The scenery went by them lazily, trees and cliffs and hills passing by the windows of the Capsule Car in a blur of bright, summer colors. The windows were up, the air conditioning was on, and it was so deathly quiet in the vehicle that Kuririn swore he could hear the ticking of his daughter’s watch. She sat slumped down in the passenger seat, with her elbow propped up on the armrest and her eyes straight forward. Though she appeared to be staring at the road ahead of them, the blank look on her face suggested that she was most likely thinking of other things. Kuririn was at the wheel, though he didn’t think it was really wise of him to actually be driving at this point. He could actually feel his body quaking, and with every tremble, the car seemed to bounce a bit on the road. Also, he had never been a very good driver in the first place; Juuhachi-gou was usually the one that drove them everywhere. There was no avoiding it, though. This was something that they had to do.

He pulled up to a stoplight and stared expectantly at the red light, his mind numb. They were on their way to Capsule Corporation --- on their way to see Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou. Mirai Bulma had called earlier that morning to confirm the fact that both of the jinzouningen had been contained and that they no longer presented any current danger. It had been strange to hear her voice on the phone; that was a voice that he had been certain he would never hear again. And yet, at the same time it comforted him to hear that familiar, vaguely annoyed tone; it made him feel as though Juuhachi-gou was in good hands. Bulma was intelligent and hard-working, and he knew that she would do her best. She told him that she wasn’t quite sure how to fix them permanently yet, but that she was working on it. And she didn’t exactly invite him to come to Capsule Corporation and see his wife, but she hinted around at it.

At first, he had immediately rejected the idea, but after a few hours of thought, he decided that it would good for him. So far, none of this had seemed very real to him. He had seen the news, and he knew what was happening, but it just seemed like a horrible movie, or an awful book. He supposed that things this terrible never really felt real; the human mind just wasn’t capable of understanding and believing events that were so sickening and wrong. And the human heart, though strong enough to withstand a lot of things, wasn’t able to withstand the type of sadness and pain that came along with a situation like this. It was simply easier to stand back and stare at it all in disbelief, never truly realizing the weight or the implications of the problem.

It would be good for him to see her, to be able to understand that this was real. He needed to kick himself out of the denial stage and start facing the situation head on. Nothing would ever be solved if he kept everything at a distance and tried to push away any kind of pain or sickness. None of this was going to go away on its own. As Juuhachi-gou’s husband, he had to stay by his wife’s side and help her through this, even if it meant facing a little bit of fear and sadness.

He wasn’t sure about Juunana-gou, though. He didn’t quite know how to edge himself around that situation. He was his wife’s brother, a part of the family, but yet they had always been distant. Kuririn always sensed a bit of resentment on Juunana-gou’s part, because he had taken away his sister --- the only person that could truly understand him. And Kuririn had always resented Juunana-gou for the close link between the twins; the obvious, unbreakable relationship that remained between them, even after Juuhachi-gou had tried to become more human. They didn’t dislike each other, that wasn’t really the word for it. They just weren’t that comfortable around each other. That made it more difficult for Kuririn to look at Juunana-gou through sympathetic eyes. First of all, he didn’t even know his brother-in-law very well. And secondly, Juunana-gou had just attacked Marron. Whether or not it was premeditated didn’t really matter --- it had still happened, and it still bothered him.

He cast a glance over at his daughter then, momentarily taking his eyes off the road to study her. She was wearing simple clothes: just jeans, a tee shirt, sneakers, and a jacket that she had borrowed from Goten’s closet. The jacket was huge on her, practically engulfing her petite frame and hiding her pigtails beneath the collar. It made her look innocent and small, but the expression on her face was anything but childish. She looked strong and mature; much more mature than any girl her age should ever have to be. Back at the Son House, she hadn’t seemed very enthused about going to see her mother. She had merely nodded when he brought it up, looking as though she would rather have just stayed in bed and slept.

Kuririn frowned. This was all so hard on her. She was taking it very well, being brave and calm, and completely unshakable, but he knew that she had to be quaking inside. They were undoubtedly both feeling the same thing --- they just held that feeling in different ways. Kuririn was able to show it; his hands shook on the steering wheel, his face went pale, and he knew from looking in the mirror that morning that his expression had become permanently tragic and saddened. Marron on the other hand, kept all of those feelings inside, letting the storm fight itself out in her heart instead of showing it to the world. He admired that and was proud of her for it, but it made him worry too. If she kept everything inside like that, she was eventually going to crack and burst. With issues this strong and dangerous, it was almost easier to let those feelings out in the open.

“Marron-chan, are you sure you want to do this? I can take you back to the Son House if you’d like.” He told her comfortingly, turning to search for some kind of emotion in her eyes. She was so young and so fragile; he just didn’t want her to see something that would frighten her or damage her. It was one thing to watch it on the news and hear about it, but it would be quite another for her to actually see her mother imprisoned and restrained, completely not herself. “I will be fine on my own. You don’t have to come.”

She turned her eyes away from the road and leaned back in her seat, tugging one of her pigtails loose from the collar of her jacket. “I want to come. Besides, Mirai Bulma-san said it might help if we visited Okaasan. And she probably has things that she needs to talk to us about. I would like to know what’s going on. I don’t want to be left in the dark. If something is going to happen with Okaasan and Juunana-gou, then I want to know about it.”

“What do you think about all of this?” He asked her timidly. He didn’t want to burst the dam and cause all of her emotions to come tumbling out, but he just wanted to make sure that she was going to be okay. They hadn’t really taken the time to discuss it very deeply, and he felt that there were some things that needed to be said.

“Well, it’s awful.” Marron replied after a moment. He waited for her to say something more, but her mouth remained shut and her posture indicated that she was finished speaking.

He turned back to the road for a moment, concentrating on the traffic ahead of him; for a light, summer day, there were an awful lot of cars out. Most of them had several pieces of furniture and luggage strapped to the roofs of their vehicles, and it looked as though the backseats were crammed with clothing and household items. They were most likely evacuees from Satan City, on their way to a relative’s home, or a hotel in another city. He had to admit that he was relieved to see survivors, but at the same time it made him feel sick to his stomach. It gave him a cold, painful feeling to realize that all of these people had to flee their homes because of his wife. They had to pack up all of their belongings and drive out of the city in fear, because his wife decided that she wanted to kill everyone in the vicinity.

He still couldn’t believe that this was happening. There were a thousand different emotions running through him: sadness, anger, regret, despair, and most of all, guilt. He should have known. As her husband, he should have known that something like this was about to happen. He knew that there was something wrong with her; he had a suspicion that she was in need of help. But because he was too weak to face the problem and make her get that help, he just let it go on. Now all of Satan City had been demolished, thousands of innocent people had been killed, and those that remained were homeless and desperate and alone. And all of it happened because he was too weak to face the fact that his wife wasn’t normal. He was so eager to believe that she was human, to believe that she was perfect, that he didn’t even want to think about the fact that she wasn’t.

He couldn’t make up for that --- couldn’t even begin to try, but there was still time to change himself before anything else happened. He had made that mistake once, but he wasn’t going to make it again. From now on, he was going to face every problem directly and forcefully. There would be no more hiding in the shadows and wallowing in his own weakness. He was going to be strong, not just for him and Marron, but for Juuhachi-gou as well. He was certain that the two of them were connected somehow. By the heart, by the soul….He wasn’t sure, but he knew that he and Juuhachi-gou shared a very special bond. If he showed strength and stability, and kept his calm through the storm, then maybe Juuhachi-gou would be able to sense it somehow. And maybe he’d be able to transfer his strength right into her. It was going to take a lot for her to pull out of this. He knew that she would never make it unless she kept herself strong.

Whatever was happening to her, it was going to take more than just Mirai Bulma’s intuition and intelligence to pull her out of it. It was going to take strength of the heart --- not just hers, but his as well.

Next to him in the passenger seat, Marron kept her silence. She didn’t really feel that words needed to be said right now, and to be honest --- she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to speak. She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what her father needed to hear. She couldn’t even think of anything that would be worth saying at the moment. The heaviness and anticipation of what they were about to do had already filled the car with unspoken words. Their feelings were hanging around them in the cool air of the car, with no place to go and method of release. He wanted to talk; she could tell that he wanted to talk to her. But there was just no use.

What could she possibly say about her mother? That she was scared to death that things wouldn’t work out? That she was frightened of the possibility that her mother might never return to normal? Those were not things that he wanted to hear. It was what she felt inside, but she wasn’t going to say them. It wasn’t even necessary to say them. Both of them already knew.

She thought about her mother then, moving her eyes to concentrate on the traffic outside the car. She thought about the silky, pale strands of hair, and the creamy, perfect skin. She thought about the way her mother held herself, looking tall and strong and completely in control. She was subdued and refined, classic and endearing. Her mother was so beautiful; the absolute epitome of everything that that Marron wanted to be. She had spent every moment of her young life looking up to her mother, watching her and studying her and wishing to become her. There was no one that she looked up to more. And that was gone. All of those things that she had admired about her mother were completely useless. The pale hair and creamy skin were still there, but she the fact that she was a killer didn’t make it beautiful anymore --- it just made it unbelievably scary and unrealistic. She wasn’t beautiful because she was naturally beautiful; she was beautiful before she was a machine. A perfect, beautiful, killing machine.

Knowing that made it hard to remember the times when her mother had read her stories and tucked her into bed. It made it hard to remember the time they spent together shopping, laughing and talking as they went from store to store. All of the things about her mother that she treasured, all of the moments that her mother had seemed entirely human and entirely loving --- she was slowly forgetting them.

“Capsule Corporation always looks so big, doesn’t it?” Kuririn commented conversationally to his daughter as he knocked on the front door. “No matter how many times I see it, I’m always surprised by how big it looks. Can you imagine living in there? With all of those rooms and offices?”

It was a pitiful attempt to try and get his daughter to talk, but he knew that she wouldn’t just leave a question unanswered. She may not be feeling talkative, but she was still a very polite girl. She knew better than to not answer a question.

She shook her head slightly. “No, I can’t really imagine living there.”

The two of them waited a few moments on the front step before he heard a sound that sounded frighteningly like a herd of wildebeests running towards the door. Within seconds, the door burst open and both Trunks and Goten appeared, looking out of breath and expectant.

“Kuririn-san! Marron!” Trunks exclaimed. “Are you guys here to check in on the patients?”

“….And would either one of you be interested in making something for me to eat?” Goten finished up hopefully. He placed a hand over his stomach and stared at them with an embarrassed look on his face. Kuririn was struck again by how much he looked and acted like Gokuu. There were several small differences, but for the most part, the two of them could be twins. And the appetite, of course, was completely unmistakable. It made him smile every time he was around Goten and Trunks; it reminded him of the days when he and Gokuu were training together. Back then, it had all been about getting stronger and having fun. Mischief seemed to follow them around like a lost puppy.

“Unfortunately, Goten, I think we had just better go and see Juuhachi-gou now.” Kuririn apologized. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take for Mirai Bulma to explain things, and we would really like to get home before dark.”

Plus, he was pretty eager to see Juuhachi-gou. Even though he knew that it would be different --- that she would be different, he still just wanted to see her. Even after everything that had happened, he knew that it would still comfort him to be able to reach out and run a hand over that silky blonde hair, and to see those familiar ice blue eyes. Even if they were only able to see her for a few seconds, he knew that it would help him. And hopefully, it would help Juuhachi-gou somehow too. Perhaps the Juuhachi-gou inside of there somewhere would be able to recognize them, know that they were there for her, and feel just a little bit stronger.

“That’s okay. I guess I can just find something to eat on my own.” Goten replied, sounding more than a little disappointed. Then his eyes found Marron and studied the over-sized jacket that she had on. He reached out to grasp the sleeve of it gently. “Hey, is this my coat?”

“H….Hai.” Marron stumbled out. A small, embarrassed smile appeared on her face, quickly followed by a deep red blush. “Your mother still had most of my things in the wash, and she insisted that I take it with me in case I needed it. I hope you don’t mind….”