"Gomen. I didn't mean to sleep so late," she apologized to Bulma, who was in the lab. "It's only 7! Trunks is probably just waking up," "I usually get up around 4:15," Areku explained.

Just then Trunks entered the lab, looking tired- like he hadn't gotten enough sleep. "Gomen nasai," Areku said when she saw him. "Why?" She blushed.

"I sort of rushed through the healing thing yesterday. One of the side effects is drowsiness, since what it is is sort of using your own system to get healed but faster than it would naturally take, which takes a lot of energy. It's physically draining," she replied.

"Oh. It's okay. I don't mind. But what about you?"

"I just woke up late,"

"Ookay. Another early bird." He turned to Bulma. "When's breakfast?" "I'm almost done. Give me about fifteen minutes, okay?" He sighed.

"Anything I can do?" Areku asked. "Well. . . . .what do you know about computers?" Her eyes lit up. "Just about everything!" she said. "Okay. Will you copy these files to the CC folder and take the data from this program and download it onto a disk? Trunks will show you where the folder and disks are," Bulma said, standing up. "I'll go make breakfast before someone tries to make it themselves," she said with a pointed look at Trunks. She winked at them both and left.

"What happened?" Areku asked as she sat down in front of the monitor. He blushed. "I couldn't figure out how to work the oven so I tried a different way," he explained sheepishly, blushing a brighter red. She burst out laughing. "Gomen," she finally said, gasping for air. The image of him, a Saiya-jin, 'cooking' something- probably with his own energy- was hilarious. "It's just-" she started laughing again, but became serious as she turned to the computer. "Okay. Umm, where's the CC folder?" Trunks leaned over her shoulder and pointed.

'Oh, wow!' she thought, her eyes briefly traveling to him, then hurriedly back to the screen. 'What am I doing??' she wondered, blushing slightly. 'You know better than that, Areku. Snap out of it!' She shook her head to clear it.

"What?" he asked, bringing her mind back to what she was supposed to be doing. "Hm?" "You were shaking your head. What's wrong?" he asked. "Oh, nothing. Just thinking about something,"

Just as they finished, Bulma came in saying breakfast was ready. "Hey! You got it done!" she exclaimed, looking at the screen. "Hai, why are you surprised?" "No reason. . . ."

"Trunks? Will you do me a favor?" Areku asked. Trunks blushed slightly and she raised an eyebrow. "Um, what favor?" he asked timidly. "I was hoping you'd spar with me later. I'm pretty good at ki attacks and controlling the Elements, but I have a hard time when it comes to hand-to-hand fighting."

She hated admitting it, but there wasn't really a way around it. And he'd be the best sparring partner she'd had in three years- someone that wasn't bent on torturing her or killing her or both. "Are you sure?" She eyed him and he blushed again. "Do you think I'd bother to ask you if I weren't?"

"Okay. We'll start after breakfast,"

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Someone's having a few 'inside problems', don't you think?? Oh, and in case you couldn't tell, Areku doesn't like showing her feelings too much. . . .sounds like someone we all know, doesn't it?!? Oh, and 'with his own energy' -- think of when Gohan 'cooks' that meat thingy in the Room of Spirit and Time, and Gokou's hair catches fire, now translate that to Trunks trying to cook and instead of someone's hair, it's more like the whole kitchen. . . . . .I wonder if he had to clean it up?!?!

And have you ever heard the phrase 'fast friends'?

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