Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ

Authors note: So I decided to take the advice from my only posting review and shorten this thing down. I'm cutting a lot out, and making the chapters shorter. I guess having shorter chapters helps people get to a stopping point and able to save their 'progress' easier. I don't like sitting and reading 10pg chapters, why should I write them???

I'll keep my long and drawn out story to myself

Now and Forever

Prologue – Things I'll Never Say

Pan sat by the window watching the sun rise. She peeled her eyes away from the sun and looked at Bra's room; they had gotten together with Stephanie and Trisha, to hang out for the evening. It ended up getting so late they all stayed over.

It was such a beautiful sight, she loved to watch the sun rise and set. She leaned against the window and heaved a big sigh. She wanted to get out of the house and go relax outside. She stood and tiptoed to the bedroom door, careful not to wake the girls she opened the door and backed out of the room running into something hard. She covered her mouth to stop from yelling.

"Trunks!" She hissed. "What are you doing? You scared the crap out of me!"

Trunks laughed quietly. He loved seeing her so flustered; it was worth his early rise just for that.

"I was going to the bathroom; you came out of the room and bumped into me." Trunks winked at Pan before disappearing into the bathroom to his left.

Pan crossed her arms, that baka! She stalked to the stairs and made her way outside.

It was a cool morning with a slight breeze. The dew on the grass seeped through her socks and soon her feet were wet; but she didn't care she walked around capsule corp until she finally stopped at the back of the building. She sat down and stared up at the sky, it was a shade of purple now and the sun was almost through the horizon. She smiled as she relaxed against the wall. It was going to be a great day…

Through the circular window she could see millions of stars. She couldn't believe how bright they were! It was so pretty, but overwhelming. There was no bottom to space, they could fall and never hit bottom. That was not a good feeling. Pan pushed herself back into her seat and closed her eyes. She didn't want to look again it was unnerving.

"What's the matter Pan?" Trunks asked.

"Nothing." Pan lied, her voice gave her away.

Trunks smiled a reassuring smile at her,

"Don't worry, my kasan built this ship! It's going to be great!"

Pan nodded. She tried to smile, but her face faltered. Her grandpa was eating his fifth meal since they left earth and was unbeknownst to her fear. Even though he was back to being a child, he ate more than ever!

"Really Pan, there's nothing to worry about." Trunks sat down next to her, "I'm here, and I'll protect you."

Pan looked up into his eyes, he wouldn't lie to her.

"You promise?" She asked.

"I promise, I will protect you now and forever." He replied.

Now and Forever.

"Pan!"

Pan jerked her head up, she had dozed off sitting next to the house. What had woken her?

"Pan!"

Pan looked up, so that was what woke her. Bra was hanging out of her window looking down at her.

"I was watching the Sun rise and must have dozed off!" Pan said.

"Well come on, we want to go to the mall in a couple hours." Bra disappeared back into her room and Pan frowned. Great…shopping with those three, that was going to be torture.

Pan flew up to the open window and into Bra's bedroom. Stephanie was laughing at something Trisha said, and Bra was walking into the bathroom that was attached to her room. Pan landed on Bra's bed and crossed her legs.

"Trisha was just making a comment about how Goten wouldn't like Bra's hair." Stephanie whispered to Pan.

"I can hear you!" Bra snapped.

Pan smirked. Bra was too easy to pick on.

Bra slammed the bathroom door and the girls could hear the shower being turned on.

"Honestly, she just needs to get with Goten already." Trisha said as she folded up her blanket. "The tension between them is killing me."

"Hai, and for Dende's sake she needs to quite denying it!" Stephanie added.

"Well I for one think it's Goten who needs to suck it up and admit it." Pan said through a yawn.

Trisha shrugged,

"Well one of them better make a move soon. And you too…you need to get with Trunks soon."

Pan's eyes flashed angrily.

"Nani?!" She spat, "I don't want to get with Trunks, and plus he has a girlfriend already!"

"Iie, that wont last. He's been with her for almost two years and hasn't asked her to marry him, that just shouts uncertainty." Stephanie shook her head.

Pan raised her eye brow,

"Uncertainty?" She repeated, "That doesn't make any sense, why stay with her all this time if he doesn't want to be with her?"

"Safety," Trisha answered, "He appears to be unavailable to keep all the vultures off of him."

Stephanie let out a laugh. Pan scowled and crossed her arms, would Trunks really only go out with Maria to keep other girls off of him?

"I suppose he must have some feelings for her, but she is going to grow impatient with him." Trisha said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"What do you mean?" Pan asked confused.

Stephanie rolled her eyes,

"Pan, she is going to want him to show her that he is committed to their relationship; that he wants to be with her, to purpose!" She said.

Pan's eyes widened,

"Don't worry, he would have done that already if he was going to." Trisha said.

Pan couldn't keep the relief from showing up on her face. Her two friends smiled knowingly at her. She narrowed her eyes and scowled. So they were right, she wanted to be with Trunks, but that wasn't going to happen…at least not anytime soon. She was getting ready to go to college and probably wouldn't see him for four years. Pan lowered her head and frowned, she hadn't been away from Trunks that long before; ever since they came back from space they had been around each other very often. Pan had gotten close to Bra, so she was with her all the time; which meant that she was around Trunks all the time too.

Bra came out of the bathroom drying her hair, a towel wrapped around her. She saw the look on Pans face and frowned.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked.

"Oh, she's just upset because she wants to get with Trunks but he's supposedly taken." Stephanie explained as she got dressed.

Pan glared at her,

"Ok, she's not." Trisha winked at Bra.

"That relationship is not going to last, if my nii-san hasn't purposed yet then he's not going to." Bra explained.

"Could we stop talking about who I do or don't want to get with?" Pan asked hotly.

"Fine!" Stephanie snapped, "Let's talk about when you're leaving for college."

Pan was about to respond then closed her mouth; she didn't want to talk about that either.

"What's the date again?" Trisha asked quietly.

"August 13th." Pan replied.

"Nani?!" Bra exclaimed, "Pan, that's only three days away!"

Pan nodded, don't they think she knew that? Tears began to well up in Bra's eyes. Pan looked away, why was she crying?

"This sucks!" Bra cried, "My best friend is leaving for college and I'm not going to see her for four years!"

Pan's eyes widened in shock, what was she talking about. She was going to visit, and probably talk over the phone quite a bit.

"Bra, I'm not going to disappear for four years!" Pan tried to calm her down, "I'll be visiting as much as possible!"

Bra wiped a tear away and smiled at Pan,

"We both know you won't make it up here even half as often as you think you will."

Pan frowned. Bra was right; she probably wouldn't have time to come back as often as she was thinking she might. She wouldn't know until she got into her classes and saw how hard it was going to be. Pan walked towards the door; she wasn't feeling much like talking right now.

"I'm going to the kitchen to get something to eat." Pan said.

Pan heard Bra 'humpf' as she backed out of the room for the second time that morning. She shut the door and turned straight into someone. It was Trunks again,

"Trunks!" Pan jumped, "Are you trying to kill me?"

Trunks laughed again,

"Iie, you seem to be running into me, not the other way around, Pan."

Pan was about to retort when her stomach gave a loud growl.

"Ah, I'm starved too." Trunks grinned. "Come on, I'll fix us something to eat."

Pan blushed; she followed Trunks down to the first floor kitchen.

"I'd like to see what you can fix." Pan mumbled.

"What was that?" Trunks asked over his shoulder.

"Oh, nothing." Pan's cheeks turned a darker shade of red.

They reached the kitchen and Pan sat down at the kitchen island. She watched as Trunks grabbed a box of cereal and the milk out of the fridge. He made them each a heaping bowl of cereal and placed one in front of Pan. He sat next to her and handed her a spoon,

"This is the extent of my cooking." He smiled.

Pan smirked, she should have known this was what she was going to get. She smiled back and began to eat.

"So I think I heard you're going off to college soon?" Trunks said through a mouthful.

Pan nodded,

"Hai, in three days."

Trunks spit out some of his milk,

"Three days!" He said shocked, "How come you didn't say anything?"

Pan shrugged,

"Not exactly something I'd walk up to you and say 'Hey Trunks guess what? I'm leaving for college in a couple months'" Pan said sarcastically.

Trunks chuckled,

"Hai, I guess you're right. Well I'm going to miss you. You've been around so often, it's going to be like loosing a sister."

Pan felt a pain in her chest she couldn't explain. He had said she was like a sister to him; that hurt her. She could only manage to nod in response. For some reason she couldn't find her voice. She swallowed the bite in her mouth as her heart was screaming at her. She saw in her mind what she wished she could say to him,

"A sister? I thought I meant more to you than that!" Pan glared at him.

"Of course you do, but I didn't want to presume." Trunks looked flustered.

"Well don't then, you know that I've always had a thing for you." Pan whispered.

Trunks' cheeks flushed as he smiled at her,

"Well I've had a thing for you for awhile too."

Pan's eyes widened, Trunks reached over and pulled her to him and planted a kiss on her lips.

Pan coughed and some of her milk spilled down her chin. Trunks reached over and wiped it off with his thumb and continued to eat without saying anything.

The two began to laugh as she finally got ahold of herself and began to eat again.

The door bell rang just as they were about to go out back for a spar.

"Hold that thought." Trunks grumbled.

Pan followed him to the door; he was walking to the door backwards pointing at her as he walked,

"Don't even think about going anywhere, you owe me a good fight." He said jokingly.

Pan snickered, and as he opened the door she replied,

"Yea like you wont try to come up with some excuse to keep me from beating you."

Trunks laughed as the door opened Pan saw who was there and her face fell. Trunks stopped laughing and looked uncomfortable. It was Maria.