Hello again, I am back with chapter 8. Hope you all enjoy. Also, I had planned on the creature making another appearance, but that will have to wait until the next chapter. Due to a few requests, the shopping bag scene is going to get its own chapter! A great big thank you goes out to all the reviewers. You guys rock.

I do not own Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball Z. I also do not own the title of this chapter, which came from the unsuccessful novel in the movie She Devil. Once I saw where this chapter was headed, I just couldn’t resist. ; )

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Serena scampered into the room she and Rini were temporarily sharing at Capsule Corp., and slammed the door behind her. Panting in relief at not having inadvertently revealed the contents of her shopping bags, she leaned back against the door and allowed the bags to fall to the floor. The thought of anyone else seeing what was inside those bags made her shudder with apprehension.

She wanted nothing more than to just lay down on the bed and take a nap, but if anyone came in and saw those, she didn’t know what she would do. She would most likely die of embarrassment. She turned her head until her ear was pressed against the door and listened intently. Hearing nothing, she decided it might be safe to put away her purchases. She had just picked the bags back up when a thought crossed her mind.

‘I can’t ever wear these until I wash them anyway.’

Wrinkling her nose at the thought of wearing unwashed garments she decided she would have to wash them before putting them away. This decision sparked another unbidden thought.

‘No way! I am not ever, ever, ever, wearing these things. That is not going to happen! But they do need to be clean.’

She looked down at the bags in her hands. If she placed the contents in a hamper, everyone would be able to see them. She definitely did not want that. She smiled as the solution to that problem presented itself to her. Grinning, she simply subspaced the bags. Feeling much more relaxed, Serena made her way to the laundry room.

Once inside, she cautiously looked around. She was alone in the room, and there were no large piles of laundry demanding attention, so she figured no one would be coming around for a little while.

She sidled over to the washer and raised the lid before furtively glancing around once more. Not seeing anyone spying on her, she retrieved the shopping bags from her subspace pocket. She was about to just start dumping them all in the washer when yet another realization dawned on her. She was going to have to sort out the different colors. She stifled a groan and began shuffling the contents of the bags back and forth, until she finally held one bag with white garments, one with black garments, and one with red and pink garments.

Serena quickly subspaced two of the bags again and arranged the black garments in the washer before adding detergent and starting the cycle. She stood there guarding the washer for several moments before her exhaustion finally caught up with her. There was no one around, but she still didn’t want to leave the washer unattended. However, she really needed to rest for a bit.

Luckily, the washer was in a corner and she was able to settle for hopping on top of the washer and leaning against the wall. She managed to stay awake long enough to pour in the fabric softener, but soon after that the gentle whirring of the rinse cycle lured her into slumber.

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Trunks wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm before heading to the shower. After being dismissed by Sailor Pluto, he had joined in on Goku and Vegeta’s impromptu training session; they had promptly commenced to beating the snot out of him. Goku had just smiled and said it would make him stronger, while Vegeta made constant jabs about not being able to protect anyone if he wasn’t strong enough. He had finally cried uncle, claiming the excuse of needing to check on Serena.

He dropped his sweaty clothes in a pile on his bathroom floor before stepping into the shower. He groaned as the hot water washed away some of the aches he had accumulated in the gravity room. When he was finally clean, he dried himself off and went back into his room to get dressed. Seeing as his favorite pants were now in need of washing, he dressed in a pair of spandex shorts he normally kept just for training. He was still warm from the training and the shower and decided to remain shirtless for awhile. He grabbed his dirty clothes and headed for the laundry room.

Upon reaching the laundry room Trunks was pleasantly surprised to see its current occupant snoozing away on top of the washing machine. He dropped his dirty laundry on the floor and reached over to gently brush a stray strand of hair out of her face. He had no idea how she managed to maneuver around all that hair, especially while fighting. He had thought her hairstyle, with its twin buns and trailing streamers, was silly at first, but it had grown on him. He had to admit it seemed to suit her, and it did frame her heart shaped face very prettily.

Recognizing the path his thoughts were heading down, he shook himself out of it and gently tapped her shoulder. She didn’t wake up. He tapped again, more insistently, and she only murmured nonsense in her sleep. He shook his head in exasperation before gently gathering her in his arms and making his way towards her room.

After arriving at Serena’s room, Trunks set her down on one side of the bed before turning the covers back on the other side. He removed her shoes before placing her on the side of the bed he had prepared for her. He tucked the covers in around her and quietly left the room, softly closing the door behind him.

He returned to the laundry room and opened the lid to the washer. Serena had obviously been washing something, and he would have to finish it in order to wash his own laundry. He reached into the washer, and pulled out the first thing he encountered. Holding it up, he examined it curiously. He didn’t have the slightest idea what it could possibly be. It was black and satiny, and seemed to consist entirely of a number of slender straps with a few sparse swatches of lace. He turned it this way and that, and finally decided it must just be an old dust rag or something. He could think of no way to possibly wear it, and shrugged. He tossed it into the dryer and reached back into the washer, this time coming back with a handful of things.

His breath caught in his throat; he recognized the purpose of these particular pieces of clothing. To think Serena owned something this racy. He shook his head and quickly banished his wayward thoughts. He glanced around the laundry room, spying a familiar shopping bag. Comprehension dawned on him. So this was what was inside those bags. He grinned to himself and leaned down, peering inside the washer. Feeling vaguely cheated that he didn’t see a certain lacy pink something; he nevertheless continued putting Serena’s new garments in the dryer.

He had just finished when he realized that there was only one bag. A quick search of the laundry room revealed that she hadn’t hidden the other bags anywhere in that room. His curiosity was piqued. Where else could those bags be? He hadn’t seen them anywhere in her room. Deciding to investigate the matter more thoroughly later, he put his own clothes in the washer and meandered to the kitchen in search of something to eat.

--

Several hours after she had fallen asleep, Serena’s growling stomach finally woke her up. She stretched languidly, feeling refreshed. She padded barefoot to the kitchen, noticing that everyone seemed to have gone their separate ways that afternoon. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Trunks sitting at the table reading a newspaper. He was clad in nothing more than a pair of spandex shorts. Serena felt her eyes widen to approximately the size of small saucers before her face turned a lovely shade of crimson.

Trunks finally noticed her, and gave her a smile chock full of mischief. Serena eyed him warily and said “Hey Trunks, what have you been up to?”

He smirked at her before replying “Oh, just reading the paper. I had to grab a bite to eat earlier after training with Dad and Goku. That will really wipe you out. So I decided to just be lazy the rest of the day; you know, read the paper, do a bit of laundry.” His voice trailed off at this statement as Serena was suddenly no longer standing in the kitchen.

“Hmm, that was pretty fast. She might have some potential.”

Serena rushed out of the kitchen and down the hall, barreling past Vegeta and Bulma, all the while ranting about shopping bags. Vegeta just looked at her in bewilderment.

“Bah, foolish Earthling women.”