Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z or any of its characters. They belong to Akira Toriyama. I am making no money from this piece of fiction.

Author's Notes: Can't think of anything to say.

Tomorrow Never Knows

By: Raidne the Silent Siren

Chapter 5

Juunana-gou glared out of the window. Clouds had gathered overhead as if to reflect the android's mood. He was having a bad morning and making no secret about it. The night had been plagued with nightmares, or memories, whichever you prefer. It had been like this for the past week. A few days ago he had decided to act on his original idea to find a place to sleep away from the apartment. In the end he had gotten stuck with having to trade in one roach infested room for another. Oh, and let's not forget the rats in this equation. He was beginning to wonder why he had agreed to come back to this annoying plane of existence.

Life sucked.

He hadn't told Juuhachi about his relocation. He would just leave at night so she wouldn't know. His sister had never been the type to get into the whole emotional side to this kind of thing-for which he was eternally grateful-but she was the type to tease him mercilessly. His ego was hurting enough without adding this in.

The room that he slept in, without telling Juuhachi, was part of another old apartment on the other side of the city. He wasn't planning on using the rest of the apartment that went with it so the rest had only received a cursory glance. It didn't look any better then their place. He would be going there again tonight regardless.

His time was now limited to the hours he spent at the apartment that he shared with Juuhachi and this little room that he used for sleep. It wasn't like there was much else to do. He couldn't go out and risk people recognizing him. They had had good luck with villages that were secluded and away from any form of communication, to the point where the people may have heard about the androids but none had really seen them in person. After five years, most people considered it over anyway.

Another reason he didn't really think it was in his best interests to go out was that it annoyed him in the most indescribable ways that all these people were just going on with their lives, as if nothing had really happened. His ego also had a tendency to rear its head whenever he ran into someone who didn't recognize him. If he had still had his signature outfit, or at least something that looked more like it than what he was wearing, he probably would have been recognized and the humans would have run screaming. For some reason he caught himself missing his bandanna.

Oh, and let's not forget Trunks. He was a very big reason behind him not wandering around too much. The kid probably didn't know that they were back and it was probably best that it was left that way. Juunana still couldn't understand how he had gotten so powerful after an absence of nothing more then a few days. It just didn't make any sense. He had gotten plenty of time to think about it while sitting around in some corner of hell with nothing better to do. He still couldn't think of an explanation. He had eventually just put it out of his mind as unimportant and unentertaining. Even if he did figure out how he had done it, what did it matter? Death was a very effective blockade to any plans he could have made for revenge.

Then again, He wasn't dead now was he.

Juunana snorted. Yeah, that was just what he needed to do. His body count was high enough as it was.

'But that's not the only reason,' a voice in the back of his mind whispered. Juunana's eyes narrowed. He found the boy attractive, nothing more. 'He's not exactly a boy anymore either,' the annoying voice whispered again. This time it brought an image. It was Trunks in that last battle: hair down to his shoulders, more muscled than before, and taller. Juunana had never really thought about it until now, but Trunks had appeared older then. He wasn't sure what to make of it and it was beginning to seriously piss him off.

**********

Trunks landed in the trees outside of the small mountain village. He hadn't been to any of the villages he normally visited in the past few weeks, and it was about time he started again. The villagers didn't know about the androids and it was pointless to let them worry about them. They had been able to live the last couple of years in peace and without fear that everything they had built could be destroyed at any moment. This meant he would have to act like everything was normal. He also couldn't carry his sword.

Trunks straightened as he neared the gate that would allow him access to the village and took a deep breath as if steadying himself. The expression he wore gave the impression of a warrior preparing for a long battle. He hesitated briefly at the gate as he braced himself.

Then he walked through.

"Hey! Trunks!"

"He's back!"

"Marry me Trunks!"

"I missed you!"

"I want to have your baby!" He fought to keep a blush down when he heard that.

He was instantly surrounded by a horde of giggling teenage girls. There were a few of the teenage boys from the village gathered around too. The rest of the village males seemed to be giving him the evil eye. He ignored them. It wasn't like he had any control over the situation.

"Move along children," a cracked voice carried over the noise. The voice was strong and authoritative despite the cracks of age. All other conversations instantly came to a crashing halt. Trunks looked up to see an elderly woman who probably only came up to his shoulder, at the most, and had twin gray braids pulled into buns at the back of her head. She carried a nobly wooden cane in one hand and wore a thick shawl around her shoulders.

It was the village elder Furui. Everyone in the village called her Grandmother and after his second visit to the village, so did Trunks. With a sharp glance from her dark eyes the crowd began to disperse. Trunks gave her a grateful grin before bowing his head in greeting, out of respect. She began to walk down the street in the direction that he had been heading before and motioned for him to follow.

They walked in silence for a few feet until Trunks noticed something seemed different. It took him another five minutes to realize what it was. There were several new houses erected on the street ahead of them. They should have been further behind schedule then this.

Furui must have noticed him staring, "A few weeks ago we received two visitors. They had a new house built that day." He noticed her glance at him out of the corner of her eye before she went on, "Odd children. Both were quite strong. They seemed to appear out of no where." She gave him a significant look. Trunks noticed idly that they had stopped moving. Something just didn't feel right. "Popular with the kids. They were siblings. Twins, I think."

Trunks could have sworn that the ground had just given way under his feet. It was them. They had been here, but why was the village untouched? Why hadn't the villagers been slaughtered?

"I see," he said aloud, his face blank. He had already promised himself not to let the villagers panic if he could avoid it. Furui just continued to look at him through fathomless black eyes. "It must have been good luck that they happened along when they did."

Furui broke off her stare and nodded, as if accepting his answer. "We have begun construction on a new school," she began, knowingly or unknowingly dropping the subject of the destroyers of their world.

**********

"When were you planning on proving to me you stood a chance," Yokubo taunted.

"How was I supposed to get near him with that crowd?" Minikui snapped haughtily.

"Funny, the way you spoke before I thought you weren't going to let anything get in your way."

"Shove it."

**********

Two days later Trunks could be found on one, of his now nightly, patrols of the ruins that scarred the landscape. After Furui had told him about the so-called visitors, he had made this a nightly ritual.

He hadn't told his parents yet of what he had learned. The duo had not tried any of their old tricks yet so it would be pointless to worry his mother anymore than she already was. As far as his father, well…he wasn't sure how to handle that yet. Vegeta obviously wanted revenge and, in all honesty, Trunks was concerned that the surrounding area probably wouldn't survive his revenge. The fact that he hadn't held a conversation with his father since he had returned probably didn't hurt either. Trunks had pretty much made up his mind by now that he was being ignored at home, or at least just not of immediate use. The only times he was with Vegeta were sparring sessions and the occasional meal. The typical saiyan meal wasn't a place for conversation and heart to hearts. Bulma was usually with Vegeta or barricaded in her lab working on some new self-assigned project.

'Well look at the bright side,' he reminded himself, 'as long as Mom is busy she can't waste time on asking me to cut my hair.' He grinned weakly at the thought. The lavender tresses were pulled back into a ponytail at the moment and most of the hair around his face had already managed to escape the confines of the rubber band.

As Trunks flew he kept watch on the city below him. Nothing stirred. The humans would most likely be a sleep at this hour. Hell, any sane person would be a sleep right now. So why was he out flying with the familiar weight of his sword pressing against he back? He couldn't sleep knowing that the androids had already been in such close contact with defenseless humans without him knowing until after the fact.

A cry split the air.

If it hadn't been so still and silent below, Trunks would have missed the cry when it first rang out. Pulling himself abruptly from his brooding he stopped in mid-air and looked around, searching for any disturbance. The cry had been faint. He waited, listening to find out if the person would give him any sign as to where they were.

The night was silent again.

**********

Juunana sat slumped in bed with the sheet he used tangled around him and falling off the side of the bed and onto the floor. His breathing was quick and shallow. His throat was soar. His fingers had tightened into a white knuckled grip into the sheets.

He took a deep breath to try and steady himself. This wasn't good. The dreams were going strong. He didn't want to experience pain, let alone pain he had caused. For once he didn't pride himself for the creative tortures he had created in his past. They weren't nearly as entertaining when you were on the other side.

He released the grip he had on the sheet. It was still dark. His mind was beginning to take in the obvious and some trivial details of his surroundings. He was still in his, hideout? Retreat? He hadn't decided to come up with a name for this hole yet. Frankly, as far as he was concerned, it was just a hole. A hole that happened to be several stories off the ground, but still a hole. After running that sentence through his brain a few more times he decided it was probably in his best interests to try and get some sleep. He was beginning to make less sense then Juuhachi.

Thinking of his sister brought another thought to mind, 'At least she hadn't been here to hear me cry out.' His pride would be more then dented if that had happened.

**********

Trunks hadn't been able to find the location of whoever had called out before, so the most he could do was narrow down his search area. After searching for the person's ki he decided it was unlikely that he would find them that night. Their ki must have been pretty weak because he was having trouble finding them. He decided to come back the next night and see what he could find.

Trunks flew home.

**********

Bulma woke up to see light filter through her open window. She was in bed alone. She stifled the sudden surge of panic the realization brought. Since Vegeta had returned, any morning she didn't see him in bed was another morning where she had to remind herself that it hadn't been just a dream. 'He's home again,' she thought to herself. She snuggled back into the covers to make her last stand against the morning.

After a couple of minutes she had to give up. She wasn't going get back to sleep, but she wasn't going to get out of bed either.

She let her sleepy gaze drift over the strewn blankets on the bed, the half open window, and finally came to rest on a few pictures that sat across the room on a bureau of drawers. She had maybe two pictures of Vegeta and she had only recently resurrected them from a box in the attic. They had been in the same box that she had stored all of his clothes in. He had never been one for material possessions so the box had had the room. Now that he was back so were the pictures. He smiled in neither of the photographs. One had been taken when his mouth was slightly open as if ordering the person with the camera to back away and put away the camera before he put it away for them. His expression clearly said that wherever he decided to put it the other person wasn't going to be happy. The most imaginative person couldn't mistake it for a smile.

The Vegeta pictures sat among scattered photographs of Trunks and few with her and her parents. She felt a pang of sadness when she gazed at the pictures of her only son for a few seconds. Bulma shifted around in the bed sheets before lying back and looking at the ceiling. She felt bad for not being around lately for him. Most of her time seemed to be split between her lab and Vegeta. Since receiving the plans from Trunks and hearing of his exploits in the past, she was positive she had the information needed to make her own deactivation switch. Vegeta didn't help matters at all. Since coming back he seemed determined to make up for every night they had been separated. If she had been any other woman she might have blushed.

**********

Trunks went through his normal routine that day until night fell. When the stars winked to life he left through his window to return to the ruined city. When he had been sparring he had considered going back to look but decided if it turned out to be a scavenger they would probably be in hiding during the day. His chances were better at night.

His hair was pulled back into a ponytail but, as usual, hair still hung in his face as he flew. He didn't pay it much attention since he was concentrating more on sound then sight. As he made his way back to the portion of the city he had been hovering over when he had heard the cry, he expanded his senses. He still wasn't sensing anyone close enough for him to have heard.

Staying alert to any sudden movement, he began to drift lower to the ground. 'This is stupid. I probably won't find anything.' He landed on the ground with the faint crunch of an old newspaper under his foot. Since he had eliminated several buildings from the list the night before, he would have to investigate the ones he had missed the night before. He almost wished for a moment that he had mentioned this to his parents so that he could have some help and get the search done more quickly. He knew it would have been pointless to do so though. Vegeta wouldn't have cared and Bulma probably would assume that he had merely been hearing things.

Like the night before, a cry broke through his brooding. His head whipped around to look in the direction it had come from. It was much closer this time. He looked at the building that was in his line of sight and smirked. 'Gotcha.'

**********

Juunana-gou tossed in his bed, trapped in the throws of another nightmare. This seemed to be becoming routine. When the dream finally came to its horrifying conclusion he shot a wake. He lay in bed with his head resting on his pillow and his eyes were on the ceiling as he snapped back to reality. The first thing he did when he regained consciousness was to push the nightmare to the back of his mind and concentrate on the now. Something was off. He wasn't sure yet what it was, but something didn't feel right.

He held perfectly still and listened for any sound that might give a way an intruder. He was being watched. He didn't hear anything. Whoever it was hadn't decided yet to let their presence be known.

"Give me one reason not to send you back to where you came from." Juunana raised an eyebrow from where he lay. That was the last voice he had been expecting.