but he cut her off. "If you refuse to take the bed then I'll just sleep on the floor, and that can't be to good for my health you know." He said with an evil smirk, knowing that this would win the argument.
Mercury looked at him in the shock that he would do that before that look was replaced with one of annoyance. "Fine, have it your way, but if you get sick it's your own fault!" She scolded lightly.
Trunks grinned at her and Mercury's annoyance immediately left her. She just couldn't stay mad at him. She liked him too much, unknown to her that he liked her a lot too.
To Be Continued........................
A.N: So what do you all think of this so far? Pretty evil with the Chibi-Usa scene huh? Please review this. I will love anyone who does. ^_^