Kuririn was dreaming. But it wasn’t so much a dream as it was a memory. He dreamt of the day that he had first seen Juuhachi-gou, standing before him. She looked cool and calm, her slim figure wearing a jean vest that proudly displayed the red ribbon army logo. Her pale blond hair had been longer then, silky strands falling almost to her shoulders. He remembered when she had turned to look at him, her cool blue eyes resting calmly on his face. Her eyes had been cold, but they were the purest, most rare shade of icy blue --- their color and their depth seemed to stab him straight in the soul. It had only taken one glance for him to fall in love with her. He didn’t know anything about her; he had never heard her speak and he had no idea what kind of person she was like. But there was something about the way that she looked at him that made his heart want to leap right out of his chest and tumble to her feet. Destructive android or not, she was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen. And somehow he knew that beneath that seamless, perfect surface, there was a beautiful woman inside as well.

He blinked slowly, dropping out of sleep slowly, fluttering down like a feather. He kept the image of Juuhachi-gou, exactly the way that he had first seen her, vivid in his mind. His eyes opened and he turned his head to the side on his pillow, longing to see his beautiful wife sleeping beside him. Sometimes it was hard for him to believe that she actually loved him too --- that she had seen something in him that day, just as he had seen something in her. He could scarcely believe that she was his and that she spent every night sleeping in bed next to him, that pale blond hair spilling across her pillow. He expected to see her there, with her eyes closed and long lashes lying gently against her smooth cheeks. When he turned to her though, he found her ice blue eyes open. She was staring straight back at him with a strange look on her gorgeous face. Her eyes looked unfocused and glazed, as if she were thinking about something else entirely. As if she were off in a different world altogether.

Concerned because of the events of the previous night, he sat up slightly, propping himself on his elbow. “Juuhachi? Are you okay?”

He brushed the silky hair away from her face and waited for a response, but received nothing. Her eyes stayed unfocused and distant. “Juuhachi?” He tried again.

After a moment, her eyes closed tightly, suddenly. His hand stayed on her head, trying to comfort her in case she was having another headache. After what seemed like forever to him, her eyes opened slowly. Ice blue orbs stared at him in the darkness, as if she were trying to penetrate his soul with her gaze. He was startled at first by the intensity of the gaze, for it wasn’t often that she looked at him in such a way. He didn’t quite know how to define this look. It wasn’t a mean look, but it wasn’t a friendly one either --- it was just intense. It was almost as if she had anger boiling right underneath the icy coolness of her eyes, but wasn’t allowed to show it. Just as slowly as she had opened her eyes, a strange smile appeared on her face. It was more of a smirk than a smile; it reminded him of the look that she had given him the first time that they had met, the time when she had been beautiful and dangerous at the same time. He had fallen in love with her then, just like he was in love with her now. And just as his mind had been warning him of her power and her capacity for evil then, it was warning him again now.

He refused to believe that she would ever hurt him. His wife had let him know a long time ago that she would never, ever hurt him. The power that she had was for an evil and dishonorable purpose, and no matter what kind of urges or desires she felt, she would never use it. She had promised him that --- Promised him that no matter what happened, she would never let herself hurt him or their daughter. Through the years, she had shown him that she was not just a machine; she wasn’t just Dr. Gero’s creation. There was a living, breathing, loving human being underneath all of his terrible, bionic experimentations. She had been kind to him, affectionate with him and his daughter. She had cried, she had smiled, and she had even laughed a couple of times during their life together. There was no doubt in his mind that his wife was human. But she was different. She would always be different. He believed wholeheartedly that she would never hurt him. But he also knew that things in life were never certain, and that at any point in time, everything he knew could change. It had happened before, and if he knew the cycle of destiny and life well enough, it would change again. That was why, as he met her gaze --- the same gaze she had given him so many years ago, he began to worry. As much as he wanted to believe that everything was fine and normal, he could not ignore the warning that was creeping into his heart.

“Juuhachi-gou, what's going on?” He asked her cautiously, sitting up straighter in bed.

Before she could even blink, arms wrapped around her tight and threatening. One arm was around her neck, nearly chocking off her air supply and the other was around her middle, squeezing on her ribs. Startled and scared, Marron gasped in a breath and held it, her heart hammering in her chest. It was childish and silly perhaps, but all that she could think about was that a monster had captured her. It was the first thing that came to her mind; she didn’t think about a murderer or anything realistic like that. Her first thought was simply ‘monster’. She knew they didn’t exist, but her mind was so shocked and scared right now that she probably would have believed anything. Somehow she was transported back to childhood, listening to the scary stories that Juunana-gou had told her in front of the fire. Only this wasn’t just some scary story, this was real. Because all rationality had left her, she struggled wildly for a moment, wiggling around and trying to free herself. The monster’s grasp was simply too strong though, and it held her firmly in place no matter which way she moved. She began to shake in fear, her mind flying with possibilities and questions and horror. Then, with a sharp feeling of dread and fear, she craned her neck to see the monster that had wrapped its claws around her.

Instead of a monster though, it was her uncle standing behind her, his strong arms holding her so tight that it hurt her ribs and neck. He didn’t say anything and didn’t apologize for startling her. He just stood there. A strange smile was on his face: it was half disturbing and half smirking. However, the only thing she cared about was the fact that it was him and not some monster. She had spooked herself earlier while walking around in the dark cabin and her imagination had gone wild. Of course, it wasn’t very nice of her uncle to take advantage of her vulnerability like that, but he always did have a mildly sadistic side. He liked to play tricks every once and awhile. Her mother assumed that it was because he still had some of his teenage boy tendencies such as mischief and arrogance. Relieved that it was only her uncle, she let out the breath that she had been holding and gave him a lethal, icy glare.

“Juunana! You scared me!” She scolded. “I thought you were a monster or something. Don’t ever do that again!”

He didn’t reply at first, just kept looking at her with that same, strange look on his face. Marron began to feel uneasy; his eyes didn’t look normal. He didn’t look normal. Dread began to creep into her heart again, this time sharper and more urgent. Her uncle did not look like himself, and he still hadn’t released her from his grasp. If anything, he was holding on tighter now. Her heart began to pound once more, picking up to the same pace that it had been when he had first grabbed her. She didn’t know why, but for some reason she had a feeling that she was in great danger. She didn’t want to believe that --- she loved her uncle, but she couldn’t help that feeling from taking over her mind. She stared up at him, her eyes searching his, trying to find the answers to all of the awful questions that she was beginning to think of. He stared back at her with blank ice blue eyes, as if he weren’t really seeing her, but seeing completely through her.

After a long moment of tense staring, he bent his head down, dark locks falling in front of his eyes and hissed in her ear. “Human.”

Fear hit her so hard that her heart stopped beating. She began to feel cold and numb all over; her body was completely frozen in terror. She knew that something was wrong with him, knew that she was in an extremely dangerous position right now, but she didn’t want to believe it. With all of the things that had been happening with her mother, it even scared her more, because she knew that wherever she was, she was probably acting this exact same way. As Juunana-gou had told her himself, they were made from the same mold. But she didn’t want to believe that either. She didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to have to look into his cold and expressionless eyes. Maybe he was just playing around. Maybe he was only playing a mean, mean trick on her, trying to scare her. She didn’t believe that either, but clung on stubbornly to that hope, her heart constricting in terror. She was so terrified right then that she couldn’t stop herself from shaking, and her eyes began to water.

“What?” She asked, her eyes brimming with tears. When she spoke, her voice caught in her throat and it came out raspy and trembling. “Quit playing around, Juunana. You’ve already scared me enough for one night, okay?”

He stared at her for a moment, then spoke again. This time his voice was spiteful and threatening: “Human piece of trash.”

“Juunana?” She whimpered, tears beginning to fall. “Why are you doing this?”

She had always believed that she and her uncle had a special kind of bond. She had always thought that although he was cold and standoffish sometimes, he really did indeed care about her. He treated her like she was more of an adult than a child and gave her the same kind of respect as he would anyone. And he was always willing to take care of her and help her and talk to her. They had laughed together and fished together out in the stream….He had been her friend. But as she stared into his eyes now, she realized that all of that was gone. He was sick; there was something terribly wrong with him. And even though she knew that he had loved her before, he obviously didn’t remember any of it now. He was looking at her as if he had never seen her before.

“I’m programmed to kill.” He told her simply.

The smile on his face grew and he spun her out of his grasp and into the wall. She hit the wall hard and bounced back towards him, falling to the ground. The leg that she had injured earlier snapped again, and pain shot all the way up through her body. She curled up in a ball on the ground and grasped her leg in agony, shaking. She was so terrified and heartbroken that she could barely breathe. Her uncle had hurt her, betrayed her, and it was if he had physically killed her. She didn’t understand why he was doing this at all, why he was towering over her now with his fists clenched. He loved her. The thought of that brought tears to her eyes and she desperately wished that he would turn back into the normal uncle that she knew. It seemed as if he had forgotten every single thing that they had been through. And maybe that was the key to it all. Maybe if she could make him remember, make him feel, he would stop. He may be a monster now, but at one time, her uncle loved her very much. From the cabin floor, she looked up at him with tearful eyes, still clutching her leg in pain.

“You’re not programmed to kill me! Not me!” She sobbed. She attempted to sit up, pushing off the floor with one hand and dragging her leg behind her with the other. “I’m your niece! It’s Marron. You love me….I love you!”

His eyes reflected no emotion at all. She hadn’t been able to reach him. Whatever evil had possessed her uncle, it had a tight hold. She would never be able to get through. No matter what kind of relationship the two of them had had before, it meant nothing now. She was nothing to him. The thought of this brought fresh tears to her eyes and she sobbed in defeat. She didn’t want to die tonight, not like this, not with her uncle looming over her and glaring as if he hated her. As her eyes grew in horror, he reached down and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, lifting her off the ground with no effort at all. She didn’t want to fight anymore. She was too heartbroken to fight. All she wanted to do was just wake up from this awful nightmare and wake up in her nice warm bed at home. She wanted everything to be the way that it had been before. Sobbing, she stared into his cold, ice blue eyes and prayed.

There was a moment of complete silence as they stared into each other’s eyes, one fearful and devastated the other utterly emotionless. Then there was a loud blast as the door was blown open, the harsh cry of a battle roar, a flash of green, and all of the sudden Marron was flying through the air.

Knocked out of Juunana-gou’s grasp, she spun to the floor again and slammed up against the legs of the kitchen table. It rocked with the weight and strength of her hit and nearly fell over as she rolled to the side, still clutching her injured leg. She could hear hits and growls and crashes from every direction, but could see nothing in the darkness of the cabin except for battling silhouettes. Marron had no idea what had happened, but she did know that someone must have come to rescue. She also knew that the fight going on in the small cabin was getting brutal, and she needed to get out of there as soon as possible. She was out of Juunana-gou’s hands, but that did not mean that she couldn’t get hit with a stray blast. She braced herself against the table and scrambled to her feet as best as she could, crying out in pain as she put weight on her leg. Her eyes moved to the cabin door, where the first blast had originated from; she needed to get out of the cabin. But the door, which was hanging off of the hinges, broken and splintered, looked entirely too far away.

A figure appeared to the side of her, and in the darkness she could make out the sleek white fangs and sharp green ears of Piccolo. He was there for only a moment, but he had enough time to open his mouth and snarl at her. “Get out!”

Startled that it was Piccolo that had come to her rescue, she froze for a moment. He had never paid any kind of attention to her before; she wasn’t even sure that Piccolo knew her name. He had always seemed so distant and cold, yet she heart from others like Gohan that he was very kind and a true friend. She believed their words, yet the Namek had still scared her. He was so big and seemingly fierce. She had barely been able to keep from quaking in his presence in the past. But now, he had actually rescued her. He had saved her from whatever her uncle had been planning to do to her; her heart swelled with appreciation. It wasn’t over yet, though. She had to get out of that cabin before the fight got out of hand.

Stumbling, she moved from the table and nearly fell when she placed weight on her leg. Grasping the counters and fallen chairs that were in her path, she slowly made her way to the broken door. She ducked under the splinters at the top and limped out onto the porch, falling against the railing. The night was warm, but it gave her no comfort as she stumbled down the stairs and away from the house. She hit the last step at an odd angle and toppled down to the ground, her cheek scraping against the rough dirt, littered with pine needles. She lay there for a moment, sobbing and terrified, feeling as though her whole entire body was aching. Her heart yearned again for the uncle that she used to know, and hoped with every part of her that this was not happening to her mother. It was too terrible to think about --- it would absolutely kill her to see her mother looking at her the way that Juunana-gou just had. Her head spun as she thought about it all, lying there on the prickly mass of pine needles and earth.

There was movement to the side of her, some unknown shadow slipping through the moonlight. She knew that someone else was there; she could feel a presence, though she couldn’t actually see anyone. She didn’t care, anyway. She felt sick and feverish, dizzy and defeated. She had to get away from this cabin, get away from all of these horrible thoughts. She just wanted to be safe. She just wanted to fall asleep and have everything disappear. Again, she stumbled to her feet, but the pain was far too much for her to bear. She crawled on her hands and knees until she reached a tall, comforting pine tree. Bracing herself, she pushed up to her unsteady feet and held there for a moment, her head swaying.