AUTHOR'S NOTES: Another one in my series of DBZ Romance (previous ones being Vegeta's Pet and Getting Back Together, and a Yamcha one fic on the way). <g> Some of you may have recognised this from my fic Old Friends, New Beginnings. I decided to give up that fic altogether and start writing individual ones (simply because the other one would be a saga I would never finish in the first place). Like I already mentioned, these fics are more or less canon, but not really, because I pair the boys up in them. So far, we have Tien/Lunch, Krilin/18 and Yamcha/Mai. Yup, a writer to write about the human fighters of DBZ! <gasp> Just kidding!

Strange Alliances and Stranger Friendships

By

Kalamity Kat

"Wake up, sleepy!" yelled 18 and pulled the covers off the sleeping blonde in bed.

Kushami groaned and rolled over, pushing her face deeper into the pillow: "Damn it, 18, let me sleep!"

"No way, Kushami. Get your lazy ass out of bed, we have a bank to rob!" 18 insisted, unaffected by the other woman's growling and hissing.

To the blonde android sleeping was just a waste of time, same as eating. She was built with endless energy supplies, meaning she needed neither sleep nor food to keep on her feet. Basically, sleeping or the need for food was flaws, and she couldn't afford those as the killing machine Dr. Gero built her to be.

So, the pretty android insisted with her bitching: "Come on, Kushami, get the hell up!"

Kushami groaned and threw a pillow in the general direction where she heard 18 from. "Get the hell away, 18, and let me sleep!" she croaked and buried her face under the other pillow she still had left.

18 sighed - well, it was fine with her! The blonde didn't leave her any other option. So she simply grabbed the bed and flipped it over, throwing Kushami out of it so she landed on the floor with a loud THUD. 18 dropped the bed and crossed her arms in front of her chest in her characteristic gesture, smirking evilly.

Kushami jumped to her feet, a machine gun in her hands, cursing a blue streak and shooting away wildly.

18 stood her ground, smirking, bullets just bouncing off of her.

When Kushami ran out of bullets, she angrily threw the gun away.

"Finished?" asked 18 in a bored tone of voice.

"Hmpf," the older blonde snorted in response and stalked out of her bedroom to the kitchen and growled over her shoulder: "I should have left you on the street!"

18's smirk widened and she followed her nonchalantly. "You said that every morning for the past nine months."

Kushami didn't respond, just poured herself a cup of coffee and downed it in all in almost single gulp. Then she turned to 18 again and while pouring herself another cup, asked curiously: "Say, you never did tell me just why the hell you were stalking on that street all alone." She settled herself on the high bar stool in the kitchen, protectively cradling her second cup of coffee that morning.

18, who knew Kushami well enough to know she was impossible without her coffee in the morning, just wordlessly settled herself on the bar stool facing Kushami. "And I think we should leave it at that," she said slowly, sending a warning glance into her friend's direction.

Kushami, having enough secrets of her own, knew better than to keep pushing. She just shrugged and sighed, staring into the hot black liquid longingly.

18 curiously cocked an eyebrow at her: "What?"

"What what?" asked Kushami, frowning.

"You made this strange noise. Is something wrong?"

The other blonde shook hr head: "No, nothing's wrong."

"Then why did you make that noise?" 18 insisted.

Kushami groaned and dropped her head onto her hands: "You are impossible."

"Impossible? Why?"

Kushami leaned back in her chair and flipped her long legs on the counter: "Forget it, Blondie."

The curiosity getting the better of her, 18 stubbornly insisted on finding out the question to this riddle: "No. No, let's talk this out. What's wrong? I've known you for nine or so months now, and the only thing I know about you is the fact that you love to rob banks, shoot around and have one hell of a temper." And turns into a blue-haired bimbo when she sneezes, but 18 carefully left that fact out, since she knew all too well out of personal experience that Kushami knew absolutely nothing about her transformation.

Kushami looked at her and tilted her head to the side: "Well, 18, not like I know anything more about you. All I know that you're way too serious, that you are incredibly powerful and… Shit, I don't even know your real name."

18 was rendered speechless for a few moments, and then she coldly stated: "Neither do I."

Kushami stared at her friend curiously, but the other blonde didn't look back - instead, she was staring through the window intently, her blue eyes clouded with memories.

After a long while, Kushami broke the silence by asking: "18… Is it because of a man?"

"What…? NO!" 18 gasped out a bit too eagerly, and to her surprise her cheeks started to burn.

Kushami grinned mischievously. Oh, so that was the reason. "It is a man!"

18 angrily glared at her. But her glares were completely lost on the other woman - there wasn't anything that could scare the green-eyes beauty, least of all this woman.

18 sighed, defeated and finally nodded: "Two men, actually. My twin brother… And a friend who did a lot for me… Even risked his life. And because I don't have the slightest idea where they are, that drives me crazy."

Kushami seemed rather disappointed at her answer. "Oh. I thought it was something more… Romantic that that."

18's thoughts suddenly rushed to Krilin, and she felt her cheeks burning - again.

Kushami wasn't blind, and neither was she stupid. She smirked: "Oh, so there is a man!"

18, herself amazed that her first thought was Krilin every time anyone mentioned the word 'romance', glowered at Kushami defensively: "And what about a man in your life? I see you're depressed sometimes, and it has to be because of a man. I can't see any other reason for your depression."

Now it was Kushami's time to blush, and she snapped: "Oh shut up! This is none of your business."

18 smirked at her reaction: "No shit. You are the one that started with this personal questions crap."

Kushami jumped off the bar stool and quickly changed the subject: "I'll dress, and then we can go rob this bank."

She caught 18's wicked, winning smile, and angrily growled as she stalked out of the kitchen: "Oh shut the fuck up!"

18's smirk just grew wider, and she yelled after her: "I didn't say anything."

"But you were thinking it!" came the high-pitched, annoyed response.

~D~B~Z~

Half an hour later, 18 was impatiently waiting in the garage, her frown turning into an annoyed scowl. Why did it always take her this long???

"Stupid humans!" she muttered, turning around. She was about to storm upstairs and get Kushami herself, when the older blonde just came downstairs, dressed in a black tank top, green army pants and combat boots, plus the trademark orange kerchief on her head.

She smirked at 18: "Hey Blondie, all set?"

"I thought you fell down the fucking toilet," 18 snapped in response, extremely ticked off for having to wait so long.

Kushami, after her morning dose of coffee, was in an extremely good mood, though, so she just smirked: "Funny. Now, hop on!"

She straddled her bike and looked expectantly at 18.

While 18 loathed any kind of human transportation, this kind definitely appealed to her. She straddled the bike behind Kushami and the two sped off.

~D~B~Z~

The Western Capitol First National Bank was one of the richest banks in the world, mostly because Capsule Corp invested most of its money in it. Both Kushami and 18 were more than aware of that and of the fact that if they successfully pull this one off, they can just as well retire. Not that either of them thought of retiring, though.

~D~B~Z~

It was around noon as the two blonde beauties strutted into the already mentioned bank, Kushami armed with two machine guns, one in each hand, and 18 armed with nothing but her glare, her arms crossed on her chest.

Kushami started to wildly shoot around: "Everyone down unless you want to get shot!"

The people started screaming and threw themselves on the floor, hands over their heads, whimpering and crying.

18 rolled her eyes - pathetic, these weakling humans!

The manager, a small, fat guy that was sweating like a pig, quickly came running towards them, almost stumbling over himself as he did so. "I… I… I… What… do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious?" 18 asked coldly, pushed him out of the way and strutted straight towards the safe. She grabbed the huge steel door and tore them off its hinges like it was made out of paper, then grabbed the huge bag Kushami threw her, and started slowly filling it with money and gold.

Kushami was keeping an eye on the hostages, and was smirking evilly.

As 18 once again joined her, she asked without looking at her: "Got everything?"

"Yeah," 18 answered indifferently as she capsuled their loot. She picked up the capsule and put it into her pocket, looking at Kushami. "We going?"

Kushami nodded and started moving towards the exit, keeping an eye and her guns on the hostages, while 18 walked out as if she wouldn't have a worry in the world. She powered up just enough, however, that all the cameras in the whole city exploded. She didn't want to leave any evidence.

As they came outside, though, whole bank was surrounded by cop cars and police officers.

18 grinned and glanced sideways at Kushami: "Think you can take care of this?"

"With pleasure!" smirked Kushami, producing a giant bazooka out of thin air (as she always did) and blowing up five police cars at once.

"Nice work." 18 raised an eyebrow, impressed.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Kushami boasted as she jumped on her bike, 18 following her example, and they took off.

~D~B~Z~

Krilin was in a really miserable mood since no one heard from 18 in this whole time. He often visited Yamcha, Tenshinhan and Chaozu, and especially Gohan, and sparred with them. Of course, he knew he wasn't a match for Saiyajins, but he was also aware that he wasn't for old rubbish yet. Besides, if he had something to do, he at least didn't think about a certain blonde android so much.

It really hurt him that she just took of like that after he made that wish at the Look-Out. But then again, he couldn't blame her. Not like she owned him anything. Sure, he risked the fate of the whole planet when he destroyed the remote during Trunks's battle with Cell, but he really didn't expect anything in return for that. Or for the wish he made at the Look-Out.

To be frank, what could a gorgeous woman like 18 ever see in him anyway?

But although he knew all that, he couldn't make himself feel any differently. He cared about 18, has ever since that kiss she gave him. And boy, did he ever want to find out just why she kissed him.

All the time, he was thinking of her. Only her. So he made sure he was occupied 24 hours a day, just so he didn't have time to think. He even stopped shaving his head, because that took too much time and gave him time to think. And every time he had time to think, his thoughts drifted towards 18, and that memory hurt too much.

Will he always love someone that would never love him back? Besides, he wasn't even sure if she could love at all. After all, she wasn't human. Not completely anyway.

His musings were rudely interrupted when a loud voice next to him yelled: "Earth to Krilin?!"

Krilin quickly stopped, blinking at Yamcha that was all of a sudden floating next to him.

"Oh, hey, Yamcha, sorry, didn't hear you there. Did you come to meet me?" he laughed nervously, putting his hand behind his head in a gesture he picked up from Goku.

Yamcha was staring at him like he'd just grown another head: "Krilin, you just passed Orange Star City with top speed for about 100 miles. I flew to see where you're heading, and have been calling you for like 10 minutes, but you didn't hear me."

Krilin cringed. "Oups. Sorry about that, buddy. I don't know where my brain is lately."

Yamcha shook his head: "Sheesh, Krilin, you really got it hard."

Krilin sighed miserably, knowing he couldn't hide it any longer from his friend anyway. "I'm sorry, Yamcha. I really don't know what the hell's wrong with me lately."

Yamcha turned around and they both slowly headed towards the mountains, to pick up Tien and Chaozu: "Krilin, you haven't been like this just lately, but for the past nine months. I've never seen you like this."

Krilin nodded, feeling dog awful: "I know… I'm sorry…"

Yamcha patted him on the shoulder: "Don't apologise to me, buddy. I know it's not your fault - I was a complete wreck after me and Bulma broke up, too."

Krilin knew that was true. While Bulma and Yamcha broke up consensually, on friendly terms, the desert bandit still needed over a year to completely pick up after the break-up. But Krilin also suspected that Yamcha was more devastated over the fact that Bulma immediately hooked up with Vegeta after she and Yamcha broke up, than because Yamcha loved her so much. Their relationship hadn't been anything more than just a habit for the last few years anyway.

He sighed and nodded: "But this isn't anything like you and Bulma… I mean, you two were together for like sixteen years, and me and 18…" He blushed and quickly added: "There is no 'me and 18'."

Yamcha nodded sympathetically: "Trust me, Krilin, it can very well be just like me and Bulma. While perhaps you two weren't together, that doesn't mean that you don't love 18 like I did Bulma once. Or maybe even more."

Krilin glanced at him with a smirk, and Yamcha laughed: "All right, all right, I know it's hard to imagine that I loved Bulma, but it's still true."

"Look, we're here!" Krilin suddenly pointed down, to a small Capsule house in the middle of the forest in the mountains.

Tien and Chaozu were already waiting for them in front of the house. Tien was smirking at them, and Chaozu was waving his hands: "Hello Krilin, hi Yamcha!"

"Hey Chaozu, Tien," the two greeted as they landed.

"Are we ready to go?" asked Yamcha, looking at Tien.

Tien nodded, pointing at the huge bag he was carrying: "Yeah. I have the baby gift right here."

Yamcha smiled nostalgically: "Wow, I can't believe Goku already has a second baby. I keep thinking it was only yesterday as I fought against him in the desert."

"Or that we trained together at Muten Roshi's," Krilin nodded.

"And I defeated him at the World Martial Arts Tournament," Tenshinhan also added, looking at Chaozu.

"Yeah. I mean, wasn't it only yesterday that Gohan was still a kid?" Chaozu sighed, floating next to Tenshinhan's huge bag.

"And now he's the strongest being in the universe," Yamcha said with a hint of jealous in his voice.

"I can already see Vegeta beating himself up over that minor detail," Tien suddenly smirked evilly.

"Serves the bastard right!"Yamcha answered coldly, and Krilin just chuckled: "All right, enough of reminiscence. We have to catch the visiting hours at the hospital."

"Yeah. But the second Chi-Chi starts bitching around, we're gone," Tenshinhan said, as the other three laughed and lifted into the air, shooting towards Western Capitol.

As they reached the Western Capitol, Krilin suddenly stopped: "Do you hear that?"

"It's police sirens." Yamcha shrugged. "So what? It's not like they can't handle it themselves."

"But some of them might get hurt in the process. We really should help, maybe we could save them a lot of hassle," Kilin offered.

"Krilin's right. Come on, guys, let's see what's wrong," Tien said, looking at the other three.

Chaozu and Krilin nodded, and the three shot towards the sirens, leaving Yamcha behind. He sighed: "Jeez, thanks for listening to me, guys!" Then he shrugged: "Might as well…" and he sped through the air, catching up with his friends.

~D~B~Z~

Kushami drove around a corner and almost collided with a road block that was set up there by the police. She quickly hit the brakes, coming to a stop just a few inches before the cars on the road.

"Holy shit, that was close," she yelled and pulled a machine gun out of nowhere.

"We don't have time for that," 18 suddenly yelled, grabbing Lunch by the belt of her pants and shot into the air.

The policemen almost fell over as they saw the two women fly away.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lunch yelled, flailing her arms around. "I could handle them!"

18 didn't bother answering - she sensed the Z fighters approaching, and she was damned if she's going to meet them again. Especially Krilin. Now, she wasn't sure, but she really didn't want to see his disappointment at what she became after he saved her life. Twice even.

I don't understand just why the hell I bother what that midget thinks of me anyway! She angrily thought, but deep down inside she knew she's only lying to herself. No matter what she said, she did care what he thought of her.

Suddenly, a couple of police helicopters blocked her way. "YOU ARE HEREBY ARRESTED! PLEASE LAND NOW WITH YOUR HANDS RAISED! THIS WAS YOUR FIRST WARNING!"

18 cursed - what is she going to do now? She could have blown the copters to smithereens with her little finger, but that would only get the Z fighters hot on her trail. And if Gohan thinks she crossed the line and decided to take care of her… She's dead meat. Or a heap of metal, whatever.

Kushami hissed: "Damn it, 18, get us the hell out of here."

18 nodded, when Kushami suddenly pulled out a huge bazooka: "But not until I take care of these suckers!"

She aimed it at the helicopters, when 18 suddenly felt the Z fighters coming up behind her. She cursed, but suddenly a deep voice called out, surprised: "Kushami!"

Kushami, taken by surprise, jerked, and the missile she just fired went way past its target, landing in a huge hill, levelling it.

She turned around, her eyes wide. "Tien!" she gasped.

Tien, taken by surprise as well, suddenly blushed. "Kushami." He whispered.

The next moment, Kushami somehow managed to wiggle out of 18's hold on her, and threw herself through the air into Tien's arms.

Tien, although a bit surprised at her action, easily caught her into his arms, his blush deepening.

"Tien, I thought you were dead!" Kushami beamed at her former boyfriend.

Tenshinhan was surprised: "Dead? Why? Oh, you mean because Piccolo died as well, and the dragonballs disappeared together with him and Kami? Long story."

"And I think we should find a better place to talk about things like that, what do you think, guys?" asked Yamcha, nervously glancing at the helicopters, and the reinforcements that were arriving in the distance.

"Yamcha, you're alive too!" yelled Kushami happily, then catching a glimpse of Chaozu, who waved at her, smiling.

"Hi Kushami! Long time no see, huh?"

"Chaozu, you little sweetheart, you're alive!" she smiled, shaking his hand.

Chaozu nodded, grinning, and Yamcha nervously said: "How about we disappear from her?"

Tien glanced at the growing number of helicopters and nodded: "You're right, Yamcha, we better."

"We should go to Capsule Corp," Chaozu suggested. "It's the closest."

"Good idea, Chaozu," smiled Tien.

In the meanwhile, 18 groaned as the Z fighters reached them. Damn it! She was shocked when she saw Kushami jump at Tien. He was the man Kushami was talking about? Holy shit!

Suddenly, she felt someone staring at her, and she looked at her right. Her fear was substantiated. It was Krilin who was staring at her. Now, she was damned if she was going to let him know his staring bothered her.

Wow, he has hair now! 18 suddenly noticed. What else did I miss? A slight pang of an indescribable feeling shot through her. It bothered her he has a life she's not a part of, a life she knows nothing of.

Their eyes locked, and 18 swore there's no way she's going to be the one to back off first. It annoyed her to no end that this puny weakling human thought he was a match for her, or that he had any kind of control over her. She shuddered at the mere thought, but what worried her more than that was that he actually did have some sort of control over her. She didn't understand it yet - hell, she didn't even know what it was, or why it was there, but it damn well bothered her that it was there.

You could never hurt him, said a wicked voice in her head

Oh yeah? She thought, angrily, and suddenly with the speed of light flew towards Krilin, planting her fist firmly into his plexus, making him double over.

Any more smartass comments? She smirked evilly at the voice in her head.

The voice didn't go away, though - it only became more impudent. Oh come on, that wasn't even a real punch. You deliberately held back - if you actually meant it, he'd be dead now.

18 hissed, getting really pissed off - mostly because that stupid voice in her head was right.

Yamcha rushed to the doubled over Krilin, glaring at 18: "Why did you do this for? He didn't do anything!"

How could 18 explain what she did when not even she herself completely understood why she did it? How could she say she did it just because it bothered her how he looked at her? That his eyes bothered her? Those eyes that stared at her… Disappointed? She couldn't stand it, because they awoke unknown feelings in her… Feelings like… Guilt?

So she just huffed and looked away: "It isn't polite to stare at ladies."

But Krilin already shrugged Yamcha off and smiled weakly: "It's all right, Yamcha, I'm fine."

Yamcha nodded and let go off him, still staring angrily at 18, who suddenly found her cheeks flushing.

Kushami finally looked away from Tien and Chaozu and happily waved: "Oh god, Krilin, it's you! It's so great to see you alive!"

Krilin blushed and put his hand behind his head, laughing nervously: "Hi Kushami, it's great to see you too!"

18 huffed, another unknown feeling filling her. A feeling like.... Jealousy?

"You know these clowns?" she cast a quick glance at Kushami.

Kushami blinked: "How do you know them?"

"We ran into each other already," 18 answered icily.

Kushami smirked - she could very well imagine how that run-in looked like. Later on she found one she wasn't even close.

Yamcha interrupted them: "Could we continue this at Capsule Corp? These guys don't look like they're the welcome wagon." He pointed at the huge number of police choppers around them.

"We really better leave," Chaozu chirped, and Tenshinhan nodded: "Yamcha's right. Let's get out of here."

All of them shot past the choppers at top speed, leaving the confused police officers to stare at the empty space where before six people were floating.

One of the pilots rubbed his eyes and glanced at the other: "Is it my eyes, or are they really gone?"

The other, whimpering, blurted out: "It's not your eyes, they really are gone!"

18 hesitated for a few seconds, then reluctantly followed the others. What else could she do? So she could blow the damn choppers away, and disappear somewhere with all the money, but then Gohan would sooner or later (and her money was on sooner) find her and bring her to justice, because he had this stupid sense of morality and obligation towards these puny humanoids.

I'll never understand why he feels he has to protect these humans… Okay, so maybe Krilin was worth saving-

"Fuck!" she swore as she landed on the front lawn of Capsule Corp.

The others were already there, and Krilin asked worriedly: "Is everything all right, 18?"

Damn him, does he have to look at me with those compassionate, worried, understanding puppy-like eyes? He doesn't understand anything! I don't need pity, especially not from him! I'm not just some weak blonde bimbo (all the present blondes excluded, of course) that needs protection. How dares he even think about me this way. How dare he carefor me!

She suddenly blinked. Her trails of thought kept surprising her.

"18? 18?! Are you all right?"

She looked at him funnily, then suddenly turned her back on him and snapped: "None of your damn business, shorty!"

Krilin's worried facial expression turned into a hurt one. Without a word he went to stand with Yamcha, who just came out of the house. He really cared a great deal about her, but while her cold attitude towards him hurt him very much, it didn't make him like her - or love her - any less.

After all, what could she possibly like about me? I am short and weak, at least compared to her. But at least I'm not bald anymore.

18 watched him retreat to lick his wounds, and felt rather bad for treating him like she did, but she had to get rid of these damned feelings. She hated feeling this way. It made her feel all too human, and she didn't like human. It stood for all she ever loathed.

Suddenly, Bulma came outside, carrying baby Trunks. "Hey boys, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Bulma's eyes suddenly stopped on Kushami and she squealed: "OH MY GOD, KUSHAMI! IT'S SO GREAT TO SEE YOU, WHERE THE HECK HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THIS TIME?!"

But Kushami was too occupied with other worries to give a damn about answering questions. Her eyes bugged out as she noticed Trunks: "Whoa! Bulma, I didn't know you and Yamcha have a kid! He looks just like his father!"

Bulma and Yamcha both blushed to the roots of their hair, while Tenshinhan and Krilin almost choked.

"N… No," Bulma almost stuttered. "Kushami, you got it all wrong. This isn't Yamcha's son."

Kushami was now truly puzzled: "It isn't? Whose is he then? I always thought you two will get married."

"That's what I thought, too," Yamcha muttered bitterly, and Bulma blushed again, but quickly redirected everyone's attention to Trunks: "This is Trunks." She introduced with a smile, and took him from 16's arms.

"Oh, he's a cute one!" Kushami cooed at Trunks.

Now that was a strange feeling - the boys, as well as 18, never thought they'd see the gun-crazed blonde melt down at the sight of a baby.

"Of course he is cute!" answered Bulma, wearing a proud young mother grin. "He takes after his mother. Would you like to hold him?"

Kushami quickly protested, suddenly growing nervous: "No, really, I couldn't. I'm afraid I'd drop him."

"Oh nonsense!" insisted Bulma, and almost forced her son into Kushami's arms.

Baby Trunks didn't mind being held by the stranger - obviously, he enjoyed being in the centre of attention just as his mother did. He was happily waving his hands up and down, and babbling something in baby language.

Kushami didn't look like she was enjoying herself, though. She held the baby awkwardly, and just wished to god it would be over soon. Tien leaned over her shoulder to take a closer look at the baby and smiled - even if he hated the boy's father, he could never dislike the boy - he was just too adorable.

Bulma clasped her hands: "Awww, you look just like a young family!"

Chaozu chirped in, smiling: "You're doing great, Kushami! Maybe you should have a baby of your own!"

"And we all know who the father would be," Yamcha added teasingly.

Now it was Kushami's and Tien's turn to blush.

Yamcha started laughing as Bulma took Trunks away from Kushami and started to rock him, then grinned at Kushami: "Why not, Kushami? I am sure you would make a wonderful mother."

Kushami and Tien turned even a deeper shade of red (although the others would have sworn that was physically impossible) and suddenly discovered the tips of their boots extremely interesting.

Suddenly, 18, who was until now amused out of her mind at Kushami's discomfort, was taken by surprise as Bulma suddenly turned to her and asked: "Would you like to hold him, 18?"

18, too shocked to say the least, just shook her head indicating a 'no' - she wasn't even able to answer properly, that's how shocked she was.

Bulma just shrugged, but didn't push the matter any further. She started cooing and tickling Trunks. "Who's mama's little hero? Oh yes, Trunks is. Trunks is mama's little hero, isn't he? Isn't he? Oh you're going to be such a handsome young man someday, aren't you? Of course you are!"

Trunks just giggled and tried to catch his mother's hair.

18 felt like she's going to vomit any second now, but only a slight frown actually showed her displeasure of the unnecessary emotional display in public.

Suddenly, someone who felt exactly the same as she did about emotions and public display thereof, barked from behind them, causing them all to jump: "And just what the hell do you think you're doing, woman?"

Vegeta was glaring at them, arms crossed on his chest in his characteristic gesture.

"Shit, it's one of those Saiyajins - he's still alive!" Kushami yelled, and before anyone could say something, she pulled a machinegun out of thin air and started shooting at Vegeta.

Everyone except Vegeta and 18 covered their ears, and ducked away from the shooting blonde - they already forgot about Kushami's unexpected mood swings, and sudden shooting exercises.

Vegeta just stood there, frowning - bullets bouncing straight off him. The only indication that he actually knew he was being shot at was that he glanced at Bulma and asked in an annoyed, bordering on bored voice: "And just what is this woman's damn problem?"

Bulma, trying to calm down the now crying baby Trunks, answered absent-mindedly: "Vegeta, this is Kushami - she's an old friend. She's just a bit hot-tempered. She probably doesn't know you changed. I think she wants to kill you for killing Tenshinhan."

Vegeta's annoyed frown turned into a scowl. "I didn't kill that weakling three-eyed idiot human. And just why the hell doesn't someone set this woman straight? If no one else will, I'll do it."

The threat didn't go by unnoticed, and Tenshinhan put an end to Kushami's shooting by putting his hand on the machinegun she was holding, and pushing it downwards.

Kushami blinked, surprised, and looked at Tien as if just awoken from a trance: "What are you doing, Tenshinhan? Why did you stop me? It's that bastard that killed you! I'm not letting him get away with it!"

Tenshinhan blushed a bit, but although flattered, he said firmly, as if explaining something to a stubborn child: "Vegeta wasn't the one that killed me, it was Nappa. Vegeta was given a second chance, and he used it. He's protecting the Earth with us now."

Kushami frowned sceptically, and glared at the Prince of all Saiyajins: "He is?"

Everyone nodded except Vegeta and 18.

Vegeta wasn't as much insulted by the fact that this woman just tried to kill him as if by the fact that Tenshinhan said him, the Prince of all Saiyajins, is protecting Earth now!

He matched the green-eyed spitfire's glare with one of his own and growled at Tien: "That's what you keep telling yourself, you idiot three-eyed human weakling."

Then he stalked to Bulma, who was still trying to soothe their crying son, and hissed: "I don't want my brat hanging around pathetic excuses for fighters like you, or he just might become one himself."

He grabbed Trunks by the diapers and carried him into the house.

Kushami, who was until now absolutely living he called Tien an idiot three-eyed human weakling' had to be restrained by both Tien and Yamcha from jumping Vegeta and beat him into a bloody pulp. Well, try to anyway.

"LET ME AT HIM! I'M GOING TO KICK HIS SCRAWNY BUTT! DAMN MIDGET! COME HERE, BUSTER!"

Vegeta's lips, hearing her swearing, twitched in amusement. It seemed like just every woman on this mud ball of a planet had one hell of a temper.

But when Kushami heard what Vegeta said about Trunks, her eyes went huge. She stared after Vegeta after he carried Trunks away, and when he disappeared into the kitchen, she turned on Bulma with a predatory gleam in her eyes. "And just what is that supposed to mean, Bulma? Do you want to tell me he-" she pointed where Vegeta just disappeared into the house: "is the father of your baby?"

Bulma swallowed hard and tried to crack a grin - but it turned out more as a face you make when you are sick to your stomach. Which basically she was.

"Yes?" she chirped, praying to God - she hoped Dende wasn't on vacation - that she won't get shot at. I may be gorgeous and a genius, as well as the richest woman on this planet, but I'm not nearly as good at dodging bullets as Vegeta is.

Kushami suddenly exploded and started screaming her head off: "ARE YOU COMPLETELY INSANE, BULMA?! HE'S A KILLER, A MURDERER, A FREAKING MONSTER! HE AND HIS ASSHOLE FRIENDS TRIED TO KILL EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET, DESTROY IT AND RULE THE UNIVERSE! SHIT, THEY KILLED TENSHINHAN, CHAOZU, PICCOLO, YOUR BEST FRIEND GOKU AND EVEN YOUR BOYFRIEND YAMCHA!!! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING WITH?!"

Now Kushami had to stop to catch her breath. Neither of the boys made any attempts to help Bulma - mostly because they felt the same when she first told them that Trunks was Vegeta's kid.

Bulma, who couldn't get a word in with Kushami yelling, secretly gestured to the others to get some pepper.

18 watched with a cold air of indifference everything that was happening. She was used to Kushami's outbursts, and besides, this was none of her business, so she staid out of it. If the blue-haired slut wanted to screw Vegeta - let her. But 18 for the life of her couldn't understand why any woman in her right mind would want to do something like that. The midget prince had an ego bigger than this whole planet, outmatched only by his big mouth.

She noticed with the corner of her eye that Krilin finally took pity on Bulma and ran in the kitchen to get some pepper.

18 snorted - he's such a lapdog!

Krilin already returned, and quickly sprinkled some pepper into still screaming Kushami's nose. Kushami sneezed, and in the next second she turned into her purple-haired, calm, naive other self.

Lunch blinked and looked around, confused: "Oh my, where am I? What happened?"

Bulma sighed with relief and flashed her a V sign: "Hey Lunch!"

"Bulma!" happily yelled Lunch, and fell around the other woman's neck. "Great to see you again! It's been years! How are you?"

"Much better now," Bulma grinned, happy she's off the hook.

"How did I get here?" asked Lunch, turning around. Suddenly, she came face to face with Tien. Her eyes widened, and she just stared at him, speechless. Suddenly, her eyes filled with tears.

"Well, you and 18…" Bulma started explaining, but Yamcha quickly gestured her to shut up and indicated the staring couple with his head. Bulma looked up and saw how the two were looking at each other. She grinned to Yamcha, who nodded back.

"Well, we're going to leave you two lovebirds alone now," she said loudly, knowing fully well they probably didn't hear a word she said. And she was right.

"Well, we better head inside. Come on, guys, 18."

She, Yamcha and Chaozu headed into the kitchen.

Krilin looked expectantly at 18, half afraid she'll take off again.

She looked at him hatefully and headed inside as well. She told herself she's doing it just because of Lunch, not anyone else.

She hated the small monk, but deep down inside she knew she couldn't hurt him. She owed him way too much. She hated the feeling that she owed anyone anything, especially him. But, she also reluctantly had to admit that she doesn't really hate him - she just hated the feeling of being indebted to him, of owing him something. In this case, that something was her life. And that she couldn't take. That was also the reason she behaved so hostile against him - otherwise, he was kind cute-

She stopped abruptly, and Krilin, following her like a lost puppy, bumped into her, almost knocking her off her feet.

She turned around, her eyes flashing furiously: "Watch it, shorty!"

Krilin blushed, and started laughing awkwardly, blushing: "I'm sorry, 18, I wasn't looking, and then you stopped so quickly…"

"Oh, so now it's my fault you're a klutz?" Her anger was rising by the second, her blue piercing eyes shooting holes into him.

He quickly shook his head: "No, no, of course not! I… I… I just wanted to say… I'm sorry."

18 glared at him for a few moments, then finally turned around and disappeared into the kitchen where the others were already waiting.

Krilin sighed, his grinning face falling, and now openly showing his despair. "Nice work, stupid!" me chided himself and slowly headed into the kitchen as well, trying to mask his downhearted facial expression into a careless grin.

Yamcha and Bulma were both hanging on the window, spying on them both, while Chaozu was doing the same, only his prime target was Tien and Lunch.

Bulma and Yamcha also witnessed Krilin's embarrassing incident, and Bulma sympathetically shook her head: "Poor Krilin, he really has got it bad, doesn't he?"

"Yeah. I really feel sorry for him, but I also think he's wasting his time. 18 doesn't seem to be particularly fond of him. If you ask me, she seems to dislike him most of all of us." Yamcha shook his head.

Bulma rolled her eyes: "God you're stupid, Yamcha."

"Huh? What do you mean, Bulma?" asked Yamcha, completely lost as to what Bulma wanted to say.

But she just turned around and put on a smiling face: "Hey 18, come, sit down. Are you hungry?"

18 looked at her coldly and just shook her head. "I don't eat."

"Oh," Bulma's cheery face fell a bit and she laughed nervously. While she wasn't afraid of the beautiful android, she was still a bit nervous around her.

Her feelings were obviously shared by the other occupants of the room as well.

"So, Yamcha, where's Puar?" she asked, trying to change the subject and lighten the situation.

"Oh, I she and Oolong are at some school reunion or something," Yamcha laughed, also seemingly unnerved by 18's menacing presence.

Krilin came in after her, grinning stupidly: "So, what's up guys?"

~D~B~Z~

"Hi Lunch," smiled Tien softly.

Suddenly, she lurched forward and hugged him, sobbing: "Tien, I thought you were dead."

He gently held her, and caressed her hair, smiling softly. Oh God how I missed her! "I'm very much alive at the moment. But I was dead."

Lunch looked up at him, confused: "You were? But how… I mean, didn't Piccolo die?"

Tien chuckled softly: "Oh yeah, we all did - Piccolo, Chaozu, Yamcha and me. But we were brought back by the Namekian dragonballs. Long story." He sighed and smiled: "I missed you very much, you know that? But I didn't realize just how much until this moment."

Lunch blushed and shyly looked down. "I missed you too," she confessed quietly, and looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I couldn't believe you were dead. I went back to the house more than one time, and sometimes I would just appear there… And neither of you was there. You weren't there… And not even Chaozu. You really were dead. I finally accepted that and moved on, but I could never forget."

He felt a pang of pain when he thought of her with someone else, thinking he's dead. Lunch and Kushami were different like night and day, and loving her seemed like loving two women at the same time. It was tiring, and sometimes it was also painful, but it was definitely worth it.

"Why didn't you try to find me when you were brought back to life?" she suddenly said, looking at him with accusation and hurt in her eyes.

Tien shook his head: "I wanted to. Chaozu kept telling me to go and find you, but… I thought you forgot all about me and moved on in your life, and… Found someone else."

It was a lame excuse, he realized when he said it out loud. Indeed it was, but he didn't want to admit the truth. While Kushami would perhaps understand, Lunch never would - she was hopelessly romantic and a more than a bit naïve.

Quite frankly, he was too proud to be running after a woman. Sure, he was suffering hell without her, but rather that than running after her, and possibly facing a brush-off. Now, Tenshinhan never was a coward, but in this case, he had to finally admit to himself that he indeed acted cowardly.

Lunch smiled through tears and nodded: "I understand. But please promise me never to do this again. If something like this ever happens again, please promise you will find me no matter what. Promise me!"

Tien nodded, his face serious when he swore: "Lunch, you have my word. But I will do more than just that. I want you in my life forever from now on. Would you please come back to me?"

Lunch smiled the sweetest smile he ever saw on her. "Silly, you really don't need to ask. Of course I will. I never stopped loving you, and never stopped thinking of you. I am not complete without you, you really should know that by now."

He smiled as well, his heart swelling with happiness he didn't even know a human being could possibly experience, and the only way he knew of expressing it was by pulling her closer and kissing her softly.

Suddenly, they heard loud whoopees and cat calls from the house, and turned around to see all their friends on the window, watching them and waving, grinning like lunatics. They both blushed and Tien ducked his face into Lunch's hair to hide his embarrassment, and to whisper to her: "I love you, Lunch. Always."

She blushed harder, and looked him in the eyes: "I love you too."

He smiled and then gestured to the others: "We obviously have audience. So, do we join them?"

Lunch giggled and nodded: "We really should, but later on, we are going to take some quality time just for us alone."

Tien blushed as she headed inside, pulling him behind her. Maybe Lunch wasn't as naïve as he thought her to be. He smirked to himself - that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, now was it?

When they joined the others, Yamcha was grinning at him and nudged him in the ribs.

Lunch noticed Chaozu, she cried out, enveloping the small mime into her arms and kissing him: "Oh, Chaozu, sweetheart, you're alive and well! I missed you so much, how are you?"

The small emperor, blushing, laughed nervously: "Hi Lunch, it's great to see you, we missed you terribly!"

Lunch smiled: "I missed you all too, it's so great to see you all again."

She happily hugged Yamcha and Krilin next, oblivious to their blushing and stuttering. Then she looked at 18 and smiled: "Oh, hey 18, what are you doing here? You know my friends, do you?"

18 nodded curtly, and answered with her typical bored voice: "Yeah, we met."

Bulma secretly gave Yamcha some pepper and nudged him to change Lunch back to Kushami.

"Why me?" Yamcha hissed, backing off from Lunch and Bulma.

"Come on, do it already, you scaredy cat!" Bulma insisted, pushing him towards Lunch.

"But… But…" Yamcha didn't know what to do next, he just knew he doesn't want to be the one that changes Lunch back, because the one that did usually got hurt. "Why do we have to change her back?" he whined. "I like her this way."

"You would," Bulma rolled her eyes. "But if I understood you right, she robbed a bank as Kushami. We need to find out how she hooked up with 18, and what they did, so we can get the police off their backs - because if we don't, they'll be wanted as criminals, and you know what that means."

"But Kushami already is a wanted criminal," Yamcha protested, desperately trying to keep his hide in one piece.

"Oh, gimme this!" Tien growled, taking the pepper from Yamcha and sprinkling some in his girlfriend's face.

Lunch sneezed, and the next moment, she turned back into Kushami. "What the…" she started, and looked around. Frowning at Tien she said firmly: "We need to talk, you know that, don't you?"

Tien nodded: "Yes, we do, but right now, we need to clear some things up. What was with those police officers chasing you?"

Kushami blushed. "Uhm… Well, we kinda robbed a bank."

None of them was surprised - that was what Kushami did, after all.

"I figured that when Yamcha told me he brought you here after you were chased by the police. But I was surprised to hear you two were together." Bulma glanced at 18. "How on Earth did you two get together?"

Kushami grinned and explained curtly, not going into many details: "Oh, I was working as a truck driver after Tenshinhan's death, and about nine or so months ago I was driving along the beach, when I met 18. I picked her up, and offered her a place to stay. Then she kinda stuck around, and we eventually started doing bank jobs together."

18 just nodded, not bothering to speak up.

"So that means you two are already wanted. How come no one of us ever heard anything about you two?" Bulma wondered out loud.

Krilin blushed slightly as he said: "Muten Roshi and Oolong just watch porno channels and stuff with lots of women in it. I don't watch television, so I couldn't know anything about it."

"We don't have a TV set, right Tien?" Chaozu added, looking at Tien, who simply nodded.

"And I really don't have time to watch TV. I am always either training or am on tour with the Taitans." Yamcha elaborated, shrugging.

"And I am too busy with Trunks and running Capsule Corp to actually watch TV anymore. I suppose that's why we didn't hear anything about them. Okay, now we need to return the money to the bank. Kushami?" Bulma glanced at Kushami, taking over as the strategist of the Z fighters that she was.

Kushami frowned, not liking the idea of having to part with her money, but after the stern look she got from Tien, she looked at 18: "Hand it over, 18."

18 wasn't any more pleased with the turn out of the events than Kushami herself. But despite that she wordlessly took the capsule out of her pocket and put it into Bulma's outstretched hand.

"Okay, so here's the plan. We return the money and I'll try to remove all the evidence of your past conducts from the police archives. We'll even make sure you have a place to stay. But we are only doing this if you two promise to go honest from now on. A clean slate!" she reinforced her words with a stern gaze at both blondes.

"You don't have to bother. We never left any evidence behind except eyewitnesses, and they were always too shell-shocked to tell the police anything that makes any sense." Kushami then shrugged, glancing at 18 with a smirk. "She made sure of that."

Everyone in the room shuddered - they were more than certain 18 did that.

Bulma swallowed hard, then nodded. "Okay… But that's not what I was saying. Are you two ready to make a fresh start?"

Kushami glanced at Tien, who nodded encouragingly. She nodded: "I'm game."

All the eyes in the room settled on 18. She was glaring, and opened her mouth to object - but then she suddenly changed her mind. She turned her back on them, crossing her hands on her chest. "Fine," she said coolly.

It didn't escape her how Krilin's face brightened when she said that.

Hmpf, not like I did it for you! She thought angrily.

Bulma smiled and clasped her hands together: "Great! Okay, boys, let's get going. Yamcha, you bring the money back to the bank."

Yamcha nodded and did as he was told, and then Bulma turned around to the two woman: "One more thing before you go. Kushami, you and 18 can stay here if you want to after this. We have enough room."

Kushami glanced longingly at Tien, but that was unnecessary, because Tien quickly said: "Kushami is going back with me and Chaozu."

"Yes!" Chaozu nodded, smiling widely.

Kushami's face brightened, and she blushed a bit.

Bulma smiled: "All right. What about you, 18?"

18 wasn't too thrilled to stay under the same roof as 'the pompous prick' AKA Vegeta. And she said so, too.

Bulma sighed and nodded: "I understand. And I somehow think he feels the same way - no offence, but you did kick the shit out of him, and he holds grudges for a long time."

18 smirked, and suddenly Krilin spoke up: "You can stay at the Kame Island if you want to."

18's heart almost jumped out of her chest. But she just angrily glared at him and snapped: "I'd rather live on the street, thank you very much."

Krilin's hopeful face fell, and he almost started to cry. "I… I was just… Trying to help…" he said quietly, ducking away.

18 felt really bad and was sorry the second the words left her mouth, but it was too late now. The damage was already done.

Bulma, although angry at the android's bitchy behaviour, said calmly: "All right, so this option is obviously out of the question as well. Any other suggestions?"

Yamcha chuckled nervously: "She could live at my place. I'm off travelling with the team most of the time anyway."

Everyone glanced at him, surprised. Yamcha blushed and chuckled nervously. 'Okay, why is everyone staring at me like that?' "What?"

"No offence, Yamcha, but you're not known as the most reliable… anything." Bulma said slightly nastily and Yamcha blushed.

Things like this pissed him off too damn much. When they were together it was always Bulma that complained he was cheating on her, although she never had a proof or a reason to say anything like that. In all the years they were together he had never cheated on her - looked, perhaps, but then again, so did she.

"Hey, I'm not a perv!" he yelled defensively.

Bulma just rolled her eyes in a gesture of superiority, like she'd want to say 'yeah right'. But she still asked: "18?"

18 warily scanned the tall warrior. He seemed intimidated by her and more than a little flustered. He'd be easy to influence. Besides, it seemed the fact that she would be living under the same roof as a handsome young man was making Krilin squirm, and that was the reason she started liking the idea even more.

"Okay." She agreed, shocking everyone in that room.

TBC…

PS: Holy crapparoni, I shocked myself here. O_O Where did this come from??? If I'm not careful, I just might make this a Yamcha/18. ^_^