14. Great Minds…

"So here you are." Bulma saw Leela sitting on the stairs.

Leela looked up so meet the eyes of Trunks' mother.

"I heard you wish to go through with fighting the androids...even if you life depends on it." Bulma obviously meant the device. She tried to get a reaction from Leela, but when she didn't get any, she continued. "Are you sure? I mean, I don't think I have the tools to bring you back when you are caught in the radiation."

"I'm sure." Leela smiled at Bulma. "I'm not important enough; human-kind is."

"But can't you at least try defeating them by fighting first?" Bulma tried. Leela's silence was enough for Bulma to figure out the answer. "Look, I know I cannot change your mind, but at least promise me that you will only use the device as a last resort."

"I can't. The androids must be destroyed as soon as possible." Leela said.

"If not for me, then do it for Trunks." Bulma got a little more aggressive saying this. After all, in the end, it would be her son who's hurting.

"Trunks?" her eyes looked puzzled into Bulma's direction.

"Yes, Trunks."

"Oh, I see you talked to him. He said he couldn't go through with it when the time would come." Leela stood up. "I'm sorry Bulma, but he has to." and with those words, she left for her room.

"No, you're wrong. I didn't talk to him; I can see it in his eyes." Bulma whispered.

-

-

Trunks was in the gravitation-room, fighting off his fury against high gravity levels. How stupid could he be? He had almost told her how much he needed her! It almost came out this morning. Luckily for him she'd already left the kitchen.

He punched the air to make up for his failure in vain. How on earth could he feel so much for…well, an android? But then again, Leela was so different. For one, she was on his side: she wished to destroy the android-twins just as much as he did. And then there was that one time where Leela and he were in the middle of a fight and she still had the heart to save him from Juunanagou's Ki-blast. He had put her through painful situations and conversations and treated her like dirt and still she kept trying to make this friendship work.

After he had spent the night talking with Leela about her past, he knew she wasn't just an android. He felt a human being in his arms yesterday, she was crying. She had just as much feelings as anyone else in the world.

He needed her. He needed her different from when he needed Qiana. No, he needed Leela for Leela, just like he needed his mother, only…more…

-

-

Leela sat in the middle of her room. She was going over every memory she had of when she was Unico. But the thing was, the only memories she had, were those she read in the document and those after she fled the lab. She had nothing else…

The memories flew by fast. She kept searching...but found nothing. That couldn't be. There had to be at least one memory that hadn't been written? Maybe she just skipped a few. Hopeful as she was, she went over them again.

Hours had gone by and she was still searching. Tears had unwillingly made their path down her chin. Every time that she began her search over, more hope was fading. Had every other memory been erased? Would she only remember her death as Unico and her rebirth as Akhila Nyati? But she never died! Then why couldn't she find just one memory that dated before the androids had destroyed her home?

Not even one. No memories of her past unless it was written down.

She looked out the window. She thought about little Cody and his younger sister Lilly. What kind of childhood would they grow up in? Destruction everywhere, trading clothes for food, food for clothes, having a shelter below ground as a home where light came from candles and flashlights. Would they want to remember all of this later when they'd grown up? Leela thought she must've grown up in fear of the androids for they have been on the path of destruction for years! Maybe she was better off not remembering? Her tears had dried. A big part of her life was missing. She would never get that back, she knew, unless maybe it was written down somewhere to help her remember, but she highly doubted that. There was nothing more she could do about this.

Those poor kids, she thought. Lilly and Cody, they would have to live like this for the rest of their lives if she and Trunks wouldn't stop the androids soon. Trunks…

Trunks… She had to protect him. She could not allow Trunks to find out that it was his Ki that killed Orion, even if it was an accident. It would devastate him. She knew how much Trunks had suffered over the years; if he was to find out… No, he could not let him suffer more, she decided... But wouldn't he suffer when she would use the device? He said he might not be able to go through with it. Why was that anyway? She failed to ask this morning. Maybe she should ask him now? Then they could go over some sort of strategy in defeating the androids as well.

She stood up, turned around and left her room to go find Trunks. She went downstairs, hearing him fight at the end of the hall. She didn't want to disturb him. For a moment she hesitated, but then started walking into the direction of the gravity-room. She was about to push the door open when it rapidly seemed to open by itself. Leela withdrew her hand in surprise, then she saw it was been Trunks. He stood in the doorway.

"You scared me." Leela sighed and smiled.

"Lee, how long have you been standing here?" Trunks asked.

"I've just arrived. I wanted to come in."

"What is it?" Trunks wondered.

"Nothing. I just wanted to check if everything was okay."

"Oh, well, I'm fine." Trunks gave her a quick smile, then passed her and went straight to his room.

-

-

"Trunks?" Leela knocked on the door of his room. "Can I come in?"

"Yea." he replied.

Leela entered. She closed the door behind her and looked for Trunks. He wore blue jeans, but was still trying to decide which sweater to wear and therefore stood in front of his closet. She knew by his wet, tangled hair that he had just come out of the shower.

Leela stepped to his closet, grabbed a red sweater and pushed it into his hands. "Is there something you wanna tell me?"

Trunks, still confused about her picking out his clothes, looked at her in a puzzled way. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't sound so fine when I asked you if you were."

"I still have no idea what you're talking about." Trunks put on the sweater and zipped it. He walked back to the closet for his shoes, then sat down on his bed to put them on.

"Are you sure?" she insisted.

"Really, there's nothing." Trunks looked in her eyes. Those eyes, they were filled with sorrow. He couldn't stop gazing at them. Something had happened, he could see that. He knew she had cried today. She cried even now, but she tried to hide it; she was crying from the inside. Almost intrigued by the fact that her eyes told even more than she would ever say, he kept gazing in them.

"What?" she caught him staring.

"Nothing, it's just..." Trunks stood up. "Well, I'd better ask you what's wrong."

"What? Why?"

He came closer until their bodies were only a few inches away from touching. Leela had to look up to look into his eyes, noticing he was still gazing in hers. He touched her chin. "You've been crying." he said.

"No, I haven't." she whispered.

"Yes, you have. You're eyes give you away." he whispered back.

For a moment, Leela felt the urge to tell him all that she was still hiding, no more secrets, but she couldn't. She pushed him away. "Don't change the subject." she said with firm voice.

Trunks sighed and left the room.

"Trunks!" Leela followed him. "Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong." Trunks said calmly.

"Yea, there is, and I'm not going anywhere until you tell me." Leela said.

"Fine." To test if Leela would actually do what she said she would, Trunks went to the living room, grabbed a book and sat down in a chair.

Leela sat down on the floor in front of the television and just stared at him.

After a few minutes Trunks got tired of it and looked back at her. "Stop it." he said.

"You listened to my story, now let me listen to yours."

He closed his book. "Okay, you really wanna know what's bothering me?"

"Yes, finally." Leela spoke the obvious.

"It's something I cannot speak of." he began hesitant. "Yet, at least."

"But-"

"No wait. Before you say something, I have to figure this out for myself first. Once I've done that, you'll be the first to know. So please, give me some time." Trunks waited for Leela to say something. He expected it to be something like: "Now who's keeping secrets from whom, huh!" or something like that so it came as a surprise when he heard her say:

"Okay."

"Okay? Just like that?" he wanted to be sure he heard her right.

"Okay." she repeated. "Whenever you're ready." she added.

"Well, thanks." he replied. "So…"

"Yes?"

"So how about you?"

"What about me?"

"Why were there tears in your eyes today?"

"Yea, I seem to be crying a lot lately. It wasn't a big deal, don't worry."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Since we're sharing," she said mockingly to ease the atmosphere. "I don't have any memories from before the androids destroyed my home. Then there's a big gap and then I remember Orion getting killed. From there on, I remember almost everything. It's like I had no childhood. It's weird, that's all. It seemed a lot worse at first, but then I was thinking that maybe not remembering it better. Then I won't have to look back on years of living in fear of the androids."

"Yea, but still. No childhood…" Trunks thought about his own childhood. His father, his friends, his mentor Gohan… "Well, mine wasn't that good either." he concluded.

"Besides, I have you to fill lots of memories with." she said.

Trunks looked at her. "I don't want you to use that device." he blurted out, making Leela gawk at him.

"That was so not the subject here." she said, not knowing what else to say to this. She meant to come to this subject herself, but not quite just like that.

"I don't wanna loose you." he admitted. "Not again. I've lost you over something you obviously couldn't have done, but I'm definitely not gonna loose you over something we can work out together."

"Stopping them by solely fighting didn't work so well last time. I broke my wrist and passed out, remember?"

"But I had Juuhachigou knocked out as well. If we would just work together as a team, we might pull it off."

Leela smiled. "Right, battleplan."

"Up for some training?"

"And discuss some moves while training?"

"Great minds…"

"…think alike."