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. I only own the story.

Author's Notes: I know it has been awhile since I have updated anything but I have a good reason. The last few weeks have been pretty hectic for me and the only times I could get a chance to sit down at a keyboard that wasn't attached to a school computer was to work on one of my projects for school. I have been grabbing a few minutes before going to bed some nights to work on this but progress had been slow. The only reason I was even able to finish this chapter was because around half or so had already been written. I'm glad I finally finished and can post it. I would like to thank any of my readers who are still with me and interested in finding out what happens next. I'm looking forward to hearing from you and also to getting a chance to check up on some fics that I haven't been checking on in a while. I have a lot of reading to catch up on. Life seems to be, slowly, getting back to normal so I hope to take less time than this to finish Chapter 8. I also have ideas for some other fics but right now this is taking priority over other works.

Now for some comments on this story itself. If I ever name my chapters this one will be known as Conflict. Why? You'll have to read it to find out.

Tomorrow Never Knows

Raidne the Silent Siren

Chapter 7

Juunana reclined on the sofa and stared, absently, at the ceiling. One of his feet dangled off the side of the sofa and his arms were crossed on top of his chest. A bored expression was firmly in place.

He was very bored. He was tediously, mind-numbingly bored. Normally he would have just gone out with Juuhachi and started a game of kickball using some of the nearby humans or something, but now all he could do was sit around and mourn the good old days. Damn this was getting old fast.

There was one game he could play though; he had already taken the first step in initiating the first move. 'I wonder when I get to make the next move in this game,' he thought. The kiss had clearly unbalanced Trunks. He smirked slightly when he thought of the boy's expression. Trunks may have been the more powerful warrior but he still couldn't completely defeat Juunana if such a small thing could force a retreat.

Thinking of his reaction, Juunana couldn't help but to ponder the reasons behind it, his curiosity tacking over his brain. Juunana had been a little surprised in retrospect that Trunks hadn't blushed. 'He was probably surprised that the murderer of his mentor had made a move on him.'

Humans could make things so personal. Every little physical touch had to mean something to them. He had learned that a while ago. He thanked his android background and mind for keeping him from making such foolish mistakes. He could still enjoy physical pleasure without reading anything more into it. It was probably for the best that Trunks considered him a soulless machine since it would keep him from convincing himself that Juunana actually gave a damn about him.

He glanced up briefly as Juuhachi walked by. "Coming?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Where?"

"To one of the villages."

"Why?" 'Is it just me or have our conversation skills just deteriorated?' Juunana thought absently.

Juuhachi let out a snort of disgust. "Why do you think?"

Remembering the conversation that had ended with him signing away any chance to release any kind of blood lust on the helpless humans, he frowned at Juuhachi and gave her a 'hell no' look. She shrugged and walked out the door and muttered something that sounded like, "I'll blend in better on my own anyway."

When she was gone Juunana was left with something new to ponder. 'What the hell is wrong with my sister?' Pause. 'Besides the obvious.' This little shift from 'I'm never going to get the blood out of my boots' to the 'Save the children' was weird even for her. Ok, so he exaggerated a little but it was still getting on his nerves and had already managed to confuse the hell out of him. He did not enjoy being confused.

He also didn't like that they seemed to be staying on opposite sides now. It used to be just them. They were a team and to hell with everyone else. Now she was on the other side and he was keeping secrets. Of course the only reason he was keeping secrets was because he'd be damned, not that he wasn't already, if he was going to give her a chance to strip him of another game.

A yawn disturbed the quiet. Damn it. After Trunks had left he hadn't gotten much sleep and last night had been filled with more nightmares, again. Juunana unconsciously snuggled a little more deeply into the couch. He let the specks on the ceiling begin to blur as his eyelids drifted shut. 'I'll just take a nap.' A mental image of himself gasping for breath as he tried to come to terms with whatever it was he had just dreamt flashed across his mind. His eyes snapped open and immediately tried to find Juuhachi's location on his sensors. She was still to close. He didn't want to risk her coming back and catching him in such a pathetic position.

He got off the couch, yawning as he did so, and looked out one of the living room windows. No one was out on the street and more importantly the sky was also clear. No Trunks in sight. He opened the window and flew off. He would head back to his own place for a while since Trunks probably wouldn't be coming back anytime soon. He didn't worry about Juuhachi finding the apartment since she probably wouldn't go looking for him anyway. 'Out of sight, out of mind,' he thought to himself as he flew.

**********

"Damn it brat! Pay attention!"

Trunks rolled over painfully. He hadn't even seen that swing coming. Well, obviously he hadn't or he would have dodged it. He looked up at the angry visage of his father. Mentally, he winced. This was going to hurt. He saw the scowl deepen. This was going to hurt a lot. His face never once gave away how nervous he was beginning to feel.

"What is wrong with you?!" Vegeta barked angrily. "Surely you haven't slacked off so much as to lose ALL your fighting instincts!"

Trunks winced again. He silently wished his father would shut up and just kick him and get it over with. The look on his father's face promised the possibility of a kick but silence wasn't forth coming.

After one last long glare, Vegeta turned away. Trunks heard him take off. He didn't bother to question where since he didn't particularly care at the moment. He was gone and that was good news.

He sat up unsteadily. Keeping secrets was not helping his health. He had yet to tell his parents about seeing Juunana-gou since he didn't want to answer any questions that could possibly lead to him having to talk about the incident. His father and he had finally begun to build up some kind of shaky bond and he had always told his mother everything (she still didn't know that he had died but that didn't count since it was for her own good) and he felt like he was betraying them both.

He scowled down at his new bruises, unaware of how the expression made him look even more like the man that had given them to him. They were minor enough not to need a trip into the regeneration tank but he didn't want to waste a senzu on them either. It wasn't like it mattered. He didn't like sitting around in the regeneration tank for hours on end and senzu beans tasted horrible.

He stretched his shoulders and began to stand up, as he did so he saw a head in one of the windows that had blue hair attached. The expression on her face did not bode well for Vegeta or the chances of him getting out of taking, at the very least, a senzu bean.

**********

Vegeta flew over the broken cities with his usual air of indifference. Since the boy hadn't been giving him a decent fight he thought it was about time that he looked around and saw how much the mud ball had changed. What he found was a wasteland. Things had started getting bad when he had been murdered but it had been nothing compared to the level of devastation that was now laid out before him. His mate and son had been living in this for the past twenty-five years! He regretted more than ever that it hadn't been him to kill the androids; at least it had been his son that had avenged him.

He smirked. The creatures had never expected that the boy would one day destroy them. They had learned a valuable lesson: Never underestimate a saiyan. Vegeta smirked again.

Watching the skyline in front of him Vegeta let himself revel in the fact that he had escaped hell and his killers were destroyed by his own son. He was now the strongest person on the planet but it didn't hold the appeal that it used to. It didn't mean as much now without having Kakkarotto to measure his strength against. He was now the last of the saiyans. He should have been used to it by now. When Kakkarotto had been alive he hadn't acted anything like a true saiyan except in the midst of battle and then when he had died Vegeta had been so busy training to be a super saiyan that he had managed to avoid thinking about it. Now it was only him.

A fast moving dot on the approaching skyline caught his attention. Trunks was still at home and, unless he was mistaken, they were the only two people left who could fly besides the androids. A particularly cruel smirk crossed his features. 'Looks like today won't be such of a waste after all.'

**********

Juunana broke off a yawn as he heard something coming at him. Looking up he saw a rather large ki blast heading straight for his head. 'Shit.'

Making a quick dodge to the left he managed to avoid becoming a permanent fixture on the landscape. 'If Juuhachi finds out that I managed to end up in a life or death situation just hours after she leaves me alone, I'll never hear the end of it.' His internal monologue broke off as he concentrated on dodging and deflecting the weaker blasts. When a pause finally came in the barrage he finally saw who had attacked him. He had been expecting to see someone with long lavender hair who had had a change of heart about the matter of his existence, instead he saw someone with blond hair that was shaped like a flame and a short muscular body. 'Shit.'

Juunana glared at Vegeta and tried to ignore the treacherous little voice in the back of his head that had to choose now of all times to point out that he had, in a sense, been warned that the proud prince was back. 'I don't like it when my old punching bags decide that it's time to switch places,' he thought in annoyance.

"They'll let just anyone out of hell these days," Juunana remarked off handedly, but loud enough for Vegeta to hear. Even from this distance he could see his eyes narrow. 'I must have hit a nerve.'

"You're proof of that android," Vegeta growled. 'I bet he hurt himself thinking that one up.' Let it be known that Juunana rarely held any sort of respect for those that challenged him. It was probably a given though when someone spends nearly twenty years as the undefeated destroyer of the Earth.

"Nice come back. You have to ask your wife for help with that one?" The look of utter fury that accompanied this statement made Juunana wonder if he had crossed a line somewhere. He found out where he had crossed it when Vegeta roared something about how he should never mention her. Someone had issues.

As Vegeta sped towards him with reflexes that had far surpassed his own, Juunana had a split second to glimpse his death in the other man's eyes before he had one clear thought before the first punch fell. 'Shit.'

**********

Vegeta hovered above the city ruins, his super saiyan aura still flickering gold around him. A scowl hardened his features. He was certain he had finished the android off with the last volley of attacks but when the dust had cleared he hadn't seen the body. He couldn't spot one or two of the buildings that had still been there earlier either, but that was beside the point. Since the android didn't have a ki he couldn't confirm whether he was dead or not.

He decided he must have misjudged the amount of energy he had put in the last few attacks since it was his first fight with either of the twin terrors since his resurrection and he wouldn't be used to this level of strength just yet. Vegeta smirked again. He hadn't gotten the chance to kill Frieza that he deserved so it made since that he would get to get even with these creatures.

With one last bored glance around, he turned and with a blast of power, he headed home.

**********

Juunana searched his sensors for the high energy levels that had just been hovering over him. When they came up empty he began to push rocks and debris off of himself and kept up a running litany of curses. In his anger some chunks of bricks and stone would crumble in his hands. He still had his strength but it wasn't enough now. Damn it.

When Vegeta had flown at him Juunana hadn't even thought to flee. It just wasn't in his nature. He had tried to defend himself and get some hits in but it hadn't done any good. With the first block he had known he was in serious trouble when it left his arm slightly numb. Vegeta had gotten one hell of a power boost from somewhere. Alone he was more than a match for him now. If Juuhachi had been there they would have stood a shot. Combined they could have distracted him long enough to wear him out and get him out of the fight, but alone he had been totally screwed. Vegeta's last kick had thrown him through the remains of one building and the resulting cloud of dust and smoke had been enough to cover his ungraceful landing. By the time the cloud had cleared Vegeta had had no idea of where he was. The short prick probably thought he was dead. He would have to do something about that later. As he shifted his weight pain shot through his right arm and another made itself known in his abdomen. His revenge would have to wait till much later.

Looking around he noted that he seemed to be alone now. Pushing the pain of his injuries aside he jumped to his feet and began walking. He immediately regretted this decision as a dizzy feeling filled his head and he thought 'Oh shit' before passing out and landing where he stood.

**********

After making sure that Trunks had taken one of the senzu beans that they kept in the house for emergencies, Bulma stomped back into the living room to glare out the window. Even she had noticed that Trunks hadn't been really trying but that didn't give Vegeta the right to rough him up the way he had.

Scanning the sky she waited to see a speck that would signify her mate's return. 'Where the hell has he gone?' Everyone he knew that was still alive was still here, so where had he taken off to? She didn't want to admit to herself that she was just a little bit worried about him.

Bang! Bang! Bulma was startled out of her thoughts by the sudden banging coming from the front door. 'Who would be visiting?' Vegeta certainly wouldn't bother with knocking. He would sooner rip the door off the hinges and complain about it being in his way.

Cautiously she walked over to the door and looked out the peephole. Two accusing black eyes were the first things she saw. 'This can't be good.'

**********

Chichi tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Bulma to answer the door. This morning she had decided she had to do something and damn it she was going to do it immediately. How dare she not tell her!

Raising her hand again to bang on the door with a rolled up fist, she nearly fell forward when the door finally did open. Bulma stood in front of her with the ponytail she had taken to wearing her hair in for the past few years and jeans and a t-shirt, which were a switch from the Capsule Corporation work clothes she usually wore now a days.

Bulma looked surprised that Chichi was standing on her doorstep. She looked almost like she had completely forgotten about her existence. Well to bad. Life was still mostly going on outside of her little world and Chichi was here to make sure she realized that.

"Chichi?" Bulma said questioningly.

"How could you not tell me!?" Chichi shrieked. "How did you do it!?" Her fists were clenched at her sides and she had taken on the pose that she had heard her husband's friends whisper was her 'Bitching Pose'. It meant that she was angry and there was hell to pay. Bolt down the furniture and hide the kids because Chichi was ready to go off.

"Wha-" Bulma began. She still looked confused to have found Chichi on her front doorstep.

"Don't play stupid with me!" Chichi ordered. "How the hell did Vegeta come back?!"

Bulma stared blankly for a moment, "Oh."

"Is that all you can say?!" Chichi's face was turning red from her shouting. "I want to know why that monster is back and not my darling Gokou and Gohan!"

Bulma's eyes narrowed. She was suddenly very angry herself. "How dare you call him a monster! You hardly know him!"

"I know enough!" Chichi shouted back. "I find it hard to believe that that creature was let off for good behavior." She crossed her arms and glared at the woman in front of her with fury and a little hurt behind her eyes.

"He was lucky to have come back," Bulma grew quiet as Chichi did. "He had heard about the androids being allowed back-" she ignored the suddenly pale complexion on Chichi's face-"and had tried to stop them. He ended up being sent back along with them instead."

Chichi was suddenly drained of all her hurt and anger as she clutched shaking hands to the front of her dress. 'How could those abominations be allowed back? What kind of universe would allow something so cruel? Maybe we're lucky that Vegeta is back. If he hadn't of heard, Trunks would be our only defense and that poor boy has already been through hell- Wait a minute.'

"How had Vegeta been so fortunate to have gained this news?" Chichi asked. Her eyes were clenched shut and her arms were straight down her sides as though she were waiting for some sort of blow.

"He had been in-" Bulma began.

"HELL!" Chichi shouted out, finishing Bulma's sentence. Her eyes sparked with renewed anger as she opened them. She was glaring down at her frien-former friend again. "The only reason that he could come back was he had been put with the other monsters. I'm right aren't I?!" She was practically daring Bulma to answer her.

Bulma was very quiet for a moment. Her head was down and few strands of blue hair had escaped her ponytail to fall over her face. She raised her face, her eyes narrowed, and her features set, her fury was almost tangible. "Leave. Now," she spoke clearly and with the warmth of an ice chest.

Chichi stood, shoulders forward, eyes narrowed, and her mouth frozen in a snarl. If this had happened years ago, she would have stayed longer to finish shrieking her stand whether she could win or not. Now though, she just didn't have the energy for it. Her family was gone, she was alone, and she was not a young woman anymore. The hardships of the last few years had aged her more than the passage of time could, and she just didn't have it in her anymore. She turned without another word, climbed into her beat up air car, and left. She never looked back.