A few blocks later, Trunks split up from the group towards his house. The 
girls went to another mall as they tried to reconcile Minako and Rei. After 
walking a couple of minutes, Trunks noticed that he started to enter the 
desolate part of town. Usually, there was no one from here to his house so 
he decided to have some fun.

"Hey, Tetsuo?" he asked him jokingly "Can you keep a secret?" 

He grabbed the stroller with the baby in it an began to fly home. In a 
matter of seconds they reached Trunks' place. Tetsuo really enjoyed the 
flight as he didn't stopped giggling.

"Welcome to my humble abode!" Trunks said as he opened the door reveling the 
incredible bachelor mess that his house was. It's been some time since 
Makoto last cleaned up, Trunks had time to *reorganize* his space. 

He put Tetsuo on the sofa once he removed all the pizza boxes that hid it. 
Tetsuo extended his arms to his sides as if they were wings and started 
hopping frenetically on his sitting spot.

"Voom voom!" he managed to say "Voom voom! Voom voom!"

"What is it buddy?" Trunks asked him "You wanna fly again?"

"Voom voom!" he insisted.

"All right, all right!" he spoke as he took him "Just don't go and tell Rei 
you were flying or she'll call you a liar."

Trunks began to levitate again putting Tetsuo at the level of his stomach as 
he held him by the waist. The baby had his arms extended as if he was a bird. 
They began to fly around the house as Trunks made air plane noises.

"Base to Tetsuo-1. Base to Tetsuo-1. Please answer. Over." Trunks said 
"Tetsuo-1 here. Ready for action. Over...... Tetsuo-1 you must destroy the 
Red Ribbon’s northern base. Do you copy? Over..... Tetsuo-1, I copy. I can 
see the base just in front of me. Ready to shoot. Over and out."


While both of the boys were playing, the five girls were shopping once again. 
The situation between Rei and Minako didn't improve one bit. To be more 
precise, each time one of them took interest in a particular item in display, 
the other didn't even bother in entering the shop. Rei was inside a store 
trying out a dress at this moment and therefore, Minako was outside ignoring 
her. 

She started to take a look around to distract herself from her bad mood. Her 
eyes spotted a toy store that Trunks saw earlier this morning where the NEW 
Super Saya-man doll >>>with sword included<<< was on sale. 
She looked at the doll and sighed.

[He's really a babe.] she thought, and so began her day dream...

She pictured herself in a place filled with sparkling multi-colored lights. 
She was dressed in her Sailor Venus outfit as she heard someone approaching. 
When she turned around, she saw Super Saiya-man flying towards her with a 
beautiful smile on his face (teethes shining and everything).

"Super Saiya-man!!" she happily declared.

Her beloved super hero gently took her between his arms and lifted her 
towards the heavens. Minako saw angels flying, bells ringing and cherry 
blossom petals falling upon her.

"You came back." she finally said as she rested her head on his chest "Even 
after what happened yesterday..."

"It'll take more than *her* to drive me away from you, my dearest girl..." 
he interrupted.

"I'm so happy you came..." she told him "I couldn't stop thinking about you, 
and I wanted to apologize for what Sailor Mars said."

"You have nothing to explain." he stated "I'm here because I couldn't take 
you out of my mind either."

"Do you love me?" She asked hopefully.

"More than anything in the world." he stated. Minako started to blush as he 
told her that.

"You do??" she asked cheerfully "Then... could you take off your mask... for 
me?"

"For you... I'll do anything to make you happy." he declared "But could you 
answer me a question before that?"

"Anything for you." she told him "What do you want to know?"

"Could you please tell me the way to Furinkan high?" Super Saiya-man asked 
her with a different voice.

"What?" Minako asked surprised as she snapped out of her daydream.

"The way to Furinkan high..." said the teenager with a yellow shirt who 
carried a rather big backpack with a red umbrella tied to it. He wore a 
yellow and black bandanna on his head and gave the impression to be totally 
lost. "Could you give me some directions?"

"Hun... That's in Nerima district, isn't it?" Minako pointed out once her 
brain switched from dream to reality "If you're looking for the train 
station you have to get out of the mall, walk down the main road for two 
blocks, then turn right and walk till you see a traffic light, then turn 
left and follow the road. You can't miss it."

"Er... right, thanks..." the boy said to her not very sure if he understood. 
He then left her, searching his way out of the mall.

"Hey, Minako." Usagi asked her once she joined her "Who was that cute boy 
you were talking to?"

"Just some guy who wanted to know the way to Furinkan high." she responded 
"Isn't Mamoru giving classes there?"

"Yeah, he is." Usagi affirmed "Talk about coincidence."


Moments later, back to Trunks' place. The Sayan hybrid was dealing with the 
difficult part of baby-sitting. Tetsuo had a little *accident* and Trunks 
had to change dippers. He practically was wrestling Tetsuo in order to 
getting him changed.

"Stop moving will you." He told him trying to remove the dirty dippers "Aww 
man! What a mess. Let's see where Rei put the spare dippers."

Trunks took the talcum bottle and began to apply some of it on Tetsuo's butt 
after going through the disgusting "cleaning" part of the job. 
The bottle cap suddenly went lose and the talcum was poured all over the 
house.

"Great!" he said blaming himself "This is the last thing I needed now!"

After cleaning the mess the best he could, Trunks finally managed to hold 
the baby still and poured what was left in the bottle. The hard part was 
over (or so he thought). Trunks lifted him to inspect if he was completely 
clean. That proved to be a big mistake as the baby peed on his jacket the 
moment he had him at range (of course he didn't avoid that! It's not an 
attack that requires ki, he couldn't have detected it!).

"Hey!!!" he said as he moved him away "That's my favorite jacket!!" as he 
took it off and threw it into the washing machine.

"Okay!" he declared "No more mister nice guy! I'm going to put you in that 
dipper even if it kills me!!! [I can't believe I'm being beat up by a boy 
who can barely walk!]"

After dealing a couple of minutes with the unrestrainable little Tetsuo, 
Trunks managed to change him into clean dippers. He then proceeded in 
feeding the child with one of the milk bottles Rei prepared. Tetsuo was 
definitively a lot more cooperative when it came to eating. Trunks held him 
on his lap while the baby sucked the bottle dry. 

In spite of the previous challenge with the dippers, he had to admit he was 
actually having a good time taking care of Rei’s little cousin, he only 
wished his father lived long enough to give him a brother or sister to fill 
the hole he left behind.
Once Tetsuo finished gulping the rest of the milk, Trunks took him to the 
sofa and turned on the T.V. 

"So what do you say, kiddo?" he asked him "Feel like watching T.V.?"

Trunks began changing channels searching for something interesting to watch. 
Unfortunately, Tetsuo had different preferences than his, and therefore, 
each time Trunks chose a certain channel that Tetsuo didn't like he made his 
disapproval quite clear by crying. 
As a result, in order to keep him happy, Trunks ended up watching some 
stupid show about a purple dinosaur who was singing nonsense about him 
loving everybody and everybody loving him (?). The show was so boring that 
Trunks began to fall asleep on the sofa. Tetsuo didn't took long to do the 
same and snuggled up at his side.


As time went on, the "female five" finished there shopping and headed 
towards Trunks' house. In spite of all their efforts, Usagi, Makoto and Ami 
were unable to appease the situation between Minako and Rei. The more they 
tried to solve the problem the more it seemed to worsen things. Both of them 
had really big egos and would never apologize unless the other one did 
first, and of course, none of them did that. 

"It's so nice of Trunks to take care of Tetsuo." Rei told Makoto trying to 
open a conversation "They really seem to get along fine with each other; 
Tetsuo isn't usually so cheerful around strangers."

"Sure seems that way." Makoto replied proudly.

"You're so lucky for finding a guy like that, Mako-chan" Usagi added. Her 
tall friend only smiled to that remark.

"I wonder why he was so eager to take care of him." Minako brought out "I 
would of thought he'd rather spend the day shopping with us."

"Well," Makoto began "maybe it's because he's an only son and the fact that 
he lost his father when he was too young to remember."

"I see," Ami stated "he must be developing a paternalistic instinct to 
compensate for his grievous childhood."

"Since when did you became such an expert psychologist, Ami?" Usagi teased her.

"Is this the place Mako-chan?" Rei asked her pointing at the weird spherical 
house with the number 6 and the words "Capsule Corp" written over it.

"Yhea, this is it." she stated.

"Weird looking place." Minako declared.


The door was open, so they didn't bother to knock and went right inside. 
The place was a real mess as the surprised girls traveled their eyes around 
the room to emphasize that. 
Makoto couldn't believe it. 
How could Trunks make such a mess after she *personaly* cleaned up the place?

"Did Trunks' wardrobe exploded?..." Minako asked to no one in particular 
noticing the scattered clothes all over the room "Or is it usually this messy?"

"It's... usually this messy..." Makoto responded not as proud as before.

"Hey, I think something is moving over there." Ami declared pointing 
somewhere near the T.V.

The girls went to the sofa avoiding to step on the big variety of stuff 
Trunks had all over his floor. Once they reached the sofa, they saw Tetsuo 
and the purple hair boy deeply asleep on the furniture. The baby was sucking 
one of his own thumbs while holding some of Trunks' hair with the other hand. 
Trunks was holding Tetsuo in his arms as if he was a teddy bear (Yes, this 
was another Kodak moment). All the girls smiled at the pretty picture.

"Oooooooh! Both of them look so *cute* like that!" Usagi spoke in a low tone 
of voice trying not to wake them up.

"Does anybody have a camera?" Minako asked.

"He actually does look kinda cute when he's not snoring." Ami stated, she 
was after all the one that saw him (or herd him) asleep during class most of 
the time.

"Should we wake them up?" Rei asked. 

"They look so peaceful." Makoto said "Maybe we should wait."

"What are we suppose to do in the meantime?" Usagi asked. 

"How about if we clean up this mess." Ami suggested "It's the least we could 
do to thank him for taking care of Tetsuo."

The girls started cleaning up the place as silently as they could trying not 
to wake the two boys.



He was holding her between his arm while both of them stood in the middle of 
the hall. It felt nice having her near him, her hands were around his neck 
while he held her from her waist.

"If it makes you feel any better," she began "I promise you I won't let 
myself get killed."

He smiled at her. She was so sweet and caring, he couldn't remember having 
a happier moment in his life. He saw her face approaching his as she kissed 
him.

"What a touching scene." a voice full with sarcasm said behind him.

Trunks immediately turned around. He knew that voice very well and he didn't 
liked it. #17 stood there laying against the wall. How on Earth did he get 
here? He didn't have time to think about that. He had to face him now.

"So do you really think you can save her from dying?" he asked mockingly 
"Unlike your friend Gohan?"

"Trunks-kun!!!" she shouted. 

Trunks turned towards where Makoto stood only to see that she wasn't there 
now. Where was she? He heard her scream his name again, it came from below. 

They weren't indoors anymore, the ground turned blue and wet, they were in 
the middle of the ocean. #17 and him were levitating. There was something 
underneath him, it was a whirlpool, and Makoto was caught in it. Trunks 
tried to reach her but two pair of arms held him still. It was #17 and 
#18... no... wait that wasn't #18! That was Ami! But she was dressed like 
#18 and was LEVITATING!!


The girls began to hear Trunks mumbling something during his sleep. All of 
them dropped what they were doing and gathered around him trying to figure 
out what he was dreaming about. Who knows? Maybe it was something about 
Mako-chan? (At least that was what most of them expected/hoped/supposed). 
Trunks wasn't really a very *open* guy, he never said how he felt and this 
moment could be interesting in knowing his true feelings. 

".... Ami....let go of me!...." muttered Trunks as he swung his head from 
side to side.

Everybody glared at Ami, especially Makoto. Why was Trunks dreaming about 
her? And what *were* they doing in that dream? Why wouldn't she let go of 
him?
Ami blushed as she nervously noticed that her friends were staring at her. 
She was just as surprised as everyone, she didn't do anything wrong! But how 
could she convince them that she was innocent, Trunks put her in a very 
difficult situation.

"Ami... Is there something you haven't told us between you and Trunks?" 
Usagi asked distrustfully.

"I... I haven't done anything." she tried to explained, although her friends 
didn't look very convinced "Really!"


Meanwhile, back in Trunks' dream. 
He struggled to get himself free, but he couldn't. What was wrong with him? 
Why couldn't he turn Super Saiyan?
The twins held him as they laugh perversely. He couldn't do anything. Just 
watch as Makoto desperately tried to swim to safety. She was drowning 
*slowly*, almost as if the current made it that way to cause Trunks more 
suffering. He could still hear her call out his name in despair. He couldn't 
bear it.

The girls saw how Trunks was starting to become more agitated. His facial 
expressions showed that he was in extreme discomfort. Rei took the 
precaution of taking a hold of Tetsuo before Trunks accidentally hurt him. 
The rest of them weren't so sure of what to do next, until Trunks woke up 
with a big scream. Makoto was the first one to approach him to see if he was 
okay. 

"Trunks-kun! Are you all right?" she asked worried "Calm down, it was just 
a nightmare!"

Trunks took a look around to situate himself, he was back at his place and 
his five friends were facing him with concerned looks on each one. His hands 
could feel the sweat as he passed them over his face. He was also breathing 
very fast. 
He slowly stood up.

"I have to go to the bathroom." he said as he began to walk away.

After washing off his face he stepped inside the room once again, his 
friends were still looking at him as if they were expecting an answer. He 
didn't say a word however, until Makoto made the obvious question.

"What was that all about, Trunks-kun?" she asked. 

"Just a nightmare." he answered simply.

"It surely seemed to be more than just a nightmare." Usagi said "Care to 
tell us about it?"

"It was nothing really." he declared. 

Makoto, Minako, Usagi and Rei stared at him with a very suspicious look in 
their eyes. Then the four turned towards Ami giving her that same look. 
Usagi was the first to make a comment.

"You yelled Ami's name during your sleep." she pointed out "What was that 
all about?"

"Well," Trunks explained "she was in my nightmare."

"What were you two doing in that dream of yours?" Makoto asked, she seamed 
to be the most disturbed one between the girls.

"What do you mean by that? Nothing happened." he said obviously not getting 
the message "What were you thinking we were d......(brain gets the idea 
now)... AW MAN!!! YOU GIRLS ARE SICK!!!"

"Well?" Rei asked still not convinced.

"No!" he answered rather offended "There was nothing sexual and/or romantic 
going between us! I can assure you that!"

"Then what was she doing in your dream?" Usagi added.

"She...er... had me tied up in a chair and was forcing me to study to death." 
he lied not wanting to tell them that she actually helped in killing Makoto.

"Oh." said the four girls, they seemed satisfied with that answer. 

It seemed quite a logical answer also, especially knowing that Ami was one 
tuff tutor. Everyone regain their previous behavior before that little 
misunderstanding went off, except for Ami that is. Her face was as red as a 
traffic light, one couldn't tell if it was from shame or anger, although she 
didn't say a thing. 
Trunks suddenly had this disturbing feeling, something wasn't right. He took 
a look around and noticed that all of his clothes (*not* the ones he had on! 
You dirty minded person you!) weren't where he last left them. He didn't see 
that pair of pants he always threw over the couch, or the shirt that usually 
was on top of the T.V, neither the extra underwear he always put on the 
magazine rack. That between other lots of things. Where did his stuff go?

"We cleaned up while you were asleep." Ami told him as she noticed his 
confused expression "Isn't it a lot cleaner?"

"Er... yeah, it sure is..." Trunks responded "But....... where's all my 
stuff now?"


After some time, everyone was doing something. Ami was helping Trunks to 
find all of his clothes, Usagi and Makoto were in one of the bathrooms 
trying to change Tetsuo who just had another *accident*, while Minako and 
Rei were left alone in the living room while still turning their back on 
each other and not saying a word. Trunks finally came out of his room and 
saw the two of them in their *I'm not talking to you!* attitude. He 
approached them.

"Hey girls, is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Everything is fine with me, thank you." Minako said in an indifferent tone 
of voice.

"Same here!" Rei added in the same tone of voice.

"Why aren't you talking to each other?" 

"I'm not talking to miss Aino until she says 'I'm sorry'!" Rei explained 
still looking away from her.

"Trunks, could you please tell miss Hino that I won't apologize until she 
does first." she stated.

"Well... could you fill me in on what made both of you get angry at each 
other?" he asked.

Both of them looked a little uncomfortable, they didn't want to tell him 
about Super Saiya-man. How could they explain they knew him without 
revealing to Trunks their identity. They had to do this carefully.

"Miss Hino made quite a good job in scaring away a boy I had my eye on." 
Minako answered, trying to be as brief as possible.

"That guy is dangerous, we don't know a thing about him and you're throwing 
yourself to him just because he's good looking!" Rei stated.

"You can't even prove that!" Minako declared "The only thing you have is 
your 'hunch'!"

"A boy?" asked Trunks "All of this is because of some guy you barely know?"

Both of the girls looked at him. No one actually ever told them how stupid 
this quarrel was, and all because of a boy. Both tried to explain the 
problem as swiftly as possible.

"Well, it's not just any boy." Minako pointed out "He's become very 
important in our... er... daily life."

"Even if he turned out to be the coolest thing that ever walked on earth, 
I'm sure that he's not worth that you two never speaking to each other 
again." Trunks said to them "You girls are good friends, you should be able 
to solve this, shouldn't you?"

"Good friends don't insult each other." Rei brought out as she turned her 
back on her again. Minako didn't take long to do the same thing.

"I'm sure neither of you meant what you said to each other." Trunks told 
them.

"After what she said to me... I think this is a friendship I can well do 
without!" Minako replied.

"The same goes for me!" Rei added.

Trunks sighed, this was turning to be more difficult than he thought. He 
wished he didn't had to do what he was about to do.

"Minako, Rei..." he began "Have you ever wondered how many friends I have?" 

Both looked at him confused. What did that had to do with what they were 
talking about? 
Trunks held his hand in front of them showing all five of his fingers.

"Five... Five friends." he continued "Mako-chan, Ami, Usagi and both of you. 
It's actually six if you count Tetsuo. Have you ever wondered why I only 
have you guys?"

"Well... now that you mention it..." Minako started.

"Well it's quite simple." Trunks interrupted her "All of my other friends 
were murdered... All of them. And I couldn't do a thing to save them. I see 
Mako-chan didn't tell you about that, did she?"

The two girls looked surprised not to mention sad for him. Makoto never told 
them about that. Both of them moved their heads from side to side as a 
response for Trunks' question.

"We... we're sorry..." Rei told him "We didn't knew that..."

"You don't have to feel sorry." he interrupted again "The point is that 
when they died, I was completely destroyed. Now tell me Rei... How would you 
feel if suddenly Minako died. And you Minako... How would you feel if 
something happened to Rei."

Both of them remained silent for a moment, Minako was the first one who 
spoke.

"I guess I'd be feeling like you did." She responded sadly.

"Yeah, me too." Rei added in a low voice.

"Friendship shouldn't be taken for granted you know." Trunks declared "And 
as for that boy who seems to be the trouble of all this... Well I think 
that's something both of you will have to work out."

A long pause followed, the girls were looking at each other again. Judging 
from their faces they felt guilty and stupid for what's been happening this 
day.

"Trunks... could you please give us some time alone?" Minako asked him "I 
think we both need to talk things out."

"Sure thing." he responded as he smiled, he then turned towards one of the 
walls "You can come out now, girls. The show is over."

Three surprised voices were herd behind the wall. Into the room came Makoto, 
Usagi and Ami looking a little embarrassed for being caught in the act. 

[I hate it when he does that.] Makoto thought, although she couldn't hide 
her smile. The four of them left inside another room. Once they were left 
alone, Minako was the first to talk.

"I'm sorry, Rei." she said "I really am, I shouldn't have said all those 
horrible things to you."

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry." Rei replied "You were right. I 
shouldn't be such a grouch all the time. Can you forgive me."

"Only if you forgive too." Minako declared, they gave each other a big hug 
"So what are we going to do about *him*?"

"About Super Saiya-man?" Rei asked "Well I for one can cut him some slack, 
until we know for sure who he is and what he wants."

"Then you won't mind if I... you know." she told her.

"Don't worry." Rei stated "I won't stand in your way. He's all yours."


Meanwhile, in another room of the house. Makoto, Usagi, Ami, Trunks and 
Tetsuo were sitting on a bed while talking.

"I think you handled that quite well, Trunks." Ami said to him "Good job."

"It was nothing really." he replied as he continued to play with the baby. 

Makoto snuggled next to Trunks and put her arms around his waist. 

"You're too modest, you know?" she told him.

Ami and Usagi saw that Trunks wasn't complaining, he even looked happy that 
Makoto held him. His arm moved behind her back and grabbed her shoulder. 
This time Makoto was the one surprised, Trunks didn't say a thing though, 
he kept on playing with Tetsuo who was sitting on his lap, he still held her 
however. 
He didn't knew how to express it but he deeply cared for Makoto, more than 
just a friend that was certain. For the first time, Usagi contained herself 
from making any slight remarks.

"I think we can go outside now." Ami suggested.

The four of them left the room. Makoto still had an arm around Trunks' waist 
while he held her shoulder, he was holding Tetsuo in the other hand (now 
they really looked like a married couple). 

"Well I guess we'll be going now." Rei brought out "Thanks for everything, 
Trunks."

"My pleasure." He said to her "If you ever need someone to take care of 
Tetsuo you can always count on me."

Everyone started leaving. Makoto was the last one to say good-bye.

"I'll be seeing you at school tomorrow, okay?" she told him.

"Til tomorrow then." he responded.

They stood there for a moment without saying a word, they were just staring 
at each other. Trunks took a good look at her. She was really beautiful, he 
was surprised he didn't noticed that before. But somehow he felt something 
different for her than his other friends. A feeling he didn't quite 
understood.
He snapped out of his trance figuring that Mako-chan would certainly be 
asking herself why was he staring at her. He didn't want to look like an 
idiot.

"Er... the others are waiting for you." he declared, pointing out to the 
girls. 

"Er... right! Well, bye now!" she said [For a moment there I would've sworn 
he was going to kiss me!].

His five friends began to walk away, Trunks stood by the door until they 
dropped out of sight. He then closed the door and went to bed.




End of chapter 7.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's notes:

<Phew!> That was a long one! Right now my eyes are begging me to stop 
writing and my head is killing me......... BUT I DON'T CARE!!! I must keep 
on going! I don't want this to be one of those unfinished fanfics I always 
run by at the net, but just give me some time to recover (pleeeeeaaaase!).
And by the way, Ryouga Hibiki (Who showed up in this fanfic if you didn't 
realized it) is a character of Ranma 1/2 and rightfully belongs to Rumiko 
Takahashi, I never claimed him to be my creation so don't sue me!


See you in chapter 8...