Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Dragonball franchise. This is just a work of my imagination.

A/N: Hello everyone and welcome to my first piece of writing in 10 years! I am so thrilled to be back stretching my creative wings again and I hope that you will all enjoy what I have to offer. I feel that while my writing has definitely matured during my absence, it still has the same style and tone as all of my old work, so if you have enjoyed my writing in the past, I think you will like this too! Plus of course I am writing lots of Krillin/18 goodness!

A word of warning, this prologue contains a sex scene, though it is very tastefully done and it's only short. If you don't like it, just skip it, I think it will be the only one in the story, so you should be safe after this. There is also some swearing, but again, I don't believe it's excessive.

With that said, please have a read and let me know what you think! I am thoroughly enjoying writing this, and I hope that you will enjoy reading it. Constructive criticism is always encouraged, I look forward to hearing what you all think!

Also, please excuse any formatting errors, I am doing my best to navigate the system this website has for uploading, but I'm not sure how its going to come out! I'm sure i'll get the hang of it as the story progresses! But if anyone has any tips on how to make it upload looking all pretty, I'm all ears!

- Deadly Beauty

Unbroken

Prologue

18 sat alone on the roof of the small pink house, her knees drawn up to her chest, her hair whipping wildly across her face.

All around her, she could hear the low, ominous rumble of thunder. Lightning bolts – which had been few at first, were now striking almost continuously, creeping their way ever closer towards the safe haven of the small island. Below her, the palm trees began to sway more and more violently as the wind continued to pick up.

If she was going to leave, she had to leave now.

She continued to sit, her eyes constantly scanning the horizon.

Rain began to fall; fat, salty droplets, first one, then two. She soon felt a splash on her bare leg and with that, she was gone. No warning, no goodbye and no promise of return.

Below the roof, safely away from the elements of the storm, Krillin watched her disappear into the dull grey sky.

The first time he had seen her here was a few weeks earlier. He had been sitting on the roof, getting some fresh air at his master's insistence, when he noticed her, sitting on the big boulder by the water's edge. His first reaction was anger. How dare she come here and taunt him with her existence. She had no right.

Roshi had stopped him from confronting her that day. 'This was his island' he had said 'and who could and could not use it was no business of Krillins.' After firing of a string of expletives at the old man, Krillin had stormed off up to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him like a moody teenager.

Thunder cracked above, startling Krillin from his daydream. The rain was coming down hard now, as a fierce tropical storm battered the island. Rolling over on his bed, away from the window, he decided that this kind of weather suited him just fine.

Closing his eyes, a vision of Goku flashed vividly in front of him, and just as quickly as they had shut, his eyes flung back open. He couldn't take this anymore, the guilt was too much for the poor man to handle. Tears stung at his eyes and he made no effort to stop them from falling.

It had been six months since his life had been turned irreversibly upside down, and while he now found himself having slightly more good days than bad, he still found his guilt almost impossible to cope with. No matter which way he looked at it, or how he justified it, he always came back to the same conclusion. His actions had resulted in Goku's death. That was it. He would never be able to forgive himself and as his self-inflicted punishment, he had found himself shutting out everyone who cared about him. They shouldn't have to be constantly reminded of what he had cost them.

The only way forward for him, was to live in loneliness and isolation, it was the only way for him to avoid bringing anymore pain to himself or to anyone else.

"What happened to your beard" 18 asked, nonchalantly, as she landed delicately on the sand.

Krillin blinked slowly, looking up at her from where he was sitting on small front porch, she always managed to appear so silently, he noted. "It was itching me," he replied truthfully, "Plus I finally realized that it looked ridiculous"

"That it did." Krillin watched silently as she wandered off down the beach and took up her usual position on the big boulder.

It had been about 8 weeks since 18's first visit to his home. She would come sporadically, sometimes for several days in a row, and then suddenly not for weeks. She would sometimes engage in pointless small talk with Krillin, but more often than not, she would just sit on the rock, or occasionally on the roof, in silence, doing whatever it was that she did.

It was a beautiful sunny day on the island, 18 settled down on top of the big warm rock which sat just down by the shore, basking like a lizard in the sun, scanning the skies as she always did.

She was watching for her brother. For 17. She had scoured the globe looking for him, she had retraced the journey they had made on their search for Goku hundreds of times, desperate for any sign that he might have been there too.

That was how she had ended up here the first time, and what kept bringing her back. She wasn't interested in anyone else in the world, only her brother. She couldn't bear the thought of never finding him, that she might be the only one of her kind left. She needed someone who understood what she had been through. She needed 17.

And so she found herself making her way from one destination to the next. Waiting in each one as long as her mind would let her. She spent a lot of time in the mountains which looked down onto the Son's home, where she had stumbled across a small, long forgotten cabin. It made sense to her, to wait here. This was where their programming had originally wanted to send them. Where Goku should have been.

Inevitably though, she would grow tired of the loneliness of the mountains, she hated the cold and her thoughts were often not her friends. It was then that she would start her journey over again, tracing the path that she had made with her brother and 16, what seemed like a lifetime ago. She came to the island more often than most of the other places she searched, partially because this was another location that her programming had suggested there would be a high probability of locating the target, and partially because she felt slightly less alone out here.

She didn't often have anything to say to the residents of this place, but she found some kind of comfort to knowing they were nearby. That she wasn't the only person left in the world who knew she existed.

That was how it had begun, but as the days had grown into weeks, and eventually into months, 18 had been forced to face the grim reality that 17 wasn't looking for her. She didn't know how she had survived, she had no memories of the event. The last thing she remembered from that time was the searing pain of Cell's tail clamping down around her. She remembered kicking and screaming and being taken over by blind panic and fear. And then nothing. Not a single thing until she woke up high above the clouds at Dendes tower – and she hadn't hung around there long enough to ask any questions.

It made sense to her then, without knowing the full story, that if she was here, 17 should be here to. Whatever had happened to her to bring her back, must of also happened to him. So why couldn't she find him? Was he trying to find her?

A sudden gust of warm ocean air blew across the island, flicking grains of sand up into 18's face and bringing her back to reality. She wasn't sure how long she had zoned out for, but she was now acutely aware of the fact that Krillin was staring at her from his perch further up the beach.

"What?!" she snapped at him, her tone coming off as harsher than she had intended.

"Nothing!" Krillin sputtered, clearly embarrassed that he had been caught out. "You just looked so deep in thought"

"I was" 18 replied, her voice a little kinder this time.

She watched as Krillin stood up and walked down the beach towards her, he was weary not to get to close, he knew how she felt about her personal space, but now he didn't have to yell halfway across the island at her. "You know," he began timidly, "I was there too. If you ever wanna talk about it." He knew exactly what she had been thinking about it. He got the exact same pained expression on his face when he thought about Cell, too.

18's first instinct was to give Krillin a piece of her mind. What they went through were two completely different things, and he would never be able to understand. But as she whipped her head around to face him, she was greeted by big black eyes filled with nothing but sadness and loneliness and her rage slipped away. She understood how lonely he was, how hard it was to have no one to talk you down from the silly places your mind could take you.

"I come here," she started, after taking a few minutes to compose herself, "I come here because I am looking for my brother"

"Oooh" Krillins body slumped as he realized that 18 must not know what had happened that fateful day.

"I mean, if I'm here, he must be out there somewhere too, right? She asked, more to herself than to Krillin. "Right?" she asked again after a moment, all too aware of the fact that he hadn't replied.

"18…" he trailed off. He didn't want to be the one to have to explain this. Why could he never be the one who got to deliver the good news? He fidgeted around nervously, bouncing from one foot to the other and rubbing the back of his head. 18 stood silently, her arms crossed over her chest, staring the small warrior down. She was beginning to lose her patience with him.

"18," he eventually found it in himself to pick up the conversation, "I don't think your brother is out there."

18 felt a hot lump catch in her throat, but she quickly swallowed it down, hoping that no emotions had shown on her face. "And why do you think that?" she asked, thankful that the panic she was starting to feel had not yet made it into her voice.

"Because Cell only regurgitated you."

"Regurgitated?" 18 almost regurgitated at the thought of being spat up by that monster.

"Uh-huh" Krillin nodded somberly, "Gohan, he, well, he punched Cell right in the gut" he said with a small chuckle, "and it must have been one hell of a punch because he spat you out and reverted back to his second form."

18 blinked slowly, not quite believing the absurdity of what she was hearing.

"That was how Gohan and Goku were able to defeat him in the end. But when he, Cell, exploded, he was still in his second form"

"17 was still inside of him" 18 finished Krillins train of thought.

"I'm sorry 18." Krillin looked up at the blonde beauty before him. Her expression was blank, but her eyes were burning.

It took a few seconds for her thoughts to catch up to her, but when they did, 18 turned her back on Krillin and walked a few steps away from him. That was where she stood when something inside of her snapped. Krillin had to cover his face with his forearm to stop sand flying into his mouth and eyes, as a haunting cry came from the woman in front of him and an aura of white hot energy exploded around her.

Half a second after that, she was nothing more than a speck of light on the horizon.

Krillin took a deep swig of his beer and pressed the bottle into the sand so it didn't fall over. It tasted delicious, and he could feel the alcohol beginning to numb his brain a little. He had come to know this feeling, slightly drunk, intimately over the last few months. His mind was still trying to process what had happened between himself and 18 earlier in the day.

She had been coming to the island semi-regularly for the last few weeks, and the relationship they had been forming was a strange one. It was cold and aloof – often times they were downright mean to each other, but Krillin never got the vibe that either of them truly meant it. Sometimes it even felt kind of….. Flirty? He was lonely and trying to cope as best he could with the loss of his friend, and she was lonely and looking for her only relative, who was never going to be found. Together they had formed some kind of strange, lonely companionship. He wondered if she would ever come back after she had blasted off the island this afternoon.

The sun was beginning to sink below the sea, everything around him was quiet, the only sound was the waves gently lapping against the shore. The air was warm and inviting. If you didn't know any better, it would have been perfect.

Taking another long sip of his beer, Krillin finished the bottle and dropped it down onto the sand. He was standing by the side of the small house, hanging his clean laundry up to dry on the line. Picking up a shirt from the basket, he reached for a peg, but he never made it, because the next thing he knew, he was in the surf.

Quickly he found his footing and stood up, coughing and spluttering up sea water. He was still holding the shirt in his hand. But before he had even had a second to process what had just happened, he was knocked even further out to sea. Underwater again, he took in another lungful of seawater. This time, he shot out of the water and high up into the sky, panting hard.

He scanned the small island and surrounding ocean for whatever had pushed him, but he saw, nor sensed, nothing. He knew better than that though, nothing always meant something and the warrior instincts in him kicked in as he dropped into a fighting stance.

Krillin saw what was coming next only a second before it happened. 18, charging through the twilight, straight at him. She head butted him right in the gut, sending him tumbling backward through the sky.

This was all beginning to make sense now, Krillin thought to himself as he repositioned his body in the sky. 20 seconds ago, he had been hanging laundry, now it seemed as though his brain had finally caught up with his body. He probably shouldn't have had that fourth beer.

18 charged at Krillin again, swinging her fist blindly at his head. He seemed to have caught up to the situation now, and he dodged the blow. She continued on the offensive, throwing punch after kick at her opponent.

Who did he think he was, telling her her brother was dead? What did he even know about the situation? About 17? About her? Ever since she had fled the island earlier in the day, she had been getting madder and madder. Of course 17 was out there, he just had to be. She had since been to all the spots she usually checked on her searches for him, sure that this would be the time she would find him. She'd show Krillin he was wrong. But as usual, he wasn't there, nor was there any signs that he ever had been.

Rather than accept the fact that Krillin may have been right – she just wasn't ready to acknowledge what that would mean for her, she chose to let her anger at the human bubble away. She had to be angry, she didn't know what other emotions to feel. This was his fault. He had had the option to lie to her, yet instead he had chosen to be needlessly cruel by giving her the truth.

Well, she had decided, she was going to show him what needlessly cruel really looked like. Two could play at that game.

That was what had led her to this moment. She was by now, totally blinded by rage, there was no plan to her actions, no rhyme or reason.

"Get back here!" she cried as she swung her foot at Krillins head, and missed. He darted backward, away from the onslaught.

"18," he began, thinking maybe he could reason with her logical side. He was stopped short though, by a fist careening towards his face. Instinctively, he reached out and caught her fist in his own.

They both felt it, the second their skin had touched. Like a sudden jolt of electricity had surged through them. It only lasted for the briefest of moments, but there was no denying it had happened. It was 18 who regained her composure first though, and with a heart wrenching scream, she brought her fists together and slammed them down into Krillins back, sending him hurtling down onto the beach below.

He landed with a hard thud and a face full of sand. His first thought was that he was now grateful for the beers, they were probably helping to numb his pain receptors, though he knew he would feel it come morning. It had been a long time since he had been beaten up like this, and now he remembered why he tried to avoid it. Slowly, he stood up and began to brush the sand from himself. At least nothing felt broken

"Hey!"

Krillin looked up just in time to see 18 lunge at him. They sparred on the beach for a few more minutes until he managed to swipe 18's feet out from under her and she fell to the sand.

"Enough!" he cried, panting heavily as he tried to regain both his breath and his composure. "What the hell is going on here?!" he demanded, his voice thick with frustration.

18 didn't make any attempt to get up. She was spent, both physically and emotionally, she had been on edge for hours now, and she had literally nothing left to give.

"I can't be the only one left." She eventually spoke "What the fuck am I supposed to do now?!"

Krillin shrugged his shoulders and turned his back on the blonde. He really wasn't in the mood for this, it was hard to feel compassion for someone who had just used you as a personal punching bag. "Dunno" he muttered as he headed back towards the house.

18 glared daggers at Krillins retreating figure. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and he was still wet from his dip in the ocean a few minutes earlier. His muscles, still pumped from the fight, glistened under the starlight. It would have been impossible not to notice how defined his body was.

He was almost back at the house by the time 18 got her thoughts back on track. With a dissatisfied grunt, she jumped up off the ground and launched herself at Krillin, collecting him as she zoomed past, she slammed him into the side of the house, pinning him down by his shoulders. Their faces were now only inches apart.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me" she hissed.

Krillin didn't try to struggle against 18's hold on him. They both knew that if she truly wanted him dead, it would be been done quicker than he could even blink, so he felt confident to push the boundaries between them. "What are you going to do about it?"

Scowling, 18 pressed her palms just a little harder into his shoulder blades. Now she felt him flinch under her control. Annoyingly though, his face gave away no sign of pain. He was still staring her down, his eyes filled with steely determination.

Her heart was pounding in her chest.

What happened next took her by surprise, yet somehow, didn't surprise her at all. Who had actually initiated that first kiss would later be a point of debate between them, but for right now, it didn't matter, because the fuse had been lit. There was no stopping this now.

18 kissed Krillin forcefully, almost violently, and in return he pried her lips open with his tongue, using it to explore every inch of her mouth.

He flipped them both around, so that now it was 18 pressed against the side of the house, his hands feverishly caressed her body, her milky skin felt as soft as silk under his fingers.

She tangled herself around Krillins firm body, it had been so long since she had touched another person. Her legs wrapped around his waist and her fingers became lost within his dark, damp hair, she pulled him as close to her as she possibly could and moaned approvingly against his lips.

Krillin slipped himself inside 18's warm body and they began to find their rhythm. He still had her pressed against the side of the house, her legs still locked tightly around him, neither of their feet were touching the ground. He pinned her wrists above her head as he took control.

18 dug her fingers deep into Krillins hair, using it to pull him in even closer to her, her tongue still locked in an intense battle with his. Neither of them wanting to be the one to relinquish their dominance.

Finally, she pulled away from Krillins lips as she felt herself nearing her peak. Her body began to shudder and convulse and she buried her head in Krillins neck, gasping for air as the wave of pleasure tore through her entire body.

A few seconds later, Krillin joined her; with a long, deep moan, his whole body stiffened and then felt totally relaxed. He could feel his muscles quivering beneath his skin as he regained his breath.

They stayed there, entwined in each other's embrace for a few moments longer than they needed to. Neither of them knew how long it would be until they would get to experience this kind of physical or emotional intimacy again, and so they were both somewhat reluctant to let the moment end.

Neither of them were fools though, they both knew what this was. It had been building between them for weeks. This had never been an act of love, or even of passion. No, this was two people who were both completely broken and utterly alone coming together to try and band aid their pain. Nothing more, nothing less.

A/N: So there you have it. I hope that you liked it, I know that it doesn't really give away a lot about the direction that this story is going in, but I think it sets the tone nicely and sets up where our characters are all at in their heads. The plot kicks in pretty quickly in chapter one, I promise.

I would love to know what you thought, it's been a long time, so I hope I'm not too rusty!

I am aiming to have the next chapter up in a weeks' time or so, so until then, best wishes!

-D.B