SQUIRREL! GIANT MASSIVE SQUIRREL AHOY! This is a biggun, yall, a HUGE one. And… it's also SLOW BURN. And I mean it, too. No sexy-times and rated T for quite awhile! YAY! PLOT! SO MUCH PLOT!

Usagi had never been a very strong swimmer, so by the time she pulled herself up onto dry land, she was exhausted, panting for breath, her muscles screaming from exhaustion and her burns doing much the same. "Thank you," she choked out tearfully as she grabbed handful of sand and tugged herself further up the beach for several minutes, hand-over-hand, every inch of her shaking from the strain of it. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

She couldn't keep her eyes open any longer at that and told herself that she would just take herself a little, well-deserved rest, her lids slipping shut as her final 'thank you' whooshed out of her in an exhausted sigh.

The feeling of water soaking through her pants and into her shoes woke her, and Usagi groaned and held her head when she opened her eyes to only darkness. Funny, hadn't it been bright and sunny out when she'd crashed? "Oh no, I dozed off," she realized wearily, wanting nothing than to go back to sleep. "No, gotta stay awake," she mumbled. "High tide."

Her legs shook like a newborn colt's as she pulled herself up onto her feet, and she swayed in place for a moment, her head swimming from the sudden movement. "So lucky I even woke… I think I have a concussion," she realized, confirming it when she looked down at the hand that had held her head and she spotted some blood on it. The princess of Earth's moon swallowed down the urge to vomit at the sight of the dark red stain, reminding herself that she'd had worse than that during the war with Beryl, focusing on getting to higher ground. "You can puke when you find shelter," she promised herself.

There were some trees in the distance of the alien planet and Usagi remembered something about trees and fresh water, so she decided to head in that direction. Sure, she had a copious supply of food and water and plenty of other useful things in her subspace, but she had enough common sense to know that she might need to save those for an emergency. It would be better to find a steady supply of water than to use up what she had on hand.

And speaking of water… "Gods, I'm parched," she realized suddenly, only to stop herself from reaching in her subspace right away. "No," she decided, "I'll reward myself with a drink when I reach those trees. Gods know I'm going to pass out again if I sit back down."

Rei would be proud of me, she thought with a delirious chuckle as she shuffled along, forcing her feet to move despite the overwhelming desire to just lie down in the tall grass and take another nap. I'm not whining or crying for once… but that's probably because I have a head injury!

That thought struck her as absurdly hilarious, and Usagi suddenly laughed out loud, holding her head as it pounded in reaction to the sound and the shaking that came along with it, but try as she might, she couldn't stop laughing like an idiot at the thought of Rei telling her that she'd finally had some sense knocked into her head. "Oh, I'm gonna have to tell her that one when I see her!" She finally giggled, steadying herself against a large, convenient rock in the middle of the beach grass.

The princess managed to pull herself together after a minute, and she finally got moving in earnest, keeping her eyes locked on the treeline, using it as her focal point and sole motivation as she forced one foot in front of the other.

A walk that would have normally taken her five to ten minutes nearly took her half an hour, and when she finally reached the woods she felt tears welling up in her eyes as she slumped down against it and kissed its trunk. "Now for that victory drink," she rasped tearfully, wondering vaguely how she even had enough moisture in her body to produce tears.

She withdrew a bottle of water from her subspace then, grateful that she was still strong enough to even access it, tears rolling freely down her cheeks as she willed herself not to chug the entire bottle right then and there. She needed to conserve everything she had just in case rescue didn't come right away, and besides, she'd likely only vomit up the water in a few minutes due to her head wound.

"That's enough," she whispered after drinking several ounces, capping the bottle and setting it aside. "Now… I know I shouldn't sleep, but screw it. I already did and it didn't kill me." She drew a pillow and blanket out of her subspace then and settled onto the ground, so exhausted that she passed out the moment she was semi-comfortable.

It was dawn when she opened her eyes again, and Usagi was grateful that she hadn't slept in the sun—as pale as her skin was, she'd likely have one hell of a sunburn if she'd laid out in it for too long. "Need to find food and water," she told herself as she fished around in her subspace for some mild painkillers for her head and took them with a swallow of water from her bottle.

Food came next, but she merely nibbled on a sandwich piled high with meat and vegetables, stowing it away for later once she'd eaten half, wary of the fact that she could likely throw it up as soon as she stood. "Alrighty, Usa, time to get moving," she told herself, carefully rising to her feet and leaning against the tree for support. "At least my head isn't swimming like it was last night… thank Selene for Lunarian healing."

Usagi finally looked around then and took in the scenery in the early dawn light, truly looking for the first time since she crashed, and she counted her lucky stars that she'd crashed on a habitable planet somewhere in Vegeta-sei's solar system. Most likely Vegeta-sei Five, judging by the distance of the suns rising and the amount of foliage and lack of any signs of intelligent life.

The Saiyans had only just finished terraforming that planet a decade ago if she remembered right, just when the war had started between their peoples, so it wasn't like they'd had any time to bother colonizing an outlying planet while their warriors were busy fighting.

Her eyes turned to the right then and took in the distance she'd walked from the salty ocean she'd crashed in, but there was nothing useful that way except for maybe some fishing if she could figure out how to catch any. Straight ahead was tall grass and some more woods in the distance; even further out were some mountains.

To her left was trees and grass and—"Holy crap," she breathed, her eyes wide in terror when they locked with another pair of blue eyes a few shades lighter than hers and she stumbled back against another tree. "Stay right where you are! I'm warning you!"

A mirthless chuckle was the only reply that she heard, and the eyes of the male Saiyan warrior staring up at her only continued to stare up at her suspiciously as she got ahold of herself and studied him.

"Oh. You can't move," she realized, taking in the horrible angle his leg was bent at and the lightly smoking lump in the distance. How had she not noticed that crashed ship!? Sure, it wasn't on fire or anything, but still… "You're Prince Trunks," she suddenly whispered as she caught a glimpse of lavender hair in the grass and she leaned forward a bit to see the symbol of the royal house on his battered and broken armor. "You're—oh my gods, you're the asshole that shot me down!" She shrieked, suddenly furious as she recalled the same insignia on the ship that had shot her right out of her flight path towards Vegeta-sei One. "What the hell is wrong with you, you flipping idiot!? I was coming here on a damned peace mission and you— STOP LAUGHING!"

"It's funny 'cause… the explosion… shot me down," he answered, his voice dry and gravelly.

"And it's even funnier because my communicator is underwater," she countered. "And because I can walk away. Asshole," Usagi finished, seething with rage as she turned her back on him and went into the woods, stomping her way through the underbrush as her anger fueled her with purpose to get as far away as possible from the man that was second in line to the throne of Vegeta-sei.

Rei would have been amazed at how long it took before her bleeding heart caught up with her; Usagi had traversed a mile through the woods and had even found a stream with clean, drinkable water before it dawned on her that she'd quite literally just left the Saiyan prince to die.

He couldn't walk, his hair was red with blood from a likely head wound, and he was clearly too weak to use his ki since he hadn't blasted her into oblivion. And she'd just left him there as if he was no better than the mud on her boots. "He shot me down," she muttered, "he deserves it. I came here on a peace mission and he just shot me without any warning at all. Let him save himself."

That kept her right where she was for several minutes while she stripped naked and scrubbed head to toe with some soap from her subspace, but the moment she went to stow it away and drew out some clean clothes, she realized that the prince didn't even have a subspace pocket like she did. And he couldn't move, so… "Oh, fine… I guess the least I can do is offer him some food and water and fix his leg once my powers aren't busy trying to heal me," she sighed guiltily.

She was grumbling to herself about being too nice for her own good when she finally came back out of the trees, having followed her own path of broken foliage, and she wasn't surprise to find the Saiyan prince right where she'd left him, his eyes barely cracked open and his chest rising and falling shallowly. "Here," she said simply, holding out a bottle of water to him.

"Finishing the job?" He rasped, eyeing the bottle but not reaching out to take it.

"Exposure would do a fine job of that," she countered coldly. "I'm trying to be nice. Oh wait, that's right! You Saiyans have no concept of the word! You just shoot down princesses who have sent out declarations of peace and are flying under flag of parley! Here's some food, too," she added for good measure, tossing a paper sack down where he could easily reach it, along with the water bottle. "Now hold still and I'll check your leg and—"

A growl stopped her cold, and she was surprised at how loud and strong the sound was—considering how weak he was, she would have expected him to barely be capable of a whimper. "Don't touch me," he hissed out.

"Seriously? You shot me down, and you're telling me not to touch you? I think you've got the roles reversed here, buddy. It should be me leaving you for dead, you ungrateful bastard!"

"Oh, you're a real piece of work to be calling me a bastard," he huffed, "at least I know my father."

"My father was a hero!" She yelled down at him, "and your father is nothing more than a warmongering asshole, just like you! Your grandfather's the only one of you that has a godsdamned bit of sense, and if he were here right now, he'd probably slap you around not only for insulting me, but for refusing my generosity!"

"Your father raped your mother and then she killed him months later when he tried to kill you," Trunks corrected her nastily. "And while my father's a real bag of dicks, at least I'm honest about it. I don't try to dress him up as something he's not!" When she didn't reply and only looked down at him with tear-filled eyes, he couldn't help but feel a wave of guilt run through him at the sight of her expression.

She hadn't known about her father, but judging by her face, an awful lot of things suddenly made sense to her and she wasn't denying his words. "Now I'm an asshole," he finally muttered, heaving a weak sigh as he felt around for the water bottle, opened it, and took a careful, wary sip by way of an apology. "There. If it was poisoned, now I at least rightfully deserve to die. Want some? We're going to be here for a while unless you're precognitive and sent out a mayday before I fried your communications systems. Maybe we should just both commit suicide and get it over with." Trunks let out a delirious chuckle at that, his eyes glittering with humor even though she was openly crying quietly. "I can see it now… they find our bodies right next to each other, dead from poison, and they all assume right away that we were secret star-crossed lovers that snuck off to die in each other's arms in protest of the horrors of war. I'm sure Father will just love that. Until they find my ship and yours, anyway, and figure out the reality of it all. But still… heh… oh gods, his face!"

"My mother would have an icy fit over it," Usagi replied half-heartedly, knowing that she'd find the joke hilarious at any other time, but too caught up in memories of her mother crying whenever someone mentioned her father. "Prince Trunks… my father. You know this to be a fact? For sure?"

"During a time of peace, my grandfather offered your mother asylum on Vegeta-sei while she was pregnant with you. And my grandfather doesn't tell lies… he doesn't have to. And… I'm sorry, for what it's worth. That was a shitty thing to say… even for me."

"Yes, it was," Usagi agreed as she stepped over to the tree she'd slept under and she sat down on the grass she'd broken by lying on it. "Drink. Then I'll check out your leg and see what I can do for it."

"You're not touching me, princess. Go right ahead and wipe the thought from your mind. I'll drink and eat and accept your hospitality in exchange for being a pompous shit about your father, but it doesn't mean we're friends. You're the enemy, simple as that," he told her flatly as he shakily opened the paper sack, his trembling hands giving away his weakness.

"An enemy that was coming to offer peace and an end to the war," she sputtered. "Gods, you're thick. Are you always—phhht… that's what you get for being stubborn," she said automatically when he dumped a ton of water on his face while trying to aim for his mouth. "I would have helped you eat and drink if you'd been nice."

"Not only do non-mates not feed each other, but I'll be damned if I'll owe ch'cr'dit to you. Thank you for the food and water, now go away and leave me here to die with honor."

"I don't want your stupid blood debt," Usagi assured him hotly. "I don't want anything from you unless you can figure out a way to get me off of this damned planet! I want to go home!"

Impressed by how big the sandwich was that she'd given him, the prince bit into it, only to wince as he chewed slowly, his head pounding with every movement of his jaw, and he slowly wrapped it back up and set it to the side, exhausted just from the unbearable pain and effort that came with eating. Gods, it felt like the back of his head had been split wide open! "Thanks," he rasped out, his vision going foggy for a moment before the princess's face came back into focus. He suddenly felt so weak, so tired, and some sort of sixth sense told him that this was the end. He was dying. "Heh… at least I'll die looking at someone beautiful…"

Usagi didn't miss his sudden weakness or the resigned look in his eyes, nor did she miss how he'd gone suddenly limp, his eyes half-shut and unseeing, the sound of the last breath that he'd drawn coming out of him like a weary hiss. He didn't draw another, either, and despite the fact that he was her enemy and he'd put her in this predicament, she was filled with panic at the thought of being left alone and she immediately dove on him, her healer's instincts taking over.

##########################################

"You're very lucky. And very stupid," an annoyed, low voice told her before she even opened her eyes. Usagi didn't bother to open them, either, as she noted the heaviness in her limbs and the roaring hunger in her stomach. Coupled with the feeling of being far too hot, she knew without a doubt that she'd just healed someone extensively—only bringing someone back from the edge of death ever drained her this much.

"Hey, uh-uh! No way, don't you dare pass out!" That same voice barked down at her angrily just before she felt cold water being dumped on her head and she sputtered and coughed in reaction. "Oh gods damn it," he muttered when she choked out a sob and curled up and shivered. "Fucking hell… now I'm an asshole all over again. Come here, damn it."

Usagi couldn't help but go limp when she felt warm, strong arms surrounding her and cradling her to an equally warm, bare chest, and she leaned into that warmth, still shivering from the cold and the fever. But then she was surrounded in heat and power and she sighed, relaxing into the solid, muscular body holding her protectively. "Thank you," she whispered against his skin. "M'cold…"

"Why did you heal me?" he asked immediately. "What in the world would possess you to heal me, a warrior that earnestly tried to kill you?"

"Dead," she sighed into the warmth. "You were dead."

"But why?" He pressed, his tone softening as he felt his ki and confirmed silently that he had in fact died. Hell, he was twice as strong as he'd been before.

"Dunno," she replied tiredly as her belly rumbled loudly again.

"Here. Eat. Something tells me that you replenish your strength the same way that Saiyans do," Trunks sighed, unwrapping the sandwich that he'd only taken a single bite of right before he'd expired. She didn't take it, though, she only remained curled against him, breathing deeply, obviously toeing the line between consciousness and sleep. "Oh gods damn it, of all the motherfucking… eat," he grunted, pressing the sandwich to her lips, steeling himself to genuinely yell at her when she didn't take the offering right away, his beast prickling at what it understood to be a refusal.

Usagi stirred after a minute, though, parting her lips slightly to bite down on some of the exposed meat at the edge, chewing slowly and finally swallowing after what seemed like an eternity. "Thank you," she whispered, taking another slow, tentative bite when he only grunted a second time and pressed the sandwich to her mouth.

The sun was high in the sky by the time Usagi finally consumed all of the sandwich, steadily eating more with every bite, chewing and swallowing a little bit faster once half of it was gone. Her strength was returning to her as she ate, and when he offered her the water bottle, she chugged half of it and then accessed her subspace for juice, giving him a grateful, tired smile when he automatically helped her sit up against him. "Thank you," she repeated for the hundredth time since he'd started feeding her, pulling the rest of her sandwich from when she'd first landed out of her subspace, then a second one for him. "Here. You eat, too. Then we figure out what to do before the sun sets?"

"Well, you certainly bounced back from that quickly," the Saiyan prince remarked as he accepted the food and unwrapped it. "Huh… how many of these do you have, exactly?"

"One for every time I ever snuck into the kitchen for snacks over the last ten years," she informed him nonchalantly. "Cook makes a bangin' sandwich, doesn't she? Just the right amount of mayonnaise. Hm… I have a lot of cookies, too, come to think of it. Lots and lots of food and stuff, but not as much water as I'd like. I found a stream about a mile into the woods, though, so that should solve the water problem."

Damn, she sure talked a lot. "Sandwich is good, save the cookies for later, we'll take inventory once we've decided what to do about sleeping, and the stream definitely takes a load off my mind. Good job."

"No problem," Usagi said with her mouth full, only to startle him as she rose up on her knees and began to poke around the back of his head.

"What are you doing!? Don't touch me!"

Clearly insulted, Usagi just looked at him sternly. "Seriously? Your stupid brain was practically falling out of your stupid skull and you tell the healer that saved your life not to touch you? Stop being an asshole, Trunks. I'm making sure that I fully repaired your delicate little head before I passed out. Hn… maybe your attitude is a symptom of remaining brain damage," she added coldly, tears welling up in her eyes when he only continued to glare at her and she promptly moved away from him to finish her sandwich alone.

She finished eating before he did, and having had her feelings trampled enough to put her near tears, she simply got up and trekked into the woods, heading towards the stream to refill her empty water bottle, sipping at her juice along the way. "What an asshole," she whispered to herself. "You save his life and then he just keeps treating you like the bad guy. He even shot me down and I saved his life and he's still acting like an ass. What is wrong with him?"

"Care to say that to my face?" Trunks's voice growled from behind her.

Rather than react in embarrassment at being overheard, the furious moon princess spun in place and stepped forward, glaring right at him without a hint of fear. "Sure! Why not!? You shot me down! I saved your life! And you're still acting like the biggest asshole to ever walk the universe! I'll ask again, what in the hell is wrong with you!? Were you dropped on your head as a child!? Is it genetic!? Or do you just alienate everyone you meet, even when that person is likely the only company you'll have for an indefinite amount of time!?"

"You said it yourself, you don't want any blood payment, so don't expect me to be your bestie just because you saved my life. I nursed you back to consciousness, princess. We're even. I'm Saiyan, you're Lunarian, so that makes us enemies; the best I can offer you is a temporary truce until rescue arrives. Until then, I won't kill you, but I'm sure as shit not going to be your friend, either. Just a temporary ally, nothing more."

"Gods… Mako was right… you Saiyans are just… heartless," Usa choked out, tears escaping her eyes to stream down her face. "I saved you because I was afraid to be alone," she admitted with a sob, "a little bit because it was the right thing to do, but… b—but mostly because I h—hate to be alone. Now I see it was for n—nothing!"

Trunks was too busy reacting to the tug in his chest at the sustained eye contact to say or do anything, and when he could finally shut his mouth again, she was already gone. "The fuck just happened?" He breathed. "Did… did I seriously just…"

Yup, his beast quipped with a cheery tone.

"Oh… oh fuck me," the prince huffed, sitting down hard on a fallen tree to collect his thoughts as he noted the direction of her footsteps so he could follow her later. After all, she had all the food and a ton of useful supplies in her subspace, and while he expected that they'd be picked up within a week and he could easily provide for himself until then, common sense told him that he needed to be prepared for an extended vacation on Five.

While he contemplated his fate and the fact that he'd just felt the pull for the daughter of Vegeta-sei's Enemy Number One, he noted that it was early autumn, and judging by the deciduous trees and the lack of pines or tropical foliage, they'd managed to land themselves in a temperate climate. Winter would be harsh depending on how far north they'd landed, but Trunks knew he wouldn't be able to figure that out until he'd explored some more.

He'd been to Four and Five before on hunting trips and training exercises with his father and the Elite, so he knew from experience how bad the winters could be and how quickly it could start snowing. Judging by the state of the leaves on the trees, they had a few weeks before it snowed—maybe two months—but without knowing weather forecasts and what the summer was like, he had no clue what could be headed their way.

"I'd better find her before she gets herself into trouble," Trunks decided, ignoring his beast when it suggested that he get himself into her for a few hours by way of an apology for his behavior. "Not a chance, kio m'yo, so just stow it. I'm not mating with the princess of Earth's moon."

So yup, that's the end of chapter one, and I hope yall enjoyed my squirrely distraction between working on the book and other things! I'm really loving this one and AnaFrost and SeleneA have made it clear that they do, too, so I expect I'll update again soon!