"Why didn't you want your okaasan to find out?" Trunks asked. "She didn't want me to fight. Heal, hai. Fight, iie. She said it's not ladylike and if I ever wanted to get married I needed to learn 'useful things'. I'd rather be able to fight than marry one of those people my parents are always pushing me towards, anyway." "Are they really that bad?" Bulma asked.

'Worse,' Areku thought miserably. "Let's see- their interests are: money and power. Brains and fighting skills are counted against you if you're a girl. Basically, the guys are just a bunch of greedy chauvinists." She looked down, pushing her food around her plate slowly. "Except for my niichan," she whispered, holding back tears.

"Does he chase off all the guys?" Bulma asked teasingly. Areku lost part of her control and a tear slipped down her face. "He used to," she whispered. Bulma's eyes widened. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't know," "Doushitano?" Trunks asked. Areku nodded. "I know how you feel, Areku," he said softly. "When Gohan. . . died, it was- hard. He was my tomodachi and Sensei. And the niichan and otousan I never had," She was surprised. Not much, but the feeling in his voice amazed her again. He was nothing like the Saiya-jins her Okaasan described. Nothing like Kaido.

After breakfast, Trunks stood and turned to his okaasan. "Do you need me to do anything?" "Iie, I don't think so," she replied. "Where are you going?" "After that attack Areku did yesterday, the jinzouningen should still be pretty weak. I'm going to try to find them," "I'm going with you," Areku said, standing up. There was no way she was going to miss the expressions on the twins' faces when she showed up again. "Okay. Just don't do the same thing you did yesterday, please. You had us worried," Bulma said.

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Trunks powered up and rose into the air, Areku right behind him. "Trunks?" she asked softly. He almost fell over. "Hai?" Somehow he managed to keep control of his voice. "Why did you decide to help me?" 'Because I love you,' he thought. "It's not right to be forced to do something you don't want to, especially if it's going to affect the rest of your life in a bad way," Silently, he added, 'And because I'd like to pay that jerk back for making you feel the way you did earlier.' "Arigatou," she said sincerely.

A few minutes later, Trunks saw the jinzouningen in the middle of trashing another town. "There they are," he said, pointing. Areku's head snapped up as if she hadn't really been paying attention. "Hm? Oh, I see them," she replied. They touched down lightly behind the jinzouningen.

"Remember us?" Areku asked with fake cheerfulness. Juunanagou and Juuhachigou whirled around and Areku gasped. They looked like nothing had happened to them- not a single burn or singe on them anywhere! 'Whaa?!' Trunks thought, shocked. 'There's no way they could look like that!!'

"Too bad you let us get away," Juunana sneered. "We happen to have a very nice tomodachi that repaired us after that little. . . . episode yesterday. I suppose you're pretty pleased with yourself, right, little girl?" Wrong thing to say.

"This 'little girl' is going to finish the job," Areku said, her voice deceptively calm as she powered up. "How nice. I believe my oneechan would like to return the favor from the first time you met, however, so she's first," Juuhachi stepped forward, an evil grin on her face.

Juunana turned to Trunks. "I think I'll have a little fun myself," he said with the same look on his face as his neechan.

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End of PART 1; What did you think? Ooh, he called her a little girl. . . .

I'm not done with you yet!! PART 2 is coming out when I get some �feedback�.