Disclaimer: I do not own, nor have I ever owned, Dragonball Z or any of its characters. Both belong to Akira Toriyama. I am making no money from this amateur piece of fiction.

Author's Notes: It's been a while I know. If this came out weird then I'm blaming it on the medication. I also want to say that I am amazed at how hard this chapter was to write.

As always, please review. Constructive criticism is accepted. Flames will be laughed at.

Tomorrow Never Knows

By Raidne the Silent Siren

Chapter 9

Juunana-gou stepped out of the hibernation tube and into the rubble-strewn lab. Neither of the twins felt particularly inclined to clean up even if they were still using some of the facilities. There were still broken flasks and computer parts that would crunch under foot. There were still scorch marks along one wall from an energy blast. Things just got worse from there.

Juunana stretched his limbs and was relieved to note a lack of stiffness or pain. He was completely healed. Goody for him. He let his cold stare travel over the lab in search of something that he already knew wasn't there. Now where had his sister gone off to at a time like this? First she ditches him the first time in the damn tube to get a shower and clothes. Now she had left him again and was who knows where. He wouldn't be surprised if she was shopping. He was slowly becoming convinced that she was secretly plotting his death through negligence. Bitch.

Looking down at himself and his torn clothes, he scowled. He was filthy. It would probably be a while before she got back so he might as well take advantage of the shower.

**********

Bulma picked up the deactivation switch that was sitting on a table and had been nearly forgotten. She still had a few small adjustments to make before it would be ready for use. Not that it was really needed anymore.

Vegeta had killed one of the androids. She was still having trouble wrapping her mind around that little fact. For some reason it had been easier to get used to the idea that they were back than it was for their numbers to be reduced. Was it just her or had she become cynical?

She picked up a screwdriver to finish tinkering on the small hand held device. She had expanded on the plans for the original by adding a button that deactivated the androids for a time but didn't kill them in the sense that the original did. She doubted that they would need it but it never hurt to think ahead.

She put it back down after a few minutes. It was done unless she decided to make any more changes. She looked at her computer and thought about working on some of the plans that she had started on earlier. This had been a very long day and she needed something to take her mind off of things.

Vegeta was one of the main things on her mind at the moment. It still bothered her that he had been sent to hell. She doubted she was going to get used to the idea anytime soon. How the hell was a woman supposed to get used to something like that?! Vegeta wasn't helping things either. She could probably rest a little easier if he would agree to help with the villages or something but he was standing firm on his decision to do no such thing. Why did he have to be such a stubborn ass? Men!

**********

Juunana pulled his ruined t-shirt over his head as he walked out of the bathroom. At least he was clean now. His clothing was another matter. He was deliberately avoiding mirrors now that he was dressed. Once the shirt had cleared his neck he was forced to take a sudden step backward. A bundle of clothes had suddenly been shoved into his face and if he hadn't taken the step backward he would have likely run right into it. The clothes were being held by fist. The fist was attached to an arm. The arm was attached to a bored looking blonde.

Sis was back.

Juuhachi was now wearing dark denim jeans, a white t-shirt, a denim vest, and white sneakers.

"The evidence is beginning to pile up," Juunana muttered as he came to the conclusion that, yes his sister did care more about shopping than she did about whether or not he died through some weird malfunction in a machine that was built by a mad man. What did he expect? Life sucked.

Juuhachi must have chosen to ignore his comment because she shoved the clothes into his hands without a response. Without a response until she had a better look at him.

"What happened? Did you fall into the toilet?"

Juunana was well aware of the fact that his hair was still wet and was clinging to his face. No sane person would have touched the towels in that bathroom. He scowled at his sister and went to the bathroom to change. He didn't think she deserved a 'thank you' for the clothes.

Closing the bathroom door behind him he began to sort through the clothes his sister gave him. He trusted her to watch his back in a fight but he was crazier than he thought if he was going to trust her with his clothes. He was relieved to note that there was nothing pink in the pile. It would be something that she would do after all those times he had done something to her clothes. It wasn't his fault that the ink hadn't really been invisible.

He discovered his suspicions were well founded when he pulled out a pale blue t-shirt that had the words "I like puppies!" on the front. He quickly checked for another shirt. There was. He was not at all relieved. He didn't bother to read the entire caption on the front but he managed to gather that it said something to the effect of boys were like parking spaces.

Standing up with both offending shirts in hand he stuck his head out the door. He glared at his sister and held the shirts out for her to see. "This better be joke." He dropped both wastes of material to catch the shirt Juuhachi threw at his face. He ignored her chuckling. This shirt was black. He held it out to make sure there wasn't anything offensive to his sense of taste. The shirt passed inspection and he went back into the bathroom.

When he came out of the bathroom the next time he was wearing blue jeans, the shirt, and a pair of sneakers.

"I see you went with the black."

"Shut up." Pause. "Let's get out of here."

*********

Minikui glared at the mending as though her eyes could destroy the offending sight with the weight of their gaze alone. It wasn't working of course. She was supposed to be mending items of clothing that belonged to members of the village. To make matters worse, she was nowhere near finished and Shufu was coming to inspect her work.

What did that nag think she was?! Minikui hated every aspect of village life. The parts she hated the most involved any kind of work. She had heard stories from some of the older village residents when she was young. They would speak of how things were before the androids and not all of them had been living their lives out in the middle of nowhere. Some had lived in the cities. She had been immediately taken with the idea of living a life where you didn't have to make your own meals or ever have to do hard labor to get by.

She wasn't completely stupid, despite what Yokubo would say to the contrary. She knew the cities themselves were still in ruins but she suspected they would be fully rebuilt someday. When they were that was where she wanted to be.

Ms. Briefs would probably have everything back to the way things had once been, and were supposed to be, eventually. Bulma Briefs was the most powerful woman on the planet, after all. Thus her interest in Trunks. Granted he was attractive and she was beginning to tire of the boring boys that made up the village's bachelors. Her real interest lay in whom his family was. The Briefs were quite obviously rich and when things got back to the way they were supposed to be-

"Minikui!"

The girl's head jerked up suddenly at the sound of her name. She quickly removed any sign of the smirk that had stretched across her face without her knowledge. She looked up at the looming figure of Shufu and tried to keep the anger and annoyance she felt for the older woman off her face.

"What have you been doing for the past 2 hours?" Shufu looked down on her with her faintly superior air. Shufu was in charge of overseeing the duties of the young women of the village. No one really remembered how she had gotten the position and many suspected it had been self-appointed. No one contradicted her or had the nerve to ask. She had light brown hair pulled back from a sun tanned face and black eyes behind small spectacles.

"I've been working," Minikui answered lightly and as innocently as she was capable of.

"You've been on the same stitch for a full thirty minutes," Shufu accused. Her hands were planted on her hips.

"You must be mistaken," she said. She was getting annoyed and was having a harder time controlling her expression. 'I want the hell out of this damn village!' she thought to herself.

**********

Trunks flew through the air.

One day had passed since he had helped that creature Juunana-gou. He couldn't believe he had allowed himself to do such a thing. His thoughts seemed to chase each other around in his head without really coming to a stop. He had been telling himself that he had helped him because he didn't want to be anything like them but his subconscious just wouldn't leave well enough alone.

He was not happy with himself at the moment.

"I guess this answers the question on whether it was good for you too." Trunks shuddered at the memory. That memory just made him very uncomfortable.

The thing that probably irritated him the most was the way that Juunana-gou apparently insisted on talking to him. Whenever Trunks was around him the android spoke as though he had done nothing wrong. As though he felt no shame for any of the vile crimes he had committed in his past. 'He's an android,' he thought to himself angrily, 'he doesn't feel anything.'

He knew that Juunana-gou and Juuhachi-gou had been human once so a part of him, a small part of him, couldn't help but to wonder if there was anything human left after Gero had been finished. He had trouble selling himself completely to the idea. It's hard to have pity for someone who wiped out the majority of your planet and killed your family and friends. He was amazed that he could even entertain the thought that they could feel remorse for anything.

This is why, he kept telling himself, that the only reason he helped Juunana-gou was because he didn't want to be anything like them. He tried his best not to the think of the other possible reasons behind letting Juunana live.

As for why he was heading back to Juunana-gou's apartment…well…he was still trying to think of the reason behind that. He knew why he was going. He wanted to know if the android was still alive. The reasons behind wanting to find out didn't bear any close examination. He just kept telling himself that he wanted to know in case Juunana turned out to still be a threat.

Trunks seemed to be telling himself a lot of things these days.

When he reached the building he went in through the window like he had done every other time he had come. Shortly after entering the room he realized he was the only one there. The only things in the bed were the bloody sheets.

**********

Trunks landed just outside of the mountain village. He had told his mother that he had been going to one of the villages anyway and since Juunana-gou wasn't in the apartment he needed to do something with his time. He wouldn't be expected home for a few more hours and he didn't want to raise questions by going home early. He really didn't want to answer his mother's questions.

He steeled himself before entering the village. He was unspeakably relieved when no one immediately rushed over to greet him. A few of the men working nearby shouting their greetings to him but that was it. He asked them where he could find Furui. After being pointed in the right direction he started off to find the elderly woman.

The entire way to her cabin he kept glancing around in case some of the more abrasive of the girls happened to spot him. No one came around. That made him nervous. It was like the quiet before the storm.

He knocked on the cabin door and waited nervously on the porch until he heard a call from inside saying to enter.

He pushed open the door and bowed to the elderly woman standing by the stove. Her long gray hair was pulled back into its usual braid.

The cabin and its furnishings were made completely of wood, except for the wood stove. Electricity hadn't been returned yet to this area. Bulma was still working on that. The lighting was dim and provided by an open window. There were lanterns and candles under the cabinets, but they wouldn't be used unless it was a storm or nightfall. There was a circular wooden table in the middle of the small kitchen with three chairs. The chairs had cushions on the seats which Trunks was sure Furui had made herself.

"Trunks," she nodded her greeting to him. "Have a seat. I'm making coffee."

He sat down and wondered about what was the best way to broach the subject he was curious about. "When I came today…I noticed…"

"We're organizing a trade with some of the closer villages and Shufu has organized the girls to make blankets and the like for trading." She didn't even bother with turning around.

"Oh." Trunks stared at the table having nothing better to do. He felt embarrassed for even asking. Well, for attempting to ask anyway. "Is there anything that I could be of use for?"

Furui lifted the kettle off of the stove and reached for two cups. "There's nothing that we can't handle ourselves."

"Oh," Trunks said for the second time. It was good that the people were getting back on their own feet but he was beginning to feel pretty useless.

Furui handed him his cup of coffee and he accepted it with a nod of thanks. She sat down in the chair across from him with a sigh brought on by age. She propped her cane against the table and sipped her coffee.

After a momentary silence Furui spoke, "Those two strangers haven't been back."

Trunks was glad he had just swallowed otherwise he might have choked. He had almost forgotten that the androids had been to this village.

"Oh." He chided himself instantly. He seemed to be using as few syllables as possible today.

Furui kept a steady gaze on his face as she spoke. "No. They haven't. I'm sure some of the young people are disappointed at the lack of new blood in the area."

"I can see how they would be," Trunks said. He sat down his cup. Suddenly he wasn't very thirsty.

"It had been strange how they showed up that way."

"Maybe they were from one of the nearby villages?" he suggested. He was almost positive that Furui knew exactly who and what had been in the village that day but he didn't dare confirm it. He felt that the fewer people who knew about this the better.

'What are you going to do though when they start killing again?' he asked himself.

"I doubt it," Furui said calmly.

"Why is that?" Trunks asked distractedly. No. They might not start killing again. They hadn't done it yet. '"Yet" being the key word here.' Trunks somehow managed not to show the annoyance he was beginning to feel with himself on his face.

"They were asking questions as though they were, what is the phrase, 'out of the loop'."

"Like what?" Trunks asked. He still didn't understand why the androids had come to the village in the first place.

"The girl mostly asked about things such as the androids, recent events," she looked up from her mug. His face betrayed nothing and she went on. "The boy was quiet. He seemed to be trying to avoid some of the more curious young people."

Trunks tried not to snicker at the sudden mental image he had of Juunana-gou ducking behind huts to avoid the hordes he dealt with daily. He was surprised that the android hadn't snapped.

He wasn't sure what he should say to the woman so he said nothing. He resumed sipping his coffee.

**********

Minikui stretched her arms and legs as she left the rest of the women and girls busy at work. That taskmaster Shufu had finally gone to get some food and drink and when she had. Minikui had taken the opportunity to sneak out. She had had enough of it.

She looked up and saw her cousin walk by carrying firewood. She saw her chance for revenge.

"Watch your step!" On cue Yokubo's foot caught on an invisible crack in the ground and he fell. He scraped up the bottom of his chin on the firewood. He rolled his head to glare at his nearly hysterical cousin. He stood up and began trying to dust some of the dirt from his clothes.

"I heard your boyfriend was here," he said calmly.

"Which one?" Minikui said with one final giggle.

"The one you can't get."

Minikui grumbled something impolite about Yokubo. Her good mood was already dissolving. He just smirked. "I'm so sick of this damn town."

"You say that a lot." She ignored in him and stared down the empty street. Most people weren't out at the moment since most had jobs elsewhere. "Why don't you just leave?" He snickered slightly. He didn't expect her to ever leave and thought it would be amusing to see her get saddled with some old fart and raise eight kids after all the talk she had made of wanting to get the hell out.

"I will."

Yokubo was forced to do a double take. "What?"

"I will," she said again. An unpleasant expression had formed on her face. "I'm sure Capsule Corporation could use someone."

**********

Trunks was leaving the village through a back trail. Furui had warned him many of the girls would probably be taking breaks or the like around this time. He didn't bother with trying to convince himself that he was doing anything other than sneaking away.

After he was a good distance from the village and knew he wouldn't encounter any of the villagers, he relaxed and started to take flight. He would have anyway if he hadn't heard a twig snap. He quickly tensed and forced away the irrational fear that he was about to be jumped by his unwanted and overly enthusiastic fan club. Logically he knew that was impossible but still, you can't necessarily blame the guy.

He turned and saw Juunana-gou, not even bothering to hide, leaning with his back against a tree and his hands shoved in his jeans' pockets. He was completely healed, something that was noticed uneasily. He was also wearing that damn smirk. He seemed completely confident. As though he had forgotten that Trunks was now much stronger than he. Trunks wondered briefly if his father had hit the android too hard on the head. He discarded the notion quickly. Juunana-gou had enough of an ego to the point where it wouldn't matter.

They just stared at each other for a few moments. Trunks was the one to break the silence, "What are you doing here?"

Juunana raised an eyebrow slightly; "You keep showing up at my place completely uninvited so I thought I'd return the favor."

"Why exactly are you here Juunana-gou?" Trunks asked.

"So suspicious," Juunana-gou teased. "And please, call me Juunana. Juunana-gou sounds far too formal." He ignored the annoyed look Trunks gave him for that. Trunks did not want to become familiar with the creature if he could avoid it.

"You haven't answered my question."

"You're certainly more talkative today. I may need to try this again some time," He raised a hand when Trunks opened his mouth again. "Yes, your question, I remember. Would you believe that I was bored and missed your pleasant company?"

"No."

"Good. I would have been disappointed if you had."

"You need a hobby."

Juunana's eyes almost lit up at that remark, "Sarcasm. I was beginning to think you weren't capable of a sense of humor." He left the tree and began to walk around the area of the forest they were in. Both hands were in his pockets again and he watched the trees around them with his face turned away from Trunks. "For your information I had a hobby," he turned slightly so that Trunks could see his lack of expression, "it resulted in a five year stay in hell." He suddenly looked amused again, "The room service there sucked."

"Why are you telling me this?" Trunks was beginning to feel tired. He could not possibly understand the android's motivations.

"What exactly have you done since you killed Juuhachi and I?" Juunana asked. He was facing away from Trunks again and was still walking. Trunks had to turn to keep him in sight as Juunana circled him.

"Wha-why?" Trunks asked.

"Curious. You spent the majority of your life trying to kill us and then you finally succeed." Juunana turned his head to regard Trunks again, his face blank. "I bet it was the happiest moment of your life."

Trunks didn't say anything. He just continued to watch the android warily.

"Let me guess. You probably spent a few months moping around the house without any purpose for a while. You didn't have the evil androids around anymore. What were you supposed to do? Once the battle is fought and won, the warrior is useless." Juunana continued to circle him at a leisurely pace. Trunks watched his profile since it was the most of his face that he could see.

"You probably started visiting these villages as an attempt to feel needed," Juunana said this without any inflection or change in expression. He sounded utterly bored with the subject. He let out a sort of short chuckle in a puff of breath. He turned and smirked at Trunks. "Humans. You really are quite predictable."

Trunks glared into the ice blue eyes that were much closer than he would have liked. Juunana had been moving closer with every step he had made without Trunks realizing it.

He hated the android all over again for every word that he had just spoken. He wished he had brought his sword. 'How dare he think that he knows anything about me!'

Juunana reached out, still smirking, to brush cool fingers over the fist Trunks had formed unconsciously at his side. "Predictable," he said as he trailed his fingers down Trunks' clenched ones. "All I had to do was push the right buttons and you're ready to explode.

"Granted you do have moments when you surprise even me." He lifted his face closer to Trunks' and they were now only inches apart. "So, Trunks, why am I still alive?"

Trunks took a quick step back and pulled back his hand. He didn't like having the android that close to him. He especially didn't like the way Juunana hadn't seemed to be in any hurry to release his hand. "You already said it yourself. Yemma let you go."

Juunana continued to smirk. "You know that's not what I meant," he said as he took the step that brought him closer to Trunks.

Trunks wanted to run away very badly. Juunana-gou was still very capable of intimidating him with or without his power. It was the pride that he had inherited from his father kept him in his place. He would not run from him. He had fled once already since the androids returned and didn't want to do it again.

"What is it that you want from me?" Trunks asked quietly. He was relieved that his voice came out calmer than he was. He spoke softly but knew that the android would have no trouble hearing him. He was too damn close to not have.

Juunana did what he usually did with things that he felt unimportant or below his notice. He ignored the question. "I have a theory. Let me know if I'm right." He managed to give the impression that he was looking down on Trunks even though they were about the same height. "This is one of those 'be the bigger man' things, isn't it? You just wanted to be able to feel good about yourself."

"Just because you're only out for yourself doesn't mean that's the way everyone else is," Trunks said as calmly as he was able to. "There's nothing wrong with making sure I never sink to your level."

Juunana's eyes bored into Trunks' head as though reading whatever it was that he wanted to know at the back of Trunks' skull. It was very disconcerting. "That wasn't the only reason," Juunana whispered.

"Don't start thinking too much of yourself, android," Trunks said.

"I don't doubt that you would kill me," Juunana said flippantly, "I just think that you'll wait for me to give you a good reason."

With that Juunana-gou leaned forward and, for the second time since his return, shocked Trunks with a kiss. There was one big difference. The first kiss had been a mere brush of lips where this was a total lip lock.

Trunks was shocked still and was too surprised to push him away. After a second Juunana-gou pulled away and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You seem to be more open minded when you're looking for answers so I thought I would get some insurance." With that he was gone. He vanished into the forest and there was no way for Trunks to track him.

Trunks rubbed at his mouth with the back of his hand and looked around. The only people to see what had just transpired included a couple of birds and a squirrel. He slowly lifted into the air and started home. At the moment he wasn't thinking too heavily on what had happened. He was far to numb for that. He knew that later everything would hit him.

For now though, he was able to ignore everything that had just happened. It wouldn't last long, but at least he could have a few minutes of peace.