"Come on," Trunks said, powering up and shooting into the sky. Areku followed in a flash of blue. About ten minutes later they landed in a wide field about twenty feet apart. Areku crouched defensively, ready to block his attacks, and nodded to show she was ready.

Suddenly his ki shot up and he flew at her. She jumped into the air, then turned and delivered a kick to his back that sent him into the ground several feet.

'I shouldn't have hit him that hard!' Areku thought frantically. "Are you-" she began, but he shot up through the cloud of dust and almost managed to hit her. "You can't worry about your opponent," he told her. She took a deep breath and nodded.

Areku disappeared, then reappeared in front of him, hitting his stomach and making him double over in pain. His ki flared up and he struck out, sending her towards a cliff. At the last second, she twisted her body around and used her feet to bounce off the side, coming back at him.

'Great- sprained my ankle,' she thought miserably. He dodged her and with one fluid movement sent her flying toward the ground. 'This is going to hurt,' Areku thought as she put a shield around herself and fired a ki blast at the ground. The force of the explosion knocked her back up about fifty feet before she got control. She flashed out of sight, then reappeared above Trunks and tried to send him toward the ground. He grabbed her wrist and transformed into Super Saiya-jin so fast she was startled. 'Wow- he looks so cool!' she thought, teleporting out of his grasp just in time to avoid the attack that struck empty air.

"Do you want to take a break now?" he asked, suddenly behind her. "Not yet," she replied, whirling around to face him. He tried to flip her over his shoulder but she kicked his chin. The resulting effect was that they hit the ground, Areku on top. For a minute they stayed there, looking into each other's eyes. She fought a sudden urge to kiss the handsome face beneath her and rolled over, then got to her feet, keeping her weight to one side and blushing as she healed herself. After her cuts and bruises disappeared, she looked up at him and felt her blush get brighter. "Gomen," she said timidly. He smiled shyly, blushing himself. "It's okay. Um, would you mind. . . .?"

"Iie, of course not," she replied, putting her hands on his chest. She was still tired but it didn't affect the sharpness of her thoughts. 'What is wrong with me?' she wondered, closing her eyes and concentrating. 'He's just a guy. . .a very well-built, very cute guy, but he's still a Saiya-jin. . . .'

The minor pain she experienced whenever she healed someone jolted her thoughts back to what she was doing. She held back the tears that always threatened to spill over when she healed someone and focused. A minute later she removed her hands and opened her eyes.

"Better?" she asked. "Hai. Much. Um, Areku?" "Hai?" "Does it hurt whenever you do that? If it does, I don't want you to do it anymore unless it's absolutely necessary, okay?" "It's nothing, really."

"Areku. . . ." he said warningly, crossing his arms in front of himself. She grinned. "You look like your Otousan when you do that," she said. "Honto?" He looked somewhat pleased, then frowned. "Don't change the subject!" "It's nothing," she repeated.

"Nan-ji desu ka?"

"Sounds like you're hungry," he commented, glancing at his watch. "Oh, yeah." "Don't worry. Okaasan gave me lunch in case we got hungry," he said, pulling out a Capsule. It popped open to reveal a well-made lunch. "Remind me to thank your okaasan when we get back," Areku said as they started eating.

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When they were done, they sat back and looked up at the clear azure sky. Trunks kept glancing at her profile, which seemed to glow in the afternoon sunlight. Her hair had somehow managed to take on the color and glow of a Super Saiya-jin's without standing, spiked, above her head. She had her legs stretched out in front of herself, propping herself up on her arms. Her head was tilted back and she had a half-smile on her face.

The girl could fight, he had to give her credit for that. And with the ability to heal herself, she'd never have to worry about any scars. Kami, she was beautiful. And very interesting. He'd never thought about anyone- especially a girl- like he was about her right then. He didn't really have time for a personal life- Who did in this world?- even though his okaasan said he wouldn't have a problem when it came to getting girls to notice him-- whatever that meant.

Finally he couldn't resist anymore and pulled her towards him. Just once. He had to do it just once.

He kissed her gently, feeling her tense up, then relax. Waves of pleasure coursed through him and he leaned a little closer. . . . He pulled back suddenly, his lips burning from the kiss.

'I shouldn't have done that,' he thought miserably, blushing as he looked down at the ground. 'Now she's going to get mad, and-'

"I'm sorry. I just- I'm-" "Trunks?" "I'm sorr-" "Trunks!" "Yeah?" He stopped stammering and looked up. "You do know you wouldn't have done it if I hadn't wanted you to, right?" Areku asked softly. She looked somewhat stunned, but she was smiling. His eyes widened and his ki rose even higher as he felt his face flush a deep scarlet.

'She didn't mind??' he thought. 'She's made it pretty clear she had enough trouble with the guys at home but she acts like she. . .enjoyed that!' Suddenly he realized she was talking to him. "If you don't want a visit from Chikyuu's favorite . . . .set. . .of. . ." she trailed off, her gaze focusing on something behind him. He turned to look over his shoulder and saw a still-furious Juuhachigou, accompanied by her 'twin' oniichan, Juunanagou, a few feet away.

"I take it you're the baka that ruined the little game I was playing with your amusing tomodachi, ne?" she snapped at Areku. Areku stood up defiantly and Trunks could see the anger in her eyes as he joined her. "If I'm the baka, why are you the one causing destruction for the 'fun' of it?" Areku demanded angrily. "Who are you, anyway?" Juunanagou asked, his tone infuriatingly calm as he stepped forward. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She powered up and rose about ten feet into the air. *Back up,* she warned Trunks. As soon as he was at a safe distance, she started to glow.

The glowing turned to blue and white flames, crackling in the air. Her hair had turned a golden-white, and her eyes- *Don't look at my eyes!* Areku warned. Trunks quickly looked toward the jinzouningen, who were watching with interest. As they looked into her eyes, Trunks discovered why she'd told him to look away.

They started to glow but didn't seem to notice until they, too, burst into blue and white flames. Even from the distance he was at, Trunks could feel the searing heat and his eyes widened. "Power of Fire!" Areku screamed, and the fire started swirling around the three of them, glowing brighter. Trunks took a step back and noticed the Saiya-jin- like symbol for Fire on Areku's gem glow brightly. The jinzouningen's faces went from amused to pained and they quickly backed away but the flames stayed with them, melting their artificial skin and leaving large parts of the machinery underneath exposed. Unable to take it anymore, they turned and blasted into the air.

As they left, Areku started to fall from the sky, unconscious. Just before she hit the ground, Trunks caught her and took off for Capsule Corp., amazed at how cool her body was. On the way, he noticed the symbol for Fire had gone back to normal, but the one for Life had started to glow and fade with the rhythm of Areku's heartbeat. Every time her ki dropped to almost-death the symbol seemed to glow brighter, as if it were keeping her alive.

"Please wake up," he begged over and over, growing frantic when she stayed motionless. She was getting colder by the minute and he held her closer, hoping his okaasan could help.

"Okaasan!" he shouted as he touched down in front of the CC building. Bulma ran outside, took one look at Areku, and told Trunks to follow her. "What happened?" she asked as he gently set the unconscious girl in the remaining Rejuv. tank.

"The jinzouningen decided to pay us a visit," he explained, anger, fear, and worry in his voice. "She used some kind of really powerful attack that did some major damage to them. They took off and she fainted. Is she going to be okay?" Bulma sighed as she checked the readout of Areku's condition. "You said she can heal herself, right?" she asked. "Hai. Why?" "If we can get her to regain consciousness, she may be able to heal herself of any internal injuries better and faster than my machines can," she explained.

Trunks sat down in a chair to watch Areku. 'Why did she do that?' he wondered. 'She knew she would hurt herself! And I let her do it!' Guilt washed over him.

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Boy, they move pretty fast, huh? And Areku seems a little crazy, I know!! But don't judge her yet; she's as complex as I am, maybe more so. What'd you think?! PLEASE tell me or I won't be able to write anymore. . . .sniff. . . .that'll be SO SAD. . . . okay, okay, here's the next chapter. Write me when you're ready, just write me, okay?? Alex-chan's Email address: [email protected] Nan-ji desu ka?= What time is? Oh, and the next chapter reveals a LOT. . . .

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