Koronu looked up at the big, domed building before her and frowned. On this planet, Capsule Corporation was as close to a castle as a building could be. It was monstrous and elaborate, filled with hundreds of people, all living and working and striving for one purpose: to further the business. The huge, obvious Capsule Corporation building reminded her of another planet, and another castle that had been built to house its leader and his armies. Though she knew that Capsule Corporation was a friendly place, and that its products were not harmful in any way, it still made her feel that twinge of danger and disgust when she saw it. It made her think of Sukuashi strolling towards her through those long, winding halls, with that awful, ugly scowl on his face. It made her think of snow and cold, and years full of suffering. She had done her best to leave her life on Sukuashi behind her, but it seemed as though it would always follow her. Memories of it would strike up at the most unlikely times and in the most unlikely places.

But when Trunks strode out the front door, looking like the young, arrogant prince that he had been born to be, those thoughts were dashed away. This wasn’t the snowy planet where Sukuashi ruled as dictator, this was Earth. This was a place where the Saiya-jin race was nearly extinguished, and the only talk of dictatorship were the echoes of history books. On this planet, Vejiita was the ruler, yet he chose not to assert his power over everyone. They were free. Deliciously, fully free. This was her new life, in a new place, and it was silly to let the past keep creeping up on. She was safe here, comfortable here. She was with her son and her grandsons. When she had been on that ship coming to Earth, she had promised herself that she was going to leave everything else behind; every memory and every bit of pain would be left on that awful, cold planet. And she intended to keep that promise.

“Hi everyone.” Trunks called out to them, coming around towards the Capsule Car. He stopped and crossed his arms over his chest, looking very much in command. “Kuririn, my mother is down in the laboratory waiting for you. The doctor already arrived, and they want to go over the details with you. You can just go ahead and go in. Just do yourself a favor and don’t look at your brother-in-law. He went through a pretty harsh beating today and it’s not a pretty sight.”

Koronu felt the edges of her smile drift up into a smirk. It felt good to know that the male jinzouningen had gotten what he deserved. He had thoroughly pissed her off earlier, and she wanted him to feel every bit of pain that he had intended to inflict on those young girls. Anyone who would attack an innocent girl deserved to be punished. Severely. She kept picturing Bra’s frightened little face in her mind. Those deep blue eyes appeared to her over and over again, filled with childlike tears, begging her to do something, anything to save her. She didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if their plan hadn’t worked and they hadn’t been able to take Juunana-gou down. He certainly would have killed the girl. He wouldn’t have even though twice about it.

She had to smile when she thought of punching Piccolo, though. That had certainly been the highlight of her day. She was glad to know that Piccolo was coming with them on this adventure. There was no one whose judgment and intellect she trusted more. He had known that something was wrong with the jinzouningen long before anyone else even had a clue. And when it happened, he was right there to try and stop it. She admired her friend great. He had the mind of a Namek and the heart of a Saiya-jin: wise and discerning, yet powerful and courageous. It comforted her to know that he would be accompanying them and that she wouldn’t just be looking after the kids by herself. She had to admit though, that part of her wanted Piccolo to stay here, close to the jinzouningen. She didn’t want anything else to happen --- didn’t want anyone else to die. There were other people that could take care of the jinzouningen just as easily, though --- perhaps even more so. They just needed to hurry up and find the dragonballs so that they could get this all over with.

As the others made their way up the walkway towards Capsule Corporation, Koronu hung back. “I’m going to go fetch Piccolo and Gohan now, while you are getting the dragon radar. It will save us some time, eh?”

Goten finished explaining the entire ordeal to Trunks quickly. He neglected to invite him along on the trip, but it wasn’t anything personal. Trunks didn’t even bring it up at all, which was just fine with him. He knew that the idea of a dragonball hunt would really appeal to his friend, but he also knew that Trunks had things that he needed to take care of here. He didn’t expect him to go running off on an adventure at the last minute. Not when he was so busy. Besides, if Trunks came along, they would undoubtedly get into mischief. And they didn’t have time for mischief right now. They just needed to go out and get the dragonballs as quickly as they possibly could and make that wish. But of course they couldn’t do that unless they had a way to find the dragonballs, which was why they had come to Capsule Corporation in the first place. “So, do you think you could give us the dragon radar?”

Trunks placed a hand on his chin and looked deep in thought, as if he were mentally surveying all of Capsule Corporation in search for the dragon radar. After a moment, he looked back up and frowned heavily. “I would, but I honestly don’t know where it would be. You’re going to have to ask Tayhei.”

At the mention of Tayhei’s name, Goten straightened up. He had forgotten that Tayhei had just been attacked by Juunana-gou. He didn’t know how it was really possible for him to forget about something so terrible, but he assumed it was because of the fact that he had a lot of other things on his mind. But now that he was able to think about it, the thought of his pretty friend being attacked and hurt made him feel sick. Sure, Tayhei acted tough, but he knew that she was really quite fragile. Underneath that mean, hard surface she was much more gentle and vulnerable. Goten knew that this softer side of her existed, but he had rarely ever seen it. He knew that she was capable of getting hurt, on more levels than just physical. And he never wanted that to happen. Not to any of his friends.

“Is she okay?” He asked Trunks softly, frowning.

At his side, Marron stiffened a little bit, and Goten assumed that she was worried about the girl too. He knew that the two of them knew each other pretty well --- after all, they had both been stowaways on the mission to Sukuashi. Besides, Marron knew what it was like to be attacked by Juunana-gou, though the android hadn’t hurt her nearly as bad as he had hurt Tayhei. Certainly that sad little frown on his friend’s face was due to the fact that she was worried about Tayhei. Goten smiled inwardly. Marron was a sweet girl. It seemed like she was always worrying about someone or protecting someone, kind of like his mother. There weren’t very many people left like that in the world, so he was glad to be friends with someone that was. He loved Trunks like a brother, but he doubted that his arrogant friend would ever be able to care that much about the well-being of someone he barely even knew.

“I don’t know if she is okay or not!” Trunks suddenly screeched. Goten jumped, startled and stared at his friend with an open jaw. Trunks looked as though he were suddenly releasing a lot of pent up hostility, which was most like a direct result of something that Tayhei had said to him. “How am I supposed to know if she’s okay!?”

Marron spoke up timidly, bringing a nervous hand up to her chest. “Weren’t you the one that saved her?”

“She went to the infirmary.” Trunks told them evenly. Then he glared again at nothing in particular, his eyes narrowing down quickly. “She’s probably still there with him.”

“Who?”

“Mirai Trunks!” He exclaimed in exasperation, as though it were the most obvious thing in the entire world.

Goten sat back a bit and wondered what the hell he had missed. It sounded as though something big had happened. Trunks usually got upset and angry over even the smallest things, but this was a bit different. Trunks just didn’t look pissed, he looked hurt as well, and even a little panicked. That definitely wasn’t normal for him. Usually after a fight with Tayhei, the guy just got all riled up and started plotting against her. Goten didn’t know what Mirai Trunks would have to do with the situation, unless it had something to do with the note that Trunks had found earlier. He wasn’t sure about that, though. He didn’t see why a simple note asking for a meeting in the park was so terrible. Obviously something else had happened, and he had a feeling that Trunks was really upset about it. And although Goten knew he wasn’t the smartest person in the entire world, he knew that he was at least a good listener.

“Is everything okay, Trunks?” He asked his friend quietly, placing a concerned hand on his shoulder.

“The bastard wants to take her back to the future world with him.” Trunks spit out quickly. His words began tumbling over each other as he went through a rapid explanation, his eyes growing larger and larger each instant. “And she actually considered it. There was a moment, and then a fight, and then she just left. And then he left, to go after her. And I let him. He’s probably up there proposing to her or some ridiculous damn thing like that. I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s so obsessed with her that it’s just sick. It’s wrong! And I don’t even understand why. I don’t know why he likes her or why she would consider going back to that awful future world with him. I don’t know anything really! I don’t know anything because no one is telling me anything and every time I start making any kind of progress, I just get shut out again!”

Goten was quiet for a moment. He would understand why Trunks would get so upset over something like that, but then again, his friend had never shown in any interest in Tayhei. At least, he didn’t seem interested. He had always been certain that there was a romantic kind of tension there between the two, but he never thought that either one of them would act on it or even admit it. He was glad that they were finally starting to admit their feelings to each other. As far as he was concerned, it was about time. Maybe if they actually got all of that tension out of the way, they’d be able to finally stop fighting. And then Goten would actually be able to hang around the two of them without being dragged into some vicious fight. “I thought you didn’t like her.”

“I don’t!”

Goten gave him a disbelieving glance. “Then why do you care what she’s doing?”

Trunks just glared at him in reply, narrowing his sky blue eyes down to practically nothing. Goten sighed, then looked over at Marron. The poor girl was sitting there with a frightened expression on her pretty face, with both hands drawn up to her chest. Marron had probably never seen Trunks blow up like this, though the guy through an amazing amount of fits at times. It would probably be better for her if she was away from the room while Goten asked Trunks to explain everything that had happened. If Trunks got angry and started throwing things around, Goten didn’t want Marron to be there. The girl had already been through enough --- she didn’t need to be scared by Trunks as well.

“Marron, would you mind finding Tayhei and asking her for the dragon radar? Trunks and I need to talk.”

Under the harsh florescent lights of the laboratory, Kuririn sat motionless. He was in one of the chairs across from Mirai Bulma’s desk, he fingers gripping the armrest as tightly as humanly possible. Next to him was a kind looking man with dark hair and glasses; he was wearing a suit and tie, but Kuririn assumed that it was the surgeon that was going to do the operation to heal Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou. He noticed that while Mirai Bulma looked a little nervous, the man next to him remained completely calm and quiet. He was undoubtedly the doctor type, then. They were trained to deal with emergencies in a calm, rational way. Despite the fact that he didn’t even know this man, it comforted him a bit to know that Juuhachi-gou would be taken care of. If the doctor could stay calm during a situation like this, he would certainly be able to handle anything else that came up.

“Kuririn, this is Dr. Cho.” Bulma told him pleasantly, gesturing towards the doctor. “As I’m sure you assumed, he will be handling the surgery.”

Kuririn nodded at the man. “Nice to meet you.”

The doctor smiled at him and nodded as well. “I can assure you that your wife and your brother-in-law will come out of the operation safely. There is no need to be concerned. With Bulma-san’s intelligence and my experience, there shouldn’t be any complications at all.”

He was beginning to feel nervous now. The doctor’s words really weren’t helping to ease the panic that was rising up from his stomach. All he could think was that he didn’t want to lose his wife. He didn’t want to lose either one of them. He knew that this operation was going to be a big deal --- much more dangerous than anything else Juuhachi-gou had ever been through. And it was going to be short notice as well. If they only had a few more days to prepare for it, perhaps he would feel a little better. But he really felt that they were just rushing into it. He frowned again and looked back towards Mirai Bulma, gripping the armrests on his chair even harder. “Bulma, you’ll be there with them the entire time?”

“Hai.” She nodded once, sharply. The long turquoise ponytail behind her bobbed slightly, and she folded her hands on the desk before her. “I am going to stand by and observe. And if any kind of emergency should arise, I will have all of my research materials right there so that I find a solution to the problem.”

“When are we going to start?”

“As soon as possible.” She informed him. “Dr. Cho is ready to perform the surgery at any time, and I think that I have enough information to be able to guide him through it easily. We need to transport the jinzouningen to the hospital, and then we will immediately begin the surgery. We only have so much time before Juunana-gou regains consciousness. We need to drug him as quickly as possible and begin the surgery.”

Kuririn took in all of the information bravely, then rose of his seat and lifted his chin up. He refused to let the tears come to his eyes. “May I have a word alone with my wife, first?”

Marron headed up toward the Capsule Corporation infirmary with a hideous scowl on her face. If she didn’t like Goten so much, she would have never agreed to something like this. But she just simply couldn’t turn down that sweet smile on his handsome face. Besides, she didn’t want to be around when Trunks started yelling about Tayhei and Mirai Trunks. She just knew that it was probably going to get ugly, and she never liked to see those sky blue eyes cloud over with anger. So she was just going to have to face Tayhei alone, unfortunately. And she was brave enough to be able to do it, but she had a feeling that this would have gone much better if Goten were with her. The older girl tended to act more civil around her with there were other people in their midst. It was only when they were alone that she was verbally attacked. The things that Tayhei said shouldn’t really bother her that much, but she couldn’t help it. She could be so mean sometimes.