Another day, on which, as so often, nothing particularly exciting had happened, was followed by a cold evening. The sun had disappeared within a quarter of an hour and took the last of the warming rays of the sun with it. A short time later, deep darkness fell, accompanied by an icy wind.
Inside the forest, a bit out of the way from the nearest town, was a relatively large, white house. On the first floor there was a terrace, the doors of which, however, were mostly locked at this time of the year. Only the warm light from inside fell outside onto the cold, dark earth. Through the closed patio door, four people could be seen sitting in the living room.
A young dark-haired woman was sitting at the dining table with a green-haired girl. The girl was holding a little boy with shaggy brown hair who was dozing peacefully. A white-haired young man sat on the sofa, absorbed in a book in silence. The woman and girl had been talking for a while."I can't believe that you've known each other for so long.", Said the green-haired girl, Tanipu, slightly surprised.
The person opposite smiled pale. Her gaze wandered to the glass door of the veranda, through which she could look outside into the darkness. Tanipu looked at her, then turned her head towards the glass door.

"Where is Tales at the moment ...?" Kalipo had looked up from the book and looked at the two of them.

Tanipu turned her head to look at him in surprise. "I beg your pardon? You told us yourself two hours ago that he disappeared into the forest to train."

Kalipo raised an eyebrow in question. "So he's not back yet?"

"Not yet," Tanipu replied. "At least I didn't notice anything."

Without saying another word, Kalipo turned back to his book. The book wasn't really interesting, but it got him thinking differently. There was silence because the other two said nothing either.'In this cold ... and in this dark ... you have to train. Is it really that important to you to be stronger than everyone else? 'The woman was startled. A noise had ripped her from her thoughts.

Tanipu looked at her confused. "Citres ...?"

Kalipo also looked up again. But instead of looking at the two of them, he turned directly to the corridor, from which noises could be heard. He waited patiently, and finally a black-haired man stepped into the room and stopped at the door. As always, his eyes were dark, annoyed, and far from satisfied. Kalipo and the two women looked at him in silence.

Finally Tanipu got up, carried the little boy in her arms, and walked towards the man. "There you are at last. Have you been training outside that long?"
"It took longer ...", replied the black-haired man. Then he looked up from the girl in front of him, to Kalipo, and then to Citres, who was still sitting at the table and staring at him. His expression twisted in disgust and without even looking at anyone again he left the room and went upstairs.Tales had landed on Earth about four months ago. He had fought hard - against his twin brother, Kakarott, his friends, and finally against Tanipu and her colleagues. But after a short time he was threatened himself. Namely by a demon who was actually intended to fight with the guards. His original target was Tanipu, the leader of the Guardians, but in the end he attacked Tales as well.

Hot water pattered down on the Saiyan's dark skin. With narrowed eyes he held his face against the jet of water. He supported himself with both hands on the cold tiles of the shower wall. He was finished. He'd been training until he dropped every day for weeks, but it had gotten him nowhere. But he knew what this was related to. For several days he just couldn't concentrate on training. For a week, to be precise. Since the day Citres unexpectedly appeared on Earth and Tanipu allowed her to stay.He almost didn't recognize her. It was now almost ten years since they had last seen each other. At the time, she had either cut her hair short or tied it up. But when she showed up here seven days ago, her hair was actually down, and it came down to over her shoulders. He was downright stunned.
But her character hadn't changed even after all these years. Not that he was particularly interested in her personality at the time, but he remembered that she had always been stubborn and cheeky. Usually they didn't speak to each other at all, and if they bumped into each other at all, he didn't look at her either. Why also?
Slowly he let his head drop forward. The water pattered on his neck.
Since she was here, he could remember things that would never have interested him before. He suddenly remembered Raditz, his older brother, whom he had last seen when he was about three years old.And he remembered training with Fawn. Citres had often seen him exercise. And she didn't care that he got stronger than her.

'It's thanks to Tanipu that I'm still alive. But ... even if that demon had killed me then, I would have cared nothing. I appreciate what you did Tanipu, but I'm not really grateful to you. You just delayed it - something that would have ended long ago had Citres not interfered in my fate back then. '

It had only been a few weeks since Tanipu risked her life to save him. At the last second she had pushed him aside and thus saved him from a fatal attack. She was only slightly injured in the process. But Tales hadn't been able to keep fighting her since then.
Somebody had saved him from death once before. Back then it was Citres who jostled in his place at the last moment and took the attack for him.But unlike Tanipu, she was badly injured. And she would very likely have bled to death on the battlefield if Tales hadn't left it to bring her back to the spaceship. Citres had already lost consciousness and therefore did not know that it was he who had gotten her to the spaceship's infirmary in time. Tales considered his debt settled. And to be honest, he was glad that she couldn't remember anymore.

After showering, Tales immediately retired to his room. He had actually got his own room. It was right at the end of the upper corridor, but that was fine with him. At least there he had his peace.
The room was dark. Tales seldom tried to turn the lights on, as he usually found his way around in the dark. Since the bathroom on the first floor was only a few steps from his room, he hadn't brought any fresh clothes with him, just left the shower with a towel around his waist.Nobody saw him anyway. And he couldn't say that it would bother him too much - as long as it wasn't necessarily Tanipu or Citres, he could probably handle it ...
He closed the door and walked towards the cupboard, but stopped abruptly in the middle of his way. 'What the...?'
That could not be true. That smell. Yes, there was no doubt. (Note: It smells like citrus fruits.