CHAPTER 11

"I just can't believe you were injured all this time and I didn't even know about it! I should have come sooner!" Louisa gushed petty sentiments at an alarming speed while simultaneously pretending to inspect Trunks' face and arms for wounds. The young man merely sat atop his bed, dumbfounded at the turn of events that had taken place in the last three minutes. His first instinct was to jump up, dart out of his home, and fly after Ada, to whom he imagined he would elegantly deliver some very apologetic and heroic dialogue.

Of course, he was yet unable to walk, which made all of that rather difficult.

Instead, Trunks fumbled to come up with some way to get Louisa away from him without hurting her feelings. He had all but forgotten about the chirpy girl, assuming that her fickleness had led her to pursue someone else. So surprised was he to see her now doting over him that he was not even peeved at the phoniness of her concern.

Trunks listened to Louisa give a very vivid, very detailed account of the androids' destructive rampage several days ago and how her best friend's home had almost been hit, but she got so, sooo lucky, and the cute guy from across the street had even come over to make sure said friend was alright, and it was sooo romantic! After nearly a half hour of the story, Trunks felt his eyelids begin to droop. He blinked and looked over at Louisa (who was now talking delightedly about her father's new pastry recipe).

There's got to be a way to end this.

He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, opened his mouth, and then decided that he really ought to think about his words before speaking so candidly to her. Thus, the warrior ended up spending almost another hour nodding and smiling as Louisa continued her tale, all the while coming up with and scrapping ideas in his head. Sure, the girl was almost intolerably annoying to most people, but Trunks could not help but see some good qualities in her, qualities that would certainly be just right for, well…someone. Louisa was beautiful, positive, and, despite a few unintentionally rude remarks now and again, generally good with people. Trunks could not stand her and wanted to bid her happy trails as quickly as possible, but he did not want to hurt her. He had, after all, started the whole thing when he had asked her out.

"…but that's about all the news I have," Louisa flashed Trunks a brilliant smile. "What about you, sweetie? How did you get in this condition?"

"Uh…bad break, I guess," he responded sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Listen, Louisa…thanks a lot for coming to visit me…really nice of you…" Stop stalling, dammit! "I was hoping that, while you're here, we could maybe…we could talk."

"Sure, but what do you want to talk about?" she asked quizzically.

"Well," he sighed and motioned awkwardly between the two of them. "About…about this…us…"

"Really? About us?" It took somewhere around a millisecond for Louisa's expression to go from innocent inquiry to cunning excitement. "Trunks, is it that you're ready to get more serious? I gotta admit that I thought you'd be the type of guy who wanted to take things really slowly and all…but I'm not complaining!" She drew herself a bit closer to him and laid a hand on his thigh. "We should probably wait until you're all healed up, but–"

"That's definitely not what I had in mind!" Trunks replied in shock after having drawn himself as far up against his headboard and away from Louisa as possible.

"Oh," she said simply, the confused look coming back into her eyes. "Then what did you want to talk about?"

"Louisa," he began, considerably less afraid of her than he had been several seconds before, "you're…you're really great…and nice…and pretty…but I–" Trunks stopped short, assessing the situation and deciding upon a route to take while simultaneously still recovering his bearings after her previous comments. "I don't think that we're right for each other."

"What do you mean?" She looked as though she understood perfectly well and was vaguely hurt.

"We're just…we're really different, which isn't bad or anything, I just think that you would get a lot more enjoyment out of a guy who was more…compatible…with you, you know?"

Louisa seemed to be mulling the idea over. Trunks continued, "There are plenty of great guys out there who would be really, really happy to get a chance with you, and I have a feeling they would be more fun that I am."

"I guess you might be right," she conceded thoughtfully. "I really do like you…but there are lots of other guys who've asked me out…"

Trunks just stared at her, a little surprised at her agreeing with him and desperately praying that the behavior would continue.

"But…I wouldn't want you to be upset about not having me around…" Louisa mentioned.

"No need to worry about that – I've got a lot going on right now," he returned, visions of time travel and android battles flashing through his mind. That's an understatement. Trunks suddenly felt terribly ashamed that he was sitting in his room, breaking things off with some girl for whom he had no feelings – doing things, he reasoned, that a person his age normally would – when he was supposed to be training to save the world. The idea of involvement with a girl seemed frivolous, almost ridiculous, and pangs of guilt began to darken his thoughts.

"If you're sure…" Louisa hesitated. Trunks gave her a simple smile and nod, and she grinned back at him, clapping her hands happily. "Well, that settles it, then! Trunks, you're such a sweetheart, you know? I've never had a guy breakup with me before – I've always been the one to end things – and I've always heard that it's just terrible and painful and heart-breaking, but I've really had a nice time tonight! You talked more than you ever have before! You're not really a chatty guy, I guess. Maybe you can find a nice girl who doesn't like to talk, either!"

Her sentiment, although a little ridiculous, was so genuine at this point that Trunks could not help but smile as she hugged him and then, eyes wide, reclaimed her previous seat. "I didn't want to make you jealous before, but now I suppose it's alright to tell you…this really, really cute guy from the bakery asked me to have coffee with him! Let me start from the beginning. So, I was really bored the other day, and…"

Trunks, blissfully unaware of anything that Louisa was saying, leaned back against his headboard.

I guess I don't have to bother with all of that 'let's still be friends' nonsense.

xxx

Ada did not return to Capsule Corporation the following evening, and Trunks wasn't surprised. He didn't blame her, he thought with a frown. She had only been coming around after her clean-up work to keep him company, and he'd hardly shown his gratitude. But having her there with him, having her around to talk to, to sit with, (to look at, he admitted to himself with a blush), had turned a humiliating defeat into one of the best weeks he'd had in months.

Trunks had spent the entire day thinking similar thoughts, all of which he used to will himself to get up and struggle on after he had fallen again, and again, and again. He had, after all, spent the entire day teaching himself how to walk again. Much to the chagrin of his mother ("I don't care if you are a Saiyan, those enormous gashes all over your body will be happy to split back open and give you some terrible infection anyway! Sometimes you can be almost as pig-headed as your father was…"), Trunks had been trolling the floors of his basement home, bracing himself against the walls and limping.

Many hours and several painful falls onto his injured arm and leg later, the boy was walking without any help and a limp about half as severe as the one he had begun with. After making one last journey around the house for good measure, Trunks showered and got dressed. He shoveled down a meal and, just as the sun was beginning to set, pulled on a light jacket and headed for the door.

"Going somewhere?" Bulma asked.

"Yep. Be back later. Love you, Mom!" he called as he struggled up the stairs and out of the door.

"I don't suppose you were planning on telling me where!" Bulma shouted after him and then huffed, rolled her eyes, and set about repairing the tuning dial on the radio.

xxx

The flight took more energy than Trunks would have liked, but it could hardly be helped in his current state. Driving would have taken twice as long, after all, and time was always a factor when journeying as far as the Eastern Mountains.

Night had fallen when he landed in front of the Son home, a night so pervaded by the light of the full moon that it bore more resemblance to dawn. Trunks approached the front door and raised his fist to knock.

He paused. He had no idea what he would say when Ada asked why he was there, how he would explain the incident with Louisa…he was woefully unprepared. Trunks was standing on the doorstep of Ada's home, desperately wanting to see her, and yet he could not quite explain any of the things that went on within him every time he spoke with, saw, or even thought about the girl in question. He was so unsure of his feelings himself, in fact, that he assumed it would be impossible to convey them to Ada.

But he had to see her. Trunks took a deep breath and unclenched his fist, alarmed at how much his hand was shaking. He was a challenger of soulless killing machines, son of the prince of an ancient warrior race, heir to what was once the largest and most powerful corporation on the planet, and yet, Trunks lamented with frustration and shame, he trembled at the prospect of revealing himself to a girl he had known almost from birth.

This is ridiculous. Just find her, and talk to her…and things will work out,he reasoned. Right?

Trunks readied himself again to knock on the door, and his fist had nearly made contact with the wood when he heard the almost inaudible singing of a woman. He looked around. It was coming from the other side of the house, he realized. Trunks' curiosity made him turn his thoughts inward so as to pinpoint the person's ki. It took him only a moment to realize that the voice was Ada's, not her mother's. He steeled himself and walked around the house.

Ada had evidently just pulled a load of laundry from the clothesline, and, her back to Trunks, she was setting down the wicker laundry basket and leaning up against a small building – the old home that her father had turned into a shrine to Gohan, her great-grandfather – to spend a moment taking in the lovely moon above Mount Paozu.

Her mind must be elsewhere – her thoughts are scattered – or else she would have sensed me coming, he thought.

The sight of Ada calmed Trunks' nerves, and he smiled as he noticed how her wet onyx hair was laced with threads of moonlight. The shape of her hips was visible beneath the cotton boxers she was wearing ("I can't help it if I happen to prefer men's underwear to other forms of pajamas, alright?"), and the accompanying long-sleeved Capsule Corporation tee-shirt seemed to suit her. She fingered a few strands of freshly-washed hair and sighed, still humming under her breath.

Trunks walked toward her, trying to make his footfalls heavy enough to alert her of his presence. Just popping up behind her and saying something…at night…in the middle of nowhere…would have been not only frightening but creepy.

She ceased humming and turned her head a little at the sound.

"Hey there," Trunks said, wishing he could have thought up a more eloquent way to announce his arrival. She stood up straight and turned to him.

"Oh…you're walking," Ada said in mild surprise.

"Yes," Trunks replied, slightly deflated at the lukewarm reception. "It took some trying, but I managed to get back on my feet. I think I can even go help at the clean-up sites tomorrow."

"That's ridiculous," she shot back. "Just because you can walk doesn't mean that you're well. Last I checked, that gash in your arm was just beginning to close, and what about your ribs?" Ada turned her piercing gaze toward him, one eyebrow raised in a combination of inquiry and mockery.

"I'm fine. It's not like I'm going to spend any more time just lying around. If it weren't for the city needing so much help right now, I would start training again."

"Also a terrible idea," Ada snipped. "But if you're so set on causing yourself more bodily harm, I think you ought to pick the training option."

"Why?" he asked incredulously. "A lot of people need help right now, and–"

"And what's going to help them more: one more volunteer piling up rubble or a hero preparing to save them all?"

His stomach shot into his throat. She called me a hero… "Then why aren't you training?"

"We both know that it's you we've got to worry about preparing. The only reason I've done any training at all over the past couple weeks is to give you a hand in making some progress before you leave again," she said simply.

"It just seems so ridiculous," he laughed bitterly. "You should be going to the past. You should have gone from the start. You're stronger than I am, and more collected."

"If anything, we might be equally matched," Ada corrected quickly.

"But you're better at controlling your power."

"Trunks, this is what's so frustrating!" she burst out suddenly. He jumped a little in surprise. "Don't you get it? You're one of the strongest fighters in the universe! Your power is absolutely incredible, and I just know that there's more waiting to come out–"

"You can't surpass a Super Saiyan," he shook his head.

"That's just the attitude you've got to get rid of. You have everything you need, all the tools to destroy the androids. But you have to believe you can. You've got to realize that this task was made for you, and that it might seem hopeless…but fate's going to step in…I know it will…" She seemed almost angry, desperate to make him hear her.

"You have no reason to believe yourself unable or inept," Ada finished, her voice barely more than a whisper. "I mean…you're going to save the world." She gave him a tiny smile and then leaned against the side of the shrine, twisting her damp hair in her hands.

As Trunks looked at her, he felt some unknown strength surge within him, a fiery will to do whatever was necessary to ensure that he did not fail her. He determined then that he would train harder, would begin earlier each day and continue until his body absolutely could not take anymore, would become whatever it was that Ada believed he could be.

The pair stood in silence and turned their eyes to the heavens as they had done so many weeks ago outside of the dilapidated hotel in West City. The crickets sang especially loudly, chanting one last summer night's chorus before disappearing for another cold season, and Trunks felt himself being lulled into peaceful tranquility by their chirping. The feeling of determination from several minutes before came pulsating back through his veins, this time urging him to tell her what he had come to say in the first place.

"Listen," Trunks said, "I wanted to thank you for staying with me these past few days. I'm sure you were exhausted, and the last thing you had in mind was probably sitting around, trying to keep me company. You being there…was really great." Trunks couldn't fight the serene, genuine smile that came across his face at the thought of Ada lying on his bed, quietly napping atop a book.

"I didn't do anything…really…" She turned her eyes down, still twisting her wet black hair into a low ponytail beside her cheek.

"Ada," Trunks said softly, longing to tell her a million different things but afraid of her response to any one of them. He merely stood there gazing at her, drinking in the features of her face. Her porcelain skin glowed a light rosy color from the recent scrubbing of a washcloth, her cheeks shining the brightest. Ada's bowed pink lips showed slight signs of being chewed on, perhaps from anxiousness, perhaps from simple habit. Unnoticeable to anyone who was not looking for it, a scar marked the area between her right eyebrow and hairline – a memento of a particularly nasty childhood encounter with a large tyrannosaurus. It was like this, with no cover or pretense, Trunks thought, that Ada was at her most beautiful.

Suddenly, he reached over to her and, placing one hand on her shoulder, gently turned her toward him.

xxx

Before Ada realized what was happening, she felt Trunks' lips press against her own. Her shock was such that she did not respond at all for several seconds but simply stood there, her arms falling limply to her sides. Ada slowly fluttered her eyes shut and returned the kiss, and in place of the surprise came an incredible warmth that spread from where their mouths met out to every inch of her body. She felt Trunks' ki rising as he slowly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, his fingers spread upon her back. Ada's hands found their way to his chest and rested there momentarily before sliding up and around to the back of his neck.

As Trunks pulled away just enough to look into Ada's eyes, both of them worked to catch their breath. He felt her heart beating rapidly against his chest and began to search her feelings.

She's scared. I should have said something before I did that…I was too eager. And now I've frightened her. Trunks' face fell into a shadow of a frown as he worked against his own will to release her from his embrace. Before he could make himself let go, however, Ada pulled herself closer to him and lightly touched her forehead to his. She was smiling, Trunks observed with relief. Ada leaned in for another kiss, and he most willingly obliged.

This one was different; no surprise, no fear, no anxiety corrupted the sweetness of it. The kiss simply felt right, like something that had been patiently waiting in the back of each of their minds and was finally free. Ada noticed with delight that Trunks' lips were soft but firm and that each time she made contact with him, his ki spiked involuntarily.

Ada smelled enchantingly warm, like lavender, and yet sweet, Trunks thought with a mental smile. It was…intoxicating. For the first time, he allowed the tugging, fluttery feeling that had frequented the pit of his stomach as of late to erupt and seize him. Trunks, after what he realized were weeks…months…perhaps years, even?...of shutting himself down when he was around Ada, let her sink into his skin. When she took her lips from his and leaned against him, nestling her head between his neck and shoulder, Trunks could feel his heart aching for the woman in his arms.

"Ada," he whispered, "I hope you know…that Louisa…I never felt anything for her."

"Oh?" she asked, a spot of fear tainting her voice. "She seems to be very fond of you…and she's a beautiful girl, no one can really deny that–"

"I was being childish when I got involved with her," Trunks interrupted, blushing as he did so. He desperately wanted to clear the air. "I was…I guess I was…"

"What?" Ada sounded somewhat hurt that Trunks had stained the first words spoken after such a wonderful kiss.

"I didn't know how to talk to you," he blurted out, desperately trying to salvage the moment in spite of his embarrassing admission. "And…I thought maybe Louisa would get you off my mind…" Trunks stopped short. "I sound ridiculous, don't I?"

"A little," she admitted, pulling her head from his shoulder and giving him a small smile. "But at least you're honest."

"ADA! Are you still out here?" The familiar piercing voice of Son Chi Chi came ringing from around the front side of the house.

Ada rubbed the bridge of her nose and looked apologetically at Trunks before calling back to her mother, "Yes! I'm coming!"

"I just don't want you to complain about being tired when you get up tomorrow!" harped the woman. The sound of the door shutting scared off the only nearby birds that hadn't flown away as quickly as possible after Chi Chi's first shout.

"In a normal world, we would be considered adults by now," Ada mused with a smirk. "But instead, we get to stay at home for the rest of our lives because there are rampaging, evil androids on the loose. Somehow, that logic just doesn't seem to follow.

Trunks chuckled lightly and sighed. "At least I can't feel bad about being the only one who ruined the moment." He blushed and put his hands in his pockets. "I guess I ought to go so you don't get in trouble for not making your bedtime."

"Oh, stop it," she responded to playful mockery in his voice. "Fly safely, alright?"

"For you, I will," he smiled before pulling her back to him again for another blissful kiss. Trunks kissed the top of her head and then levitated a few feet off the ground. Ada looked up at him, smiling like a young girl who's just gotten a Valentine from one of the boys in her class.

"Goodnight," he whispered.

"'Night," Ada replied, waving as he took flight and disappeared into the night sky.

xxx

Postscript: I wrote the scene for the kiss about a month ago…and then I scrapped it when I finally got to this chapter. I redid the entire thing from scratch, and I must admit that I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I can only hope that you are, too! Please, please review and let me know what you think of their big moment; I'm dying to know whether you liked it or not. As always, I'm exponentially (I need to start coming up with new adverbs to use here, because the one's I've been picking just don't convey my thanks enough) grateful to you for your readership and your reviews.

Post-postscript: In case you were wondering (doubtful, but who knows?) about the title for this chapter, it's actually from a song. I've decided to quit posting lyrics at the tops of chapters because it seems a little cliché (and says you aren't supposed to, but…yeah), but if you're curious, check out "Stars and the Moon" from Songs for a New World by Jason Robert Brown. Good stuff.