"I cannot believe you let her just walk away!"

Vegeta was holding the phone in one hand and a coffee mug in the other, glaring daggers at Dr. Briefs. The old man is lucky I don't kill people for being annoying anymore, he thought.

Unaware of the venomous nature of his son-in-law's thoughts, Dr. Briefs was going about breakfast as usual. "She didn't walk away, she flew," he said matter-of-factly. "There was nothing I could do about it. And I still don't see why you're so worried about the girl. This is just what teenagers do."

Behind his pancakes, Trunks grinned.

"You could have at least woken me up! I could have caught her! Now who knows where she's hiding…"

"Son residence," Goten's polite phone voice came over the speaker. "May I ask who's speaking?"

"Listen brat, tell your father to get his ass over here in the next ten seconds, understood?"

Without waiting for an answer, Vegeta shut the line, then waved the phone at his wife. "Call the midget."

"Which one?"

"Either one!"

"Goodness Vegeta, who knew you were such a protective parent?" Dr. Briefs shook his head. "Really though, she'll be back. Isn't that right dear?"

"Of course!" Bunny Briefs was clearing plates from the kitchen table. "She's just a sweet little girl, and every girl needs a change of clothes and a soft bed to sleep on."

Vegeta scowled at them. "I am not being protective! She has to…"

"Hey guys, what's up?" Goku's smiling face had materialized in the kitchen.

"The brat was here last night. She tried to steal a spaceship."

"Now, now," Dr. Briefs said. "We don't know that. Perhaps she was just looking at it."

Vegeta elected to ignore this. How a man so brilliant could be so gullible was beyond him. "Kakarot, we are going to find her today. I am done playing games."

"Alright Vegeta. Say, where were you last night? Weren't you here?"

"Of course I was here!" Vegeta growled. "I was asleep! The good doctor didn't bother to tell me she was here until this morning, and that's only because Bulma brought it up!"

Goku scratched the back of his head. "Gee, Vegeta, I didn't think you'd sleep through her coming into your house. You must be losing your edge in these peaceful times."

"I…she…I am not losing my edge!" Vegeta's face was turning an unattractive shade of red. "Look, are you going to help find her or not?!"

Two hours later, Chiaotzu was hovering above a cave in the southern wastelands.

She was definitely in here. Just his luck too.

Piccolo had reached out to him early that day, saying that Acia had made an appearance at Capsule Corp. the night before and Vegeta was officially losing it.

Chiaotzu really, really didn't want to get involved with this. It wasn't even his business – she wasn't his niece! But, well, he felt kinda bad for the girl. They had shared few meals after all, although he'd been the one doing most of the sharing, and that rather reluctantly. Still, it had to count for something. And she wasn't a bad person, when you got right down to it. She could be kind of sweet. In a way.

And living with Vegeta would drive anyone over the edge, he reasoned with himself. Look at Bulma – she'd had a child with the man. If that wasn't a sure sign of insanity, Chiaotzu didn't know what was.

So here he was, right above the makeshift residence of a very powerful and volatile teenage girl, expected to talk some sense into her.

He needed backup.

The small human reached out with his mind, looking for Piccolo. Instead, he found…

"Hey Chiaotzu, what's up?"

"Listen Goku, is Vegeta with you?"

"No, we split up a while ago. Is everything alright?"

"I found her."

"That's great! I'll be right there!"

"Don't tell Vegeta, okay?"

"Yeah, I think we should probably talk to her first."

That done, Chiaotzu took a deep breath and landed a few feet away from the cave. Slowly he made his way over, peering inside. "Acia?" he called out tentatively.

Chiaotzu dodged just in time to miss the ki blast that had come shooting out at him from the darkness. He lost his balance for a moment but regained it quickly and crouched into a defensive stance as Acia came running out, her hand raised in front of her.

Her face softened at the sight of him. "It's you!" she said, surprised. She lowered her arm and bent over to look at him more closely. "Are you alright? I didn't hit you, did I?"

"I'm okay," he said as he straightened himself up. He smiled into her concerned face – why had he been so scared of her? "Are you alright? We've all been really worried about you."

He looked her over. There was a piece of fabric tied around her ankle; looking up, he noticed that her shirt was torn. "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head, sitting on the ground. "I sprained my ankle, that's all. How did you find me?"

"We've been searching for you for a couple days now."

"We?"

"Me, Piccolo, Krillin, Goku…Vegeta."

Acia's face crumpled.

Chiaotzu sighed, and gave her hand a small squeeze. "Look, no one's going to hurt you. No one is going to cut your tail off or anything like that."

She looked at him. "I didn't mean to do it," she said in a small voice. "I didn't know the moon was out, it was so cloudy…"

"It's okay Acia, really. Just come home with me, okay?"

"No."

"Why not? Vegeta's mad, but when isn't he? He'll yell a little and it'll be fine, honestly."

"No," she said again, her voice stronger now. "I'm leaving."

"Huh?"

"I'm leaving. I'm taking one of Bulma's spaceships."

"WHAT?!" Goku came running out from seemingly nowhere.

Acia scrambled to her feet and, to Chiaotzu's horror and amazement, hid behind him. In different circumstances he would be rolling on the floor laughing at the idea that he could be any kind of defense against Goku, of all people.

"What are you doing here?!"

"You can't leave!"

"Go away!"

"Are you really leaving?!"

"This is not your concern! Why are you even here?!"

"Guys, guys!" Chiaotzu yelled, trying to regain control of the situation. "Everyone stop yelling and let's just talk about this…"

"I'm not saying anything around him," Acia said, pointing an accusatory finger at Goku.

"Me?! What did I do?"

"Why don't you just put your hand on my head and find out?!" she spat.

"Aw, Acia!" the man said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "I'm real sorry about that. I didn't think I would see anything so emotional. I won't do it again. You're not really mad at me, are you?"

Acia's face burned with indignation. She'd been so humiliated that day, and now it was all supposed to go away with a smile and an apology? Anger rising, her ki spiked and before her brain could form a protest, she launched herself over Chiaotzu and at Goku.

Goku blocked her furious attack, a bewildered look on his face as Chiaotzu yelled out for her to stop. He had sensed the change in her temperament, but he had not expected this. The girl kicked and punched at him relentlessly, pushing him backwards as he dodged and blocked. Should he fight back, he wondered? He could see she needed to blow off some steam – would engaging her help speed up the process, or would it serve only to enrage her further?

Finally Goku decided on the former approach. With one swift movement he swiped his leg under hers, tripping her onto her back and crouching into a fighter's stance. "You wanna fight me, Acia? Let's fight."

"Goku, what are you doing?!"

The man smiled good-naturedly at his friend. "Don't worry Chiaotzu, it'll be fine."

Acia jumped up, wincing slightly as she landed on the foot she'd injured hunting just a couple hours ago. The logical reasoning part of her brain screamed that this was an exercise in futility, but a deeper, more powerful instinct quashed the voice, urging her to reclaim her pride by defeating the man in front of her. She wanted blood.

The two Saiyans fought for nearly two hours, Chiaotzu sitting in the dirt with his head in his hands. This was a disaster. Acia was attacking Goku ferociously; very differently from the methodical approach she normally utilized. She clearly wasn't thinking, going on rage and instinct, and Goku could see that. He focused on defense, occasionally landing a few blows himself. Every time he knocked her down the girl got back up more determined than before, until finally, with one strong hit to her neck, she landed solidly in the dust.

For several long minutes, Acia lay on her back blinking up at the blue sky above, anger seeping away slowly. She was exhausted and her ankle was throbbing. She wondered idly if it had graduated from sprained to broken in the fight.

Eventually she pushed herself up onto her elbows to examine her opponent. He was still standing, of course, but panting and bent over, supporting his hands on his knees. Acia could see bruises and scratches on his arms and face from her attack. It was hardly anything, she conceded, but given his status as a fighter and the state of exhaustion she was in, it would have to do.

Goku walked over to her. "That was a hell of a fight!" he said, holding out a hand to her. She took it, pulling herself up and grimacing at the pain in her foot.

"Are you okay?" Goku asked, reaching down to touch her swollen ankle.

"I'm fine," she said, pushing his hand away.

"Here," he leaned over, supporting her with his arms. "Look, you're not really going to try to take a spaceship and leave, are you?"

"I'm going to do more than try," Acia said.

"You can't go!"

"Why not?!" Acia took a deep breath as she felt frustration building again. "I know what I'm doing. I'm an expert pilot and I know where I'm going and how to get there."

"Where would you go?" Goku sat her on a large rock as Chiaotzu joined them, looking relieved that things had finally settled down.

"There's a planet we used to go to all the time – one of our fighters is from there. He's probably there now, and even if he's not I've met his family, I can stay with them until he shows up."

"Well, that does sound good," Goku conceded, "but I really think you should stay here. I mean, your parents brought you here. They wanted you to be here, with us."

Yeah, and then they left me! Acia bristled. "I don't care anymore. I hate this planet."

"It's not that bad!" Acia turned to look at the sad face of Chiaotzu. He was right, in a way. Earth was quite nice aesthetically, and not everyone made her feel homicidal. She really liked Chiaotzu, Dende was nice, and the little girls were tolerable. Bulma and Trunks had grown on her. And she was learning a lot – with a little more practice, she'd have telekinesis mastered. But still, things would be better on Quelda, easier, less confusing…

"You don't have to go back to Bulma's right away if you're not ready," Goku said. "Why don't you stay with me for a while?" He gave her a big smile while Chiaotzu tried to tell him to abort mission with his eyebrows. "You'll love it! We live in a real nice place, and I know Goten will be so excited for you to stay over! Chi Chi's cooking is amazing, and she's gonna love you!"

Chiaotzu's eyebrows asked if Goku had, in fact, ever met Chi Chi.

Acia bit the inside of her mouth as she considered the offer. What she really wanted to do was get the hell off this planet. But after last night her uncle was bound to be on high alert for her to make another attempt to take a ship, which meant that her plan had been effectively thwarted, at least for the time being. She was dreading going back to her uncle after what had happened, and she doubted staying at the Lookout was an option. She briefly considered staying with Chiaotzu but dismissed the thought quickly – her uncle would never leave her under the supervision of a weak human. She sighed inwardly. There were worse people in the universe to bunk with than Goku and his family.

Probably.

A/N: It feels like it's been forever since I've updated this story, and that's partly because as the plot becomes more complex and the characters' courses intertwine more and more, it's getting harder to write chapters that move the story along at a decent pace while staying true to the characters. Please let me know what you think of my writing so far - any feedback is appreciated!