"Aaaahhhhhh!" Gohan squealed, gripping the back of her t-shirt in response.

Acia giggled, quickly letting go of the tender spot.

Gohan's heart was beating fast, his face flushed red with pain, panic bubbling in his stomach. He knew that scar was still sensitive – he was always careful not to scrub it too hard in the shower – but he'd never imagined it could hurt so bad. And all she'd done was press her fingers against it! He couldn't imagine how bad it would be to have someone's elbow jammed into it.

As Gohan tried to catch his breath, Acia sat cross-legged on the bed, still giggling at the bewildered expression on his face. She knew it hurt, but that was sort of the point. If he was going to be serious about growing his tail back, he should know what he was getting into.

And it was just fun to mess with him.

Pain subsiding, Gohan's panic gave way to anger. "That wasn't very nice, Acia! It really hurt."

"Oh boo hoo," Acia teased. "A Super Saiyan like you can take a little pain."

In a second Gohan was standing in front of her, glaring, his ki raised. Suddenly, Acia felt that she'd pushed him a little too far. She'd never seen him look like that before, like he was truly angry, like he wanted revenge. The smile fell from her face and her shoulders tensed, hands gripping the blanket beneath her as she prepared for the punishment he would mete out.

Well, she said to herself, I said I wanted to push him to his breaking point…

But Gohan was relenting at the sight of her wary face. His own expression relaxed, and he sighed a little. "It must have been really bad when your dad grew your tail back."

What?!

"You-you're not angry anymore," she said, stunned.

Gohan shrugged. "You weren't trying to hurt me."

"Yes I was!" Acia pushed herself up in one movement to stand practically nose-to-nose with the taller teen, her eyes burning with rage and frustration. Hands balled into fists, she punched him viciously in the chest, forcing him to step back, his mouth open in shock.

"Acia…"

"What's wrong with you?!" Acia was practically screaming now – fortunately Trunks was at the Son's and Bulma was buried deep in her lab, so there was no one to come investigate. "How dare you treat me this way?"

"Wha-Acia, I don't understand…."

"Like a child!" She punched him again, harder. "I am not a child!"

"Acia, stop it!" Gohan grabbed her wrists as she punched again, widening his stance to steady himself against her. "What's gotten into you?!"

Acia attempted to jerk her wrists from him. "Let me go," she said from between gritted teeth.

"Acia, I'm not trying to treat you like a child," Gohan said, tightening his grip on her wrists and looking directly into her eyes. "I'm just being nice!"

The two teenagers stood there, between the bed and the wall, so close they were almost pressed together. Arms held out as Gohan maintained his grip on Acia's wrists, his head tilted down to look at her while she looked up, eyes roaming his open, honest face.

Time seemed slower through the face-off. Seconds passed by like hours.

There was silence.

"Why?" Her voice, skeptical, angry, cut through the silence like a steel knife.

"I-I like you." His voice, soft, bewildered, blew through her hair like the cool breeze coming from the open window.

"I'm not nice to you."

Slowly, Gohan released her. "I don't treat people based on how they treat me. I treat them based on how I want them to treat me." He smiled. "Besides, you're not so bad."

Acia crossed her arms slowly, her gaze unblinking and suspicious. "I've killed people."

Gohan sighed, his smile faltering. "I know."

"I've stolen things. I stole a spaceship once before. I don't regret it either. It was fun."

"O-okay…"

"And easy. I could do it again. I would do it again, if it weren't for your father and Bulma."

Gohan's shoulders slumped under the weight of these confessions. "That's not good."

But Acia wasn't done. "I hurt Trunks…"

"What?" Gohan's brows furrowed.

Acia bit her lip. She shouldn't have said that. "I-I threw a pitcher of lemonade at him yesterday." This at least was true, although Trunks had managed to dodge the flying jug and then turned on her like a spinning top.

Gohan grinned. "You could try to be a bit more patient with him. He's just a kid."

Acia rolled her eyes. She'd heard that one before, and the more time she spent with her cousin the more she suspected he was possessed by some kind of demon. Turning away from her one-time date, she returned to the bed with a huff. "You should have a nice girl to like, Gohan."

"I did like a nice girl." Gohan moved to join her on the bed. "Two years ago, I was dating a girl, and she was very nice. She was smart and a good fighter, and I-I liked her a lot."

Acia sat up straighter, her attention captured by what was clearly a personal, intimate story. "What happened to her?"

Gohan rubbed his eyes. "Do you remember the story I told you on our first date? About Cell?" Acia nodded. "She was the daughter of the man who said he defeated Cell. Her father became very rich and very famous after that, and when she learned the truth, that I was the one who defeated Cell, it-it just,' he paused, sighing again. "It sat between us.

"It wasn't so bad at first. She was so fascinated by me being Saiyan and flying and, you know, all of it. But over time I think it became harder for her to accept that she had been living a lie for so long. Even though I told her I never wanted the money or the recognition." He scratched his head. "Somehow I think that made it worse. And her dad was always a joke to, you know, Vegeta and Krillin and everyone else. Even my dad, I mean he was always really nice to Videl and her father, but he just couldn't take them seriously. And that really hurt her. So we broke up." Gohan grinned self-consciously. "Actually, she dumped me."

"Hmm." Acia chewed her lips thoughtfully. "So now you imagine you'll have better luck with a mean girl."

Gohan laughed. "I don't think you're a mean girl, Acia. I know you've done a lot of bad things. But you haven't done anything bad since you got here" – guilt twisted in the pit of her stomach – "and I think that shows you're a good person. So I want us to be friends. You could use a friend, right? I know I could."

Acia swallowed, dark eyes once again roaming Gohan's face for signs of deceit. This time, they were filled not with skepticism but with something else. Something warm, glowing.

Hope?

"Friends treat each other as equals," she said.

"Friends are nice to each other," he replied.

She smiled, and held out a hand. "Deal."

Gohan took it, smiling back as they shook on their agreement.

Then he bent forward and kissed her.

It was a chaste kiss, a light pressure against her lips before he retreated, face red and smile wavering, unsure.

Acia licked her lips slowly, savoring the strange feeling, the unfamiliar taste. Then, "You taste like you smell."

"Huh?"

She licked her lips again. "It's like your scent is also a taste." It was hard to explain; it had never occurred to her that people could have tastes the way they had scents.

"Um…," Gohan felt his blush deepen. "Is it a good taste?"

Acia's head tilted thoughtfully for a moment before she leaned up towards his face and pressed her lips against his, eyes open and boring holes into him as his own eyelids fluttered with the pressure and the pleasure.

"I suppose," she said when she let go.

"Huh?" Gohan was starting to feel a little dazed.

"I suppose it's a pleasant taste."

"Oh. Um…" – don't push it – "that-that was a pretty tame kiss. I mean it was nice!" he corrected quickly as Acia's brows furrowed. "But we could, you know, more…if you want…heh heh…"

An awkward silence filled the room. Gohan sat, face tomato red, as Acia stared at him with the most inexplicable look on her face.

Finally she shrugged. "Trunks' isn't home yet."

Later, when Gohan was gone and the sky had darkened, Acia lay in bed with her thoughts and wondered.

Had she ever really had any friends? She'd always thought of her father's crew as her friends, but they were more like her caretakers than anything else. DeeDee and Finn especially were like a second set of parents. Even Quoarin, who was the youngest of their group, was a good 13 years older than her.

Now Gohan was her friend. Although the kissing was probably outside the scope of friendship. Still, it was probably a better approximation than her relationship with anyone else.

Did she believe him, when he said he thought she was a nice person? Did she believe that he had no other motives?

He's definitely enjoying the physical stuff, she thought cynically. And yet..

He's trustworthy.

But I'm not…

The traitorous thought broke through her subconscious like a wave against the rocks – inevitable, undeniable. Wasn't she planning an escape under his nose? Hadn't she practically forgotten he even existed, so wrapped up in her search for the scouter was she?

Wouldn't she, when the time came, leave this planet without so much as a farewell to him?

A lump materialized in her throat. Her breath constricted, and her body tensed as a sense of distress overwhelmed her. Suddenly this most basic part of her plan seemed…mean.

She rolled over in the bed, clutching the sheets to her chest. Well fine, it is mean. So? I warned him.

This didn't seem like such a good excuse all of a sudden.

What else is there? What can I do? Stay here?

…

This was really frustrating.

And ridiculous. Ridiculous!

All this because of a few stupid kisses, she thought, punching the pillow viciously as she twisted round again. What if we'd actually done something worth talking about…

The kissing was pretty nice though…

It wasn't just kissing, she remembered suddenly, her body burning under the sheets. She'd let him play with her tail too! He'd been practically petting her!

Thank the gods Mother isn't here.

This was all her fault. She'd grabbed him by the river, she'd agreed to go on a date with him, she'd said he could come visit her here. And now she was…what?

What?

Now more than ever, she missed DeeDee. This was the kind of thing the older woman was good at. She knew how to handle people, how to say and do just the right thing to get what she wanted without having to give too much in return. Acia wasn't even sure what she wanted from Gohan, let alone how she was going to get it.

If anything, he was likely to get a lot more out of this, whatever it was, than she was. How embarrassing. DeeDee would be so ashamed of her now.

Well one thing was for sure, her plan had to go forward no matter what. She would find that scouter, and with it a way off this ball of dust and out into the real world.

The bedsheets twisted in her grasp. She had to do this.

What else is there?

Meanwhile, far way in the depths of space, two people are having a heated discussion as they hurtle through the inky blackness.

They are being shot at by another ship. This is making the discussion even more tense than usual.

"I thought you said you were the best fighter pilot in the galaxy."

"I am!"

"Well, I'm quite certain that last shot missed our engine by an inch and a half."

"Well it missed, didn't it!"

"We can't keep doing this."

"Yes, thank you very much for that wonderful piece of insight! I have given you a perfectly reasonable solution…"

"Absolutely unacceptable."

"Why?"

"You know why. We'll just put her in unnecessary danger, and I took an oath…"

"Yes, so I've heard. I am sick of you implying that you care about her more than I do. You barely know the girl!"

"Yes well, you're not even supposed to know where she is."

"Well excuse me for not trusting the parenting instincts of a couple of Saiyans. I got that information because I don't want her to be harmed!"

"Then do her a favor and stay clear of her."

Another shot was fired and the pilot jerked the ship out of the way just in time.

"I'm starting to get a headache."

"I birthed that girl you know! Me and Cora in a room barely big enough to hold the bed she was on, screaming like a crazy woman while she pushed out a pile of blood and flesh and hair!"

"That sounds disgusting."

"It was disgusting! But I would do it all over again for her. And you dare suggest that I would deliberately put her in harm's way! It's not like you've got any ideas!"

"I told you, shoot them down."

"And I told you, shooting them will just get us into more trouble. There's plenty more where these boys came from, and the more soldiers they lose the more determined they'll be to catch us."

"Then why do you think we'll lose them on the way to that planet? Eearth?"

"It's a long trip, and I'm a very good pilot."

"So you say. I think one of those shots damaged the spare generator."

"Gods, you are the absolute worst. We should have just gone to Quelda with 'Rin. At least I wouldn't have to deal with you on my own."

"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's go vacation in a warzone, that'll be much less dangerous than this joyride."

"They could probably use our help, and we'd at least have something to do."

"The last time you looked for something to do we ended up in this mess!"

"Fine! Hold on tight, my green friend. This joyride is about to get very bumpy."