5. Broken Friendship
Juuhachigou flew through the air. Her eyes were searching for Qiana. Never did she really know where Trunks lived, so she had no clue where she could begin her search. Therefore she made a deal with the girl. Once Qiana had finished her part of the plan, both she and Juuhachigou would meet at the cave outside the village. Qiana would come to collect what was now hers.
Juuhachigou flew to the deserted area. She hovered above the cave where they were suppose to meet, but didn't see Qiana anywhere. "Damn girl, you'd better hurry." she said very much annoyed.
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Qiana walked through the hall, in the hope of finding Trunks. But when she had searched the whole house and there wasn't any sign of him, she started to wonder where else he could be. She decided to sit in the living room, reading a book or something, waiting for him to get back. But when she was there, she saw a woman sitting in one of the chairs.
"Well, hello." the woman said. "You must be Qiana. I'm Trunks' mother, Bulma."
"Yes, hi." Qiana wasn't pleased to see her. She wanted herself and Trunks to be the only ones in the house.
"So, tell me something about yourself." Bulma said and pointed her a seat opposite herself.
"What do you want to know?" Qiana sat down with a sigh.
"How did you survive the androids?"
"They thought I was dead, but they were wrong." Qiana lied. Sure, the blood was real, and hers, but the androids never intended to kill her when they needed her. Her wounds were necessary, it had to be real or else Trunks would never fall for it.
"You're lucky you made it." Bulma said.
"Yes, yes I am." Qiana thought about how rich she was gonna be when she finally had the diamond in her possession. So what if it was small? It was still worth a fortune, especially now that everyone else was broke. She smiled.
"So, what's the deal between you and...?" Bulma got interrupted
"Deal? What do you know about that?!" Qiana thought she was busted. How could a woman she'd never even seen before know about the deal she made with the androids?!
"Trunks can't hide any secrets from me." Bulma smiled.
"Trunks knows too?" Qiana's eyes widened in disbelief. She hid it so well, but they both seemed to know. How?
"Well, yes silly. I know about you and Trunks."
"...?!" Qiana got confused. "Excuse me?"
"You two are dating, are you not?" Bulma asked.
Qiana knew what was going on. Bulma never asked about her deal with the androids. Bulma was simply curious about her relationship with Trunks. "I wouldn't call it dating." Qiana replied.
"Well, I asked Trunks and he said the same thing. Sort of." Bulma informed Qiana. "But then, what would you call it?"
"I don't know."
"You do love him, right?" Bulma asked strictly. She wouldn't want her one and only son to get hurt by a girl who didn't even love him.
"Yes, of course I do!" Qiana was quick to answer.
"But...?" Bulma knew there was a 'but'. She just knew it.
Qiana was very much interested in ending this conversation. "So, where is Trunks, anyway?" she tried.
"I heard about what happened with Leela and I convinced him to find her."
"You what?" Qiana questioned. Bulma was ruining her plans!
"I was worried. I asked Trunks if he knew where she was. He said he couldn't even sense her anymore, so he went out to find her. I hope nothing bad has happened."
"Right." Qiana stood up, which made Bulma wonder. "I mean, me too. Poor Leela. Maybe I should try and find her as well. Two is better than one." she hurried out the room. I must get the diamond before they figure me out. she thought.-
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Leela opened her eyes. She saw Juunanagou with his back turned to her. Surprisingly Leela no longer felt the dizziness. She crawled to the android slowly, making absolutely no sound. As soon as she got too him she raised her arm and hit him on his back. It should have knocked him out, but it didn't. He did fell down and he saw Leela attempting to leave. He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him.
"You're not going anywhere." he hissed and pushed her to the floor, holding her down by her wrists.
"Get off me!" Leela called and struggled, but it seemed to be in vain. She thought she would be completely recovered by now, but that thought seemed to be all wrong. She didn't have all of her strength back yet. All because of her memories. Did they really drain so much of her energy? But why? Every time she sought deeper in her mind, all she felt was pain and all she received was blur and loose scenes. As if someone didn't want her to know. If Leela want to get all of her energy back, she knew she should not think of the memories she could not reach anyway. It was some sort of a warning for her to stay away from her past.
"Stop struggling, girl. You can't win." Juunanagou had a grin on his face.
Leela scowled at him. "Let me go." she demanded. "What more do you want from me?!"
"Have you made up your mind about the 'stay or leave request'?" Juunanagou asked her.
"Yes, I'll stay, but not with you." she answered.
"Wrong answer." he hissed.
"Trunks will find me." she suddenly said. She felt stupid saying that. As if she couldn't take care of herself. Besides, Trunks and she were no longer friends, right?
"Did you forget who killed you and your brother? That was Trunks, not me."
"Stop it." she said. Juunanagou forced her to remember, but it hurt too badly.
"Dammit Leela! Stop struggling!" Juunanagou let one wrist go and slapped her across her cheek. He grabbed her wrist again.
"Aw." Leela groaned. Juunanagou didn't hit hard, but just enough to keep her from struggling. She looked up in his eyes again, just to let him know she didn't fear him.
"Now, you know what happened. Then why are you still fighting the truth?"
"I'm not, I know damn well what the truth is, Juunanagou." she answered tough.
"Then tell me. What is it?"
"Why? You know it."
"I want to hear it from you."
"It was you."
"You know that's not true." Juunanagou sighed. "Now tell it right, or else..."
Leela didn't want to look into her blocked memories again. It was no use. She would never know. It was all so confusing. "Or else what? You're gonna finish your sentence?" she said in annoyance.
"Funny, I almost laughed. Now give me the answer." he demanded.
Leela thought about what Juunanagou had said before he knocked her out and simply repeated that: "Trunks killed me and my brother. My two creators found me and they fixed me."
"Good. You wanna know something? Those creators of yours, they didn't even do their best."
"I don't follow you." Leela said.
"They were in such hurry to finish you that they forgot to give you eternal energy. You see, you can get tired. We, on the other hand, can't. Juuhachigou and I can keep a fight going until the end of time. You need to rest. Pretty inconvenient, if you ask me."
"First of all, I'm not asking you. Second of all, yes that is inconvenient. Now would you please get of me so I can kick your ass and run away from you as far as possible? Seeing you from up close really freaks me out."
"Kick my ass? You think you are capable of doing that now you can't even get yourself free from my grip?"
"That's why I added: get off me first."
"Maybe if you ask me nicely I'll consider it."
"... Fine! Will you PLEASE get off me?" she tried again.
"Sure, but I have to knock you out again. I wouldn't want you to go away."
"Okay, knock me out. All is better than seeing your face in close-up."
"We share the same view. You're not so pretty yourself, you know."
"Does that mean you consider yourself 'not so pretty' either?" Leela smirked.
"What? No." Juunanagou noticed he'd just insulted himself. "That's not what I meant."
"But you said we share the same view and directly after that you told me I wasn't pretty. Now, that sounds to me like you're saying you don't find yourself pretty."
"Fine, I take it back."
"Does that mean you think I am pretty?"
"You are infuriating. And no, it doesn't. But it does mean that I think that I am." Juunanagou bragged. He let one of her wrists go, only to stroke his hand through his black hair once; big mistake. Leela saw the opportunity to push him off of her. She placed her free hand on his chest and shot a small energy-ball. Juunanagou got swung back, fell with his head against the wall and got knocked unconscious.
Leela wanted to fly away but in order to save some of her energy, she decided to run, while hiding her power-level. Where would she go?
Leela slowed down when she was far away from Juunanagou. Just when she thought that there would never come an end to the trees surrounding her, she left the forest. "Finally." she sighed and looked around, her eyes searching. Which direction should she go? Then she saw something flying in the air...she recognized it; Juuhachigou! What was she doing over there?
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Juuhachigou was still waiting. The longer she waited the more impatient she got. At last! She saw a small dot coming her way. It was what she expected it to be. She landed in front of Qiana.
"What took you so long, girl?" Juuhachigou demanded. "I was about to leave."
"I'm sorry..." Qiana said panting. She ran most of the way to the cave. "I had to get someone off my back first."
"Well, now that you're here, we better finish our deal."
"I take it you have the diamond?" Qiana assumed.
"Don't dare to talk to me like that." Juuhachigou's eyes were spitting fire.
"I'm sorry." Qiana quickly said.
"Well, you got Leela out of our way. But we have no further use for you."
"And poor Trunks, he actually thinks I love him. What a fool." Qiana laughed. "Well then, I'll be out of the way when you have given me what I deserve." Qiana said. She couldn't wait any longer, she desired the diamond. She smiled when she thought about herself being so rich, she was able to buy a country, and the first thing she was gonna do with it, is name the country after herself.
"Sure, I'll give you what you deserve." Juuhachigou made a small light appear on top of her finger.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Qiana's eyes were locked on the pink light. Juuhachigou's finger was aimed at her.
"Getting rid of you." Juuhachigou replied.
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"What the...? What is SHE doing there?" Leela saw Qiana talking to Juuhachigou. For a while Leela did nothing but stare at the two standing far from her. But then she saw that Juuhachigou was planning on murdering Qiana. She knew that if she would help, she would probably get killed herself, now that she wasn't on her fullest strength. Then she thought of Trunks. He obviously liked the girl. Leela noticed that when she was still welcome in the house. Qiana was about to die and Trunks would be left heartbroken. No, Leela forced herself to save Qiana.
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"But I..." Qiana stammered out. "I helped you guys. You can't kill me. Please?" she never felt so scared. She looked around her to see if there was something to defend herself with, but couldn't find anything.
"Goodbye girl." Juuhachigou said. She was about to release the pink light upon Qiana when she got kicked in her side hard. Juuhachigou had fired. The aim got messed up. The Ki was supposed to go through Qiana's head; instead it went through her chest. Leela was too late.
"You?!" Juuhachigou called out surprised. "Look what you've done to my aim! It was a clear shot but you came along and blew it. Where the hell did you come from anyway?! Juunanagou..." she got interrupted.
"Juunanagou is sleeping." Leela said.
"What?"
"You heard me. He's down and out."
"But how..?" she got interrupted once more.
"I got my strength back." she lied and kept going. "I am even stronger now. Do you wish to find out?"
"Let's go." Juuhachigou said.
"..." Leela didn't expect her to say that. She wasn't at all stronger. She wasn't even half as powerful as she usually was. This was a fight Juuhachigou was sure to win. But suddenly both sensed Trunks' power-level. He was coming this way.
"We'll finish this another time. Alone." Juuhachigou hissed and fled.
Leela stepped over to Qiana. She squatted beside her. "Qiana? Hold on." she said, trying to comfort the wounded girl. "Trunks will be here any moment."
"...Lee..." Qiana tried. She breathed heavily. "I hate you."
"I hate you too, but you have to hang in there. If not for me, than do it for Trunks. The guy practically loves you."
"He already does...we kissed." she smirked.
"How nice for you." Leela couldn't find a better answer. She didn't care if they kissed or not.
"Leela?" Trunks landed behind her. She stood up, revealing Qiana. "Qiana..." he said shocked, then pushed Leela aside and kneeled beside Qiana. "Qiana, talk to me. Who did this?"
"Trunks..." Qiana smiled and laid her hand across his cheek. "I love you." she lied.
"Who did this?" he tried again. Qiana looked at Leela. It was enough for Trunks to know that Qiana was blaming Leela. Trunks' eyes got wider in astonishment. He looked at her for a second but his attention drew back to Qiana. She took her last breath. "Qiana." he whispered and closed her eyes.
"Is she...?" Leela didn't get the chance to finish.
Trunks stood up and turned around. "How could you do this?!" he shouted at her.
Leela could see his eyes, they were filled with anger. "I didn't. It was Juuhachigou. She and Qiana..."
"Don't lie to me! You've hated Qiana from the very first beginning!" Trunks approached her in a threatening manner.
"No, honestly. I..." Leela felt herself tremble as Trunks came closer. She stepped back. The fear for him which she used to feel before came back. Then it hit her, she knew now why she feared him before. Juunanagou must have been right. Trunks really was the one who killed her and her brother. If it was Juunanagou, she would probably fear him, but she didn't. She was scared of Trunks. That's why her memory showed someone with purple hair shooting at her and Orion.
Trunks was almost as close as he could get without touching her. "What are you doing? Trunks?" Leela asked and wanted to run away, but Trunks grabbed her collar with both hands.
"Get away from me!" she yelled, grabbing his wrists, trying to make him let go of her. It didn't work. She was not only too afraid, but she was also too weak.
"Tell me why you did this!" Trunks demanded. His face was threateningly close to hers.
Leela closed her eyes, trying to calm down but her mind wouldn't let her. Instead her mind made her see those few memories which her creators failed to block.
Again she saw the big energy-ball coming toward her brother. She ran to him, wanting to push him away but failed. She was about to see all of the memories which escaped the creators if it wasn't for Trunks. He threw her to the ground hard. Leela fell on her back. "Tell me!!" he shouted.
Leela crawled away but Trunks picked her up again. "Please Trunks! You have to believe me." she begged.
Trunks glared in her eyes and she gazed back in fear. He wanted to hit her, but didn't. Instead he said: "You are no better than the androids."
"Why won't you believe me?" her throat tightened.
"I'll let you go for now, but if I ever see you again, I'll kill you." Trunks replied. "Leave before I change my mind." he threw her back on the ground and looked at her like she was beneath him. Then he turned away and flew with Qiana in his arms back to his house.
Leela didn't bother to stand up. All she wanted right now was to rest.