Love Or Respect
The girl with the silky black hair sighed as she gazed out the massive Capsule Corp. pod port hole. 'How did I get myself into this?' She wondered, finally tearing her eyes away from the star lit sky to look at her best friend, Bra Vegita Briefs, who was a year older than herself, Pan Son. Bra caught Pan looking at her and waved for her to come join in the poker game she'd started with Pan's uncle, Goten Son, and Bra's older brother, Trunks Vegita Briefs. Pan shook her head.
No, she didn't want to play.
Every time she was around Trunks, she'd get butterflies in her stomach. She was kidding everyone but herself. She knew she was in love with him, but fortunately for her, no one had noticed how she was constantly admiring Trunks, and how she was always hanging around him and Uncle Goten. Or the fact that she was always at the Briefs house. It was really great that Bra was her best friend. That sure helped. She sighed again, and looked back out to the bright lights. She then reflected on how she did get into this…
"PAN!! Guess what!!" Bra yelled into the phone.
Pan had to hold the phone away from her ear. "What happened this time Bra?" Pan tried to sound enthusiastic.
"Goten happened!! He asked me out!! Pan!! Isn't that GREAT?!" Bra had had a crush on Goten ever since they were kids.
"UNCLE GOTEN DID WHAT?!" Pan yelled into the phone.
Bra winced. She'd forgotten in her excitement that Goten was Pan's uncle. "He…asked me out." Bra said a bit more timidly.
"Well, that's great!! I can't believe he finally got up enough guts to actually ask you out."
Bra let out a huge sigh of relief. 'Thank Kami-sama that Pan is accepting this…' Bra thought. After talking for another hour, the girls finally hung up.
"So, Goten asked you out? When did he do this?"
A demanding, yet familiar, voice asked Bra. Bra gulped, and turned around, to face her older brother, thinking, 'Can't alone just accept this?...'
"Um, he asked me out about two hours ago, on the phone, niichan."
'I wonder how long he's been listening to our conversation…'
Trunks raised a violet eyebrow. "Oh, really? And what did you say?"
"Hai…"
"This is gonna be really weird..." Trunks muttered.
Pan picked up the phone and dialed Goten's number.
'Now, I wonder why he asked her out…' Pan wondered. It wasn't like her uncle to ask somebody out of the blue.
The phone rang. Once. Twice. Three times. 'Pick up the damn phone!' Pan yelled at Goten in her head. Finally, someone picked up the phone.
"Goten here."
"Uncle Goten! It's Pan."
"Hi, Panny. What's up?"
Pan smiled because she heard her nickname. But then she remembered why she called. "You. Why did you ask Bra out so suddenly? Baka! You're going to give us all heart attacks if you do that again!!"
Goten chuckled at his niece. Always wanting to get to the bottom of things. "All right. You know, I thought she would be a fun sort of person to go out on a date with."
"YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT EVEN ATTRACTED TO HER?!" Pan screamed at her uncle.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!! Of COURSE I'm attracted to her! I don't ask out people I think of as only friends! Geez, Pan, what kind of person do you think I am?"
"Oh, thank Dende. I was kinda worried, you know? I don't want my friend going out with someone who's not attracted to her…"
And from that point on, Goten and Pan talked for a long while until…
"Oh! Pan, I've got a call on the other line. Hang on a sec, ne?"
"Hai. I'll wait." After about ten minutes of waiting, Pan heard Goten's voice again.
"Pan, that was Dende on the phone. I have no idea how he got hold of a phone…Oh, right. Anyway, Pan, all the saiya-jins are supposed to go to Korin's tower for some reason. I still don't know why. I guess we'll find out when we get there, but Dende sounded really serious…get Gohan and you two fly there. Dende told me Trunks, Vegita and Bra are already there. Hurry Pan."
"Hai, Goten" And they hung up.
At Korin's tower, Vegita was waiting rather impatiently. "Where are those brats?!" He demanded Dende. Dende only smiled.
"They're right behind you, Vegita-san…" Dende said softly, like he usually was.
Vegita whirled around to find Gohan, Pan, and Goten talking to Trunks and Bra. He growled at them. "It's about time!" He yelled at them, then turned back to Dende. "NOW will you tell be why the HELL you had to call me from my training?!"
"Yes, Vegita-san." Dende told to the angry saiya-jin. He took a deep breath, then continued. "As is fairly obvious, I have gotten only the remaining saiya-jins to come here. There is a reason for this."
Vegita, tapping his foot impatiently, practically screamed at Dende. "Well, God, are you going to tell us WHY we're all here?!"
Dende nodded. "Of course, Vegita-san. Anyways, the reason I have gathered you all here is…"
"IS?!" They all yelled at the same time.
"I was getting to that. The reason is I need four saiya-jins to go back in time."
"But…why? I mean, nothing serious is going to happen, is it?" Pan asked, confused.
"I need the four least strongest saiya-jins to go back and get stronger. I know you're all wondering why. Well, I sense something VERY STRONG coming towards us. So, I need four of you to go back and train. Train with Son Goku, Son Gohan, and Vegita." Then Dende looked at Gohan and Vegita. "As you can probably guess, I do not need you two for this particular voyage. I only needed your consent to send them on this journey."
Vegita growled. "WELL, then! They can go! Go to Vegita-sei for all I care! Even if it HAS already blown up! I don't care!" And with that, Vegita took off, probably to have a nap or train.
"Dende, how long will they be gone?" Gohan asked.
"They will be gone for maybe an hour, our time. But where they are going, they will be gone for two weeks."
Gohan smiled, satisfied with that information. He hugged Pan, and said, "Pan, please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt. And take care of your uncle, kay?"
Pan smiled, she knew that Uncle Goten would need to be looked after, but that wasn't her job. That was going to be Bra's job soon. "Kay, tousan. Promise." And she gave her father a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Gohan nodded at Dende, who nodded back. "Trunks, Goten, Don't get yourselves in trouble, and take care of the girls." With that, Gohan also flew off. Goten could hear Chi-Chi's scream from here…
"Now, I've gotten Bulma to build a time machine. It takes it an entire week to regenerate, and an entire week to get there, but that will cause no problems…" Dende began to list the things they would need, and they later went to see Bulma for instructions on how to use the machine.
That was how Pan had gotten herself into this mess. She sighed, and got up to go train in the gravity portion of the pod.
"Hey, Panny, where're you going?" Goten asked her from the card table.
"I'm going to train."
Raised eyebrows came from the table. Trunks asked, "Why?"
"Because if I'm going to train with Vegita-san, tousan and Goku-san, then I'm going to need to be a whole lot stronger than I am now."
Bra giggled. "Oh, come on Pan-chan! Look at me!! I'm in WAY worse shape than you are, I've only been training for a week!"
"Then you should probably train more." Pan said coolly, and took off.
"What's eating her?" Bra asked, watching as Pan made her way down the stairs.
"I dunno. Just shut up and play the game, Bra. It's your turn." Trunks said impatiently.
"Nyah!" Bra exclaimed, sticking her tongue out.
"You two are sooo weird." Goten said, rolling his eyes at them. "Nyah!" Bra repeated at her crush.
"I'm weird? This coming from GOTEN, of all people…" Trunks muttered under his breath.
"I heard that." Goten told Trunks.
"Wha'cha gonna do about it?"
"Absolutely nothing. Except THIS!" Just as he said 'THIS', his fist came in contact with Trunks' cheek.
"HEY!" Trunks exclaimed, grabbing his cheek, "That hurt, you baka!"
"Wha'cha gonna do about it?"
"THIS!" And Trunks punched Goten in the chin.
"HEY!"
"STOP IT!! IF YOU'RE GONNA FIGHT DO IT IN THE GRAVITY ROOM!!" Bra yelled at the two boys, who, until Bra yelled at them, were using each other as punching bags.
"Kay." The friends said at the same time, glaring at each other. They proceeded to go down the stairs to the gravity room.
When they got to the bottom of the stairs, they heard an unnaturally large and extremely loud explosion come out of the room. Looking at each other, they said at the same time;
"Pan."
Goten and Trunks raced towards the door to the gravity room.
Neither was prepared for what they saw.
Only a half of the gravity room was fully intact. The other half was in shambles. Pieces of torn metal and bars piled across the floor. Trunks' eyes scanned the shards; no sign of Pan.
"Pan!! Pan, can your hear me?!" Trunks cried, his voice echoing off the walls. "PAN!!!" He ran across the jagged floor, not paying attention to the slight pain the sharp edges caused in his feet. Calling Pan's name in a rough, loud voice, Trunks finally made it across the floor to a large pile of shards. He recklessly began to throw the pieces of metal away, still calling Pan's name. After his wits returned, Goten soon helped his best friend in tossing and calling. After a few minutes of doing so, Trunks' acute saiya-jin hearing picked up coughs, and raspy breathing. "Pan? Is that you?"
Goten heard his friend asking this, and rushed to Trunks' side. "Is it her? Did you find her?"
"I hope so…"
The boys grabbed hold of a rather large piece of metal, and underneath they found…
"It's *cough* about time you two found me…" An unhealthy sounding, but alive, female voice said quietly.
"PAN!!" Trunks exclaimed. "You're alive!! Oh thank Dende!! I was so worried!!"
"That goes double for me…" Goten said in a fatherly tone, as Trunks plucked the heavily injured Pan from the floor. To all of their surprise, Trunks immediately crushed Pan to his chest.
"I am so glad you're all right…"
"Eh…that's great, Trunks, but if you don't let go of me soon, I'll die from lack of oxygen…"
"Oh!! Gomen, Pan-chan…"
All Pan could think about was 'He called me Pan-chan…he called me Pan-chan…' Then she looked Trunks right in the eye and smiled weakly.
"Oh my…I think I'm going to faint now…" And she did.
Later that evening, while Pan was in the rejuvenation tank, the rest of the gang was eating dinner. Or at least, two of them were.
"Where's Trunks?" Bra asked Goten, puzzled. Her brother had NEVER in his whole life missed a meal.
"I think he might still be in the rejuve room, watching over Pan. Why?" Goten barely paid attention to her question; he was eating, and that took up all his concentration.
"Oh, no reason." Bra got up and walked to the rejuve room, where Pan was in the tank. Pan was still in her training outfit, even if it was a really torn up. Bra looked around the room, saw Pan in her tank, and across from Pan, sitting in an uncomfortable looking chair, was Trunks. "No, no reason at all." Bra muttered to herself. Trunks got up quite suddenly, causing Bra to give a small gasp. He whirled at the sound.
"Bra! Oh thank Dende! You almost killed me!" Trunks exclaimed, a hand on his heart.
"And what're you doing here, oh hungry brother?" Bra demanded, an eyebrow raised.
"Checking on Pan, of course. Wait, how'd you know that I was hungry?" Trunks asked, puzzled, as his bottomless pit growled.
Bra rolled her eyes, thinking to herself that it was no wonder Goten-chan and Niichan were friends…. "I knew you were hungry because I'm hungry. Duh! I might not be much of a fighter, but I know when I'm hungry. Come downstairs and you can eat."
"But what about Pan?…" He asked worriedly, looking at Pan.
"She'll be fine. The tank will take care of her. You, on the other hand, need to take care of yourself. Now come eat before you get even more hungry. Dende only knows what'll happen then…" she muttered the last statement under her breath. Bra began to walk down the stairs. Looking back, she saw her brother hadn't moved.
"TRUNKS!! COME ON!!"
With that rather loud comment, Trunks reluctantly followed his sister downstairs.
As he scarfed down his food, and admitted with a slight grin that Bra was right. He was starving. But his thoughts continued to stray to the injured Pan. After about ten minutes of thinking about the raven-haired girl, a sudden thought struck his Pan filled mind.
"What kind of attack did she use to cause that kind of damage?"
Pan gasped. Spread out across the battle field were all her friends, all dead. Her eyes filled with hot tears. But what she saw in the middle caused the tears to flow steadily and freely, without control. A bloodied body, one she knew well. The only hint to who it was the hair. That unmistakable hair. "T-Trunks?" Pan stuttered out. He was dead. They were all dead. Her tousan, her kaasan, all dead. Dead. Never to come alive again.
Pan opened her eyes to find water before her. She blinked, and realized she was in a rejuve tank. It was all a dream. Just as Pan was thinking as to how the hell she was going to get out of the water filled tank, the water drained, and she stepped out. "I wonder how long I've been in there for…" Pan asked no one in particular.
"Well, about 24 hours. Give or take an hour." A female voice responded.
Pan turned around to find her friend, Bra. "BRA!! Maybe you could tell me WHY I was in there, ne?"
To Pan's surprise, Bra shook her head. "Nope, you'll have to ask niichan and Goten-chan that. I wasn't there when they found you."
"Found me…?" Pan was confused.
"Oh, you don't remember anything, ne?"
Pan shook her head.
"Well, sorry. I can't help. Go ask niichan. Goten's still asleep."
"Uh, there is one thing you might be able to tell me…"
"Nani?"
"What time is it?"
"Oh, it's about…uh…I guess it's 11 PM. Yah. Right." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
Nonetheless, Pan headed up to the kitchen; it was a given that Mr. Briefs would be up there, feeding his saiya-jin stomach. She tried to shake off the feeling of terror, but found she couldn't. Sighing, Pan entered the kitchen. As she'd guessed, Trunks was there, stuffing his face. She giggled at the sight; he looked really funny. Before she knew it, her giggles had turned into full-fledged laughs.
Trunks finally looked up at the sound of Pan's laughter, confused. "Nani? What's with you? PAN! Answer me already!!" Trunks was getting annoyed.
Still laughing, Pan sat herself in a chair across from him. Slowly, her laughter became smaller, giggles, and soon stopped. "Kay. Trunks. Nothing's with me. But I came up to ask you what exactly what happened to me. All I can remember is doing that attack…" Pan trailed off.
Trunks jumped at the chance to ask her what kind of attack she used. "Well? You gonna tell me what attack you used?…"
"A big bang attack…" Pan told him Trunks, obviously distracted.
"Oh, of course…NANI?! BIG BANG ATTACK?! HOW?!"
Pan suddenly snapped back to reality. Reality being Trunks screaming in her ear. She then remembered that she'd told Trunks what attack she'd used. Might as well tell him now…he'd find out soon enough…"Vegita-san taught it to me." pan told him simply.
"WHEN?!"
"One day when I was training in the forest, got lost, found myself next to a large building, and went in. The building turned out to be the gravity room. I practically killed myself going in there at 50 times gravity. Anyway, already inside, was Vegita-san. He demanded me why he was in there, I told him I was lost and he…" She trailed off again.
"Nani? What'd tousan do?" Trunks asked anxiously. He was really getting into this story. He'd never heard of his tousan not blasting anyone out of the gravity room when he was training. Everyone except for his kaasan.
"…he decided to train me. He told me he was going to teach me all he knew for the next two years and-"
"Nani?! You've been training with tousan for two years?! And he taught you the Big Bang Attack? Whoa. He must like you or else he wouldn't have trained you." Trunks sat silent for a few minutes, in deep thought.
Pan tapped the table impatiently. "Trunks!!"
"AAHH!! Oh. Heh. What?"
"Getting back to my question. What happened to the gravity room? Can I go back to train soon?"
"No. You can't go to the gravity room. Not until I say. And the besides, it's in shambles."
"Nani? How? Why?"
"You did it. The attack must have knocked you out. Not to mention it also left half of the room in a total wreck. So no training. Gomen, Pan-chan."
Again, all Pan could think about was "Pan-chan…he called me Pan-chan!!"
"By the way, Pan, why is it that every time I call you Pan-chan, you start to squeal something about how 'He called me Pan-chan'?"
"Uh…" Pan blushed. Damn. I wonder how long I've been doing that for?…
"I'll bet I know why! I know why! I know why!" An annoying voice called out.
"And why is that Bra?" Trunks said, rolling his eyes at his younger sister.
Pan was making cut-it-out-Bra signs behind Trunks' back.
Trunks turned around to face her, and Pan immediately stopped and began to whistle innocently.
Bra smirked at the sight. 'Sigh. I think they'd make a great couple…' Then she remembered what she was ABOUT to tell her brother. She shook her head. No, she couldn't tell Trunks how in love Pan was with him. Bra had had to guess herself. So why tell the man she was in love with?
"BRA!! TELL ME!!" Trunks shouted in her ear. He'd been doing a lot of that lately…
"No. Sorry. You've gotta figure it out yourself." Beginning to walk out of the room, Bra smiled. 'I hope he figures it out soon…'
"Do YOU know what she's talking about?" Trunks asked a very relieved looking Pan. That is, until he asked her that.
"NO!! I mean, uh, no. No idea what she's talking about. So-when-is-the-gravity- room-going-to-be-up-and-running?" Quickly changing the subject, Pan walked over to the fridge, which she began to raid.
Trunks sighed. "I just don't know. Goten's should be down there, fixing it up. You know, for someone without many brains, your uncle is pretty good at fighting and fixing things."
Pan gave a very un-ladylike snort. "So? You don't look like you have very many brains either, Trunks-san!"
Just realizing what she'd said, Pan started to apologize.
"Gomen, Trunks-san. I didn't mean it the way it came out…well, actually, I did, but-"
Trunks laughed as Pan tried desperately to apologize. "It's all right, Pan-chan." He then realized that she had called him Trunks-san. "And by the way, Pan, don't call me Trunks-san. I'm not an old foggy or anything."
"Oh, really? Then why do you have all those wrinkles on your face?" Pan said in an all too serious voice.
Too bad Trunks hadn't really paid attention to the tone of her voice, or that mischievous gleam in her eyes.
"NANI!? WRINKLES?!" Trunks glanced around, frantic, for a mirror.
Pan couldn't help herself. She giggled. The giggles turned into howls of laughter before long.
Trunks looked at her incredulously. "What's so funny?"
"You!! HA!! Baka! You have no wrinkles…"
He let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Only gray hairs."
"ARG!"
"GUYS!! Guess what!" Goten announced loudly to the three saiya-jins, who were, before he had barged in on them, eating something quite peacefully. They were beyond peaceful now.
"AAA!!" They all exclaimed, jumping in the air.
"GOTEN! Don't DO that!" Trunks added at the end.
"Heh. Gomen. But I've got REALLY good news!" And he stopped, silent for a minute.
"Well?"
"I was pausing for dramatic effect, Pan." He sighed, but continued. "Anyway, we're going to arrive on our past lives in an HOUR!!"
"Cool! I've always wondered what I looked like to other people…" Trunks trailed off.
Pan and Bra rolled her eyes at him. "You are SO self-centered…" Bra remarked. "
Shuddup."
A moment of silence fell over the saiya-jins.
"HEY!" Pan exclaimed suddenly.
"AAA! WILL PEOPLE STOP DOING THAT!" The other saiya-jins yelled.
"Gomen nasai you guys. But Bra, I just found out that we'll be able to see your brother and my uncle when they were kids! This is gonna be goooood…"
Rubbing her hands together and having a physco, evil, gleam in her eyes, Pan was thinking out a good plan of black-mail. She and Bra proceeded to create a devious plan.
Trunks and Goten groaned. "This is NOT good, my friend."
"Ditto." Trunks replied.
An forty minutes later, the four were preparing for their landing on earth.
Pan was in her room, packing.
"…toothbrush…clothes…mini spy camera…mini microphone…" Pan narrated while putting things she would need in a two suitcases.
Unknown to her, Trunks was looking over her shoulder, watching as she put all sorts of different spy-related items in her cases.
"Just who are we spying on? Hopefully not me…" Trunks asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"Gomen, Trunks, but yah, this would for you and uncle Goten." She informed him over her shoulder. Pan finally closed her trunks, and turned to face him, smiling. "But I'm ready now. Are you?"
"Of COURSE I'm ready! But Bra STILL isn't quite ready. I hope she finishes soon." "
Me too. She can take forever…but there are better things that we could do while we wait…" like kiss… Pan finished in her head.
"Yah. You're right." Pan looked up, hopeful that…
"Do you wanna spar?"
She wasn't hoping for that answer, but tried to hide her disappointment. Well, at least you'll be in the same ROOM as him…
"Kay. But I'll win this time…" Pan bragged.
Trunks gave a Vegita-like smirk. "Show me."
Pan didn't even think that they might total her room. They just took their positions. For an outsider that was watching, they would've thought neither would move. Incredibly sudden, they moved at the exact same time, eyes locked. Their fists and legs moved swiftly, almost too fast even for saiya-jin eyes.
Somehow, they never broke eye contact. Arms and legs clashed with so much impact that both were almost knocked to the floor. The contact was broken when Pan managed to land a punch in Trunks' stomach, causing him to double over with the force of the blow.
Never letting him stop for a second, Pan executed a perfect roundhouse kick to his right shoulder, and caught him there. He went flying to the other side of the room. He coughed up blood, much to his surprise. Damn, she's getting better… He thought, then quickly dodged as Pan's fist came flying towards his ear. Finally regaining his senses, Trunks decided it was time to start with the ki attacks.
"BURNING ATTACK!!!"
Pan was surprised that Trunks had so suddenly brought up ki attacks, but reacted in enough time to save herself from being burnt. She moved swiftly to her left.
At the same time, Trunks was moving so that he would be on Pan's left side.
Neither saiya-jin was aware of what the other was doing.
Unfortunately for Trunks and Pan, while saving herself from getting turned into toast, Pan collided into Trunks, and they landed hard on the floor. Another misfortune for the two: they landed in an easily mis-understandable position. Pan had landed on top of Trunks, and their noses were mere centimeters apart.
Trunks was lying underneath her, wondering when she had developed the soft curves he was admiring so much at the moment. He was also wondering what she would do if he kissed her right at that moment.
Blushing furiously, Pan apologized to him. "G-Gomen, T-Trunks…"
She got up quickly, grabbed her suitcases, and fled to the main room. In her haste to get away from the temptation known as Trunks, she hadn't noticed the figure in the shadows of her room, who was grinning knowingly.
Trunks was still lying on the floor, trying to work out his very confused feelings at the moment, when he heard his friend exclaim his name.
"Trunks! What're you doing on Pan's floor?! Ah, never mind, just get up. We're going to land in five." Goten asked his friend, pretending to be confused.
Trunks got up hastily thinking about what Goten had told him when...
"We're landing soon? YOSH!" Trunks cried in happiness, and ran out the door of Pan's room and into his own.
Goten had just stepped out of Pan's room when a blur composed of several colors such as purple, tan, black and blue came running in front of him. He followed the blur until it finally came to a stop in front of the space pod's deck. "Ah, the blur was YOU Trunks-kun!"
Trunks momentarily growled at him, but then turned his attention to seating himself in one of the chairs and strapped himself in.
"Well, I'm all ready to go!"
Rolling his eyes to his friend, Goten told him that they wouldn't be landing for...
"AAA!!! WE'LL BE LANDING ANY MINUTE NOW!!!! BRA AND PAN YOU TWO HAD BETTER BE READY!!!!!"
Trunks winced at the impact of loud saiya-jin yelling in his sensitive saiya-jin ears. He caught two different colored flashes come before him and seat themselves on each one of the seats beside him. As soon as they stopped moving, he recognized them as Bra and Pan. 'They're getting stronger…you can tell by their speed.' He thought to himself. Curious, He tried checking their unhidden ki. As he checked Bra's, he found himself impressed. 'Wow, she's gotten incredibly strong in the past week!!'
He checked Pan's and found...
She's almost stronger than ME! But how is that possible? Well, the last time we fought, she did seem to have the advantage. As soon as he remembered why their fight had stopped, he blushed. He just couldn't help thinking that she was very pretty, even if she was rather tomboyish. Looking over at her, he realized that she was looking at him, and was opening and closing her mouth like she was talking to someone…
"TRUNKS! Will you LISTEN to me already?!" Pan had almost given up trying to get Trunks' attention. She had been calling him for about a minute. No answer yet.
"Nani, Pan-chan? What do you want?"
She immediately smiled. Finally she had gotten his attention! "I wanted…"
DAMN! Now she couldn't remember what she'd wanted to ask him. Great. What was she supposed to say? That she wanted a cookie? No, she wasn't going to say THAT! So instead she just stood there, with her mouth gaping open. Trunks thought she looked pretty funny, and wanted her to stay like that, so he said nothing to her.
He just watched her, mouth hanging open, like a fish. A very pretty fish, he added in his mind. Wait, why did I think that? He wondered. Now his own thoughts were confusing him! He didn't know what to think.
Goten was seated at the head of the deck, tapping in coordinates, until he found the right ones and…
"YATTA! WE LAND IN 10 SECONDS!"
Bra counted in her head 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…0 And squeezed her eyes shut.
After a rather rough landing, the four emerged from the pod, coughing because of the dust their landing had caused. Bra had grabbed the thing closest to her when she got out; it felt like a metal bar. When the cloud cleared, though, she found that it wasn't a metal bar. No, not even close…
"Um, Bra? Mind letting go of my arm?" Goten asked her. The grip she had on his arm was killing him. To his surprise, Bra looked up at him and blushed. He thought it was the cutest thing, a blushing Bra. "Uh, my arm…?" Still amused, Goten had almost forgotten to remind her to let go of him. She let go of him like he was a hot coal.
"Uh, gomen nasai, Goten-san."
Goten frowned. Why 'san'? He had thought they were going out! Well, actually, they hadn't been on a date just yet…but still, he was planning on one as soon as possible!
"Um, Goten? You, uh, feeling all right, there, buddy?" A confused Trunks was waving a hand in front of his friend's face. What was wrong with Goten? One minute he was talking to his sister happily, the next he was frowning, with a troubled look in his ebony eyes. "Goten! Come on! We have to see my kaasan!"
Finally snapping out of his trance, Goten nodded to Trunks, and started to walk towards a large, and familiar-looking, building in front of him. Suddenly, he recognized it. "Hey! Guys! That building! It's got to be Capsule Corp.!"
The four stood in front of the door. "Well," Trunks began, "who knocks?"
Three 'Not me's immediately came back at him.
Trunks sighed. "Guess its me…"
Hesitantly, Trunks gave a few knocks. A familiar face opened the door. When she looked up at who the callers were, a hand flew over her heart. "Mirai-Trunks?! Is that…really you?! Come in! Come in!" The somewhat flustered woman ushered the four in. "What brings you back? And with friends, I see! Well, do introduce me to them all!" She gasped suddenly. "Oh, Trunks-chan, I MUST call the others! I'll be right back; all of you make yourself at home!" And with that, Bulma left to call the other members of the Z-senshi.
Goten looked after her. "Well, that was your mom all right."
Trunks sighed, "I'll need to tell her that I'm Mirai-Trunks, just not the one she thinks I am."
"Yeah, you better tell her that." Pan sighed and leaned against the wall. "I wonder what we tell her about me and Bra…"
"Aw, kuso! Thanks a lot, Pan-chan. Now we've got ANOTHER problem to tell with, trying to keep your identity secret."
"Why keep it secret? I mean, its gonna happen ANYWAYS, isn't it?"
Blinking much like a Son would, Trunks simply stood and looked at her. "Uh…Yah! I guess they would find out, wouldn't they?"
Pan sighed. "Trunks, you've been hanging around Ojisan too much…"
"Hey!"
A little while later, when the whole group of the Z senshi had assembled in Bulma's living room, Trunks found himself explaining why they -Goten, Pan, Bra and himself- were all there.
"…and that's the whole deal. We've been sent here to train for some unknown enemy, who is supposedly stronger than everyone of us put together. Peachy, hm?" Trunks finished.
'…and Pan's falling in love along the way, in love with TRUNKS of all people! Peachy, hm?' Pan thought to herself silently.
"Just dandy!" Gohan exclaimed sarcastically. "Now, when should your training begin, and who with?"
Pan took charge. "Well, Bra is weakest," she received a deadly glare from her friend, "sorry Bra, but its, true, so she needs the most work. Goten is second weakest. Since he is much stronger than Bra, though, he needs a tougher trainer. I," she stated proudly, "am second strongest. Therefore, I need a stronger trainer than my ojisan. Hah." She stuck her tongue out at Goten, who, in turn, stuck his tongue out at her. Everyone else sweat-dropped. "And lastly, Trunks needs the strongest trainer. Umm, yah. That's all."
Through her whole explanation, Gohan had been staring at Pan. 'She looks like…Videl…who is she? Ki-sensing does some good…her ki seems very familiar…'
"Umm, excuse me, what's your name?" Gohan asked Pan.
"Son Pan."
Everyone stared at her.
"Who's your Otousan? Since you said ''Son'', you must somehow be related to me."
"Umm, well, you're my 'tousan…"
"Oh, I'm your Otousan? Cool…WAIT A SEC, WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?!" Gohan practically screamed.
Pan gave Trunks a look that said, I told you he wouldn't take it well…
Suddenly, everyone heard a loud THUMP.
Gohan had passed out, and now lay moaning on the floor.
Finally, Kuririn spoke up. "Well…can you blame him?"
The next day, training begun.
Bra was out training with Vejiita behind Capsule Corp. , and from the sound of it, he was being very gentle and patient with her. Training in the woods behind the Son house were Goten and Goku. Lastly, Gohan and Pan were training in the gravity room. Trunks, the lucky bastard, got a day off from training with the adults, and just trained with himself.
In the gravity room, Gohan was noticing things about Pan. The way she fought was parallel to the way he did! As she took a quick kick to him, he almost got the agile move in the stomach.
"I've done that move before!" he thought to himself, a little shocked.
He phased out behind her, and caught her by the wrists. Flipping her over his back, Gohan heard a loud SMACK as Pan hit the floor.
"Damn! I keep forgetting…" he mumbled as he flew down fast to her.
Unknown to father and daughter, Trunks was watching through a window their fight. Worry had swept over him at seeing Pan crash to the ground. His fists clenched at his sides, all he could do was look on, and watch Gohan look over his daughter.
"Pan?…Pan?" Gohan asked, shaking her shoulders a little. 'Maybe if I give her a senzu…? Yah, I'll do that!'
Sitting her up, Gohan reached into his pocket, and pulled out a senzu. Father shook daughter a little.
Pan slowly opened her eyes to find her 'tousan giving her a shake and had a senzu a foot from her face. A senzu…just what she needed right now. Murmuring, she motioned for him to give her the senzu. Gohan looked relieved, and feed her the senzu. After chewing and swallowing the little bean-thing, Pan promptly fell asleep.
The next day, more training came. And as the week progressed, the trainees became almost stronger than their trainers. The change in the young warriors was evident; anyone could see how much they'd changed.
Now, the warriors sat in Bulma's kitchen, stuffing their faces.
Pizza boxes disappered within seconds, and soon the mountain of food that was on the table was no more.
"Ooh...I am soo full..." Bra moaned.
"Ditto..." Goten muttered.
Pan and Trunks just moaned.
Bulma smiled at them all. "So, little warriors, what's on the agenda today? More training?"
"Uh uh!! Today, we're outta here, and off to the mall!!" Bra exclaimed happily.
"But I wanted to go to the arcade!!" Pan whined.
Exchanging knowing looks, Goten and Trunks decided what would happen today. "'Kay, how 'bout this," Goten began, "I take Bra-chan to the mall," happy squeals from Bra erupted, "and Trunks will take Panny to the arcade! Everyone happy?"
"Yah!! Now hurry up Trunks-kun!!
At the arcade, Pan soon began to whine that she was out of quarters…again.
"Truuuuuuuuuuuuunks! I'm out of quarters!…Again!"
Groaning, Trunks dug into his pocket…again. Except this time, he came up empty handed. "Pan, I'm out. Sorry." By the time he'd said sorry, Pan was moaning and complaining. Looking over at her, Trunks saw she was sitting on top of the stairs, pouting cutely.
'Wait a second…Son Pan, pouting?…Aww…that's so cute…' Trunks smiled, thinking to himself. 'She can be so cute sometimes…I really love that about her…'
In mid thought, he froze.
'WHAT?! LOVE?! Since when am I in love?! I am SO NOT in love with her, or anything about her!' Trunks denied the truth in his head over a million times until he finally realized…
'I'm in love with Son Pan…' He said to himself, looking directly at her.
"YO! BUDDY! You finished here, or what?!" An obviously annoyed person from behind Trunks exclaimed. It seems that Trunks had lost at Pac-Man about ten minutes ago, and there was a line behind him.
"Eh…heh heh…Gomen nasai, Sir…" He sheepishly stepped away from the game, cleared his throat, and sat down next to Pan.
"Sooo…Pan…" He began, clearing his throat again.
She looked at him. "Nani?"
"Eh…trying to think of something to talk about!" Trunks sweatdropped.
Pan giggled. "You're not very good at it, Trunks-kun!" She sang teasinly.
"I know, I know, gomen…"
"Ah, who cares! Wanna go spy on Goten and Bra-chan?"
"Hmmmmm…well, why not!" Trunks grinned. "They might be doing something…interesting."
Nodding and laughing, Pan agreed. "Let's go!"
As soon as the two hopped up, they felt it.
"Goteeeeeeen! Wha'cha think of this?" Bra asked, holding up a complicated-looking device.
"Uhm...looks good, but what does it do?" He asked, scratching his head in a very Goku way.
Once the words were out of his mouth, Bra immediately began to babble millions of complicated phrases.
"...And that's how it works! Get it?" Bra finished, and looked up at his more-clueless-than-usually expression.
"Uh...no, but that's okay. It looks cool."
Bra giggled and hugged him, and Goten smiled at her.
"I might as well buy it then...Kaasan would love it!"
Disengaging herself from Goten's grasp, Bra began to walk over to the regiester to pay.
Suddenly, it hit them, and they rushed out into the center of the mall.
Trunks and Pan ran out into the middle of the mall.
"Look! Bra! Goten!" Trunks called them over; they came instantly.
"Guys!" Bra gasped. "Could you feel that?"
"Yeah, we both did!" Pan exclaimed breathlessly.
In one of his rare serious moments, Goten said quietly, "Guys...I think this is what we've been training for."
They all nodded in agreement. "I think you're right, Goten." Trunks said, and then told everyone they should follow the ki. In seconds, the group took off, hoping they would come back from their visit with the future alive.
"Damn, this thing is fast!" Goten growled under his breath, flying at a break-neck speed.
"Yah, I've gotta agree..." Pan mummbled.
Very suddenly, it stopped, and began its descent.
Looking around, Goten thought it looked familiar around here...when it hit him.
"GUYS! I'm such an IDIOT! We're at Kaasan's house!" He exclaimed, eyes wide with fear.
Bra's eyes also widened. "CHIKUSO! That means Chi-Chi might be in danger...!"
Goten sped up. Soon, he was on his feet, rushing into Chi-Chi's home where she now lived alone.
"KAASAN! KAASAAAAAAAN!" Goten yelled for his mother, turning super sayia-jin instantly. He ran around the small home until he saw her...with a black haired man?
"Kaasan?" He inquried, looking at them.
Turning towards him, Goten could see a confused face on that of his mother's. "Goku's home...but he's already here!"
The man turned around. As soon as his eyes caught Goten's, he knew.
"...My...T-Tousan..."
Flashing his signature bright smile, Goku greeted his son warmly, and Goten returned the happiness, only thinking 'Wait til the others see tousan...'
"Will someone tell me what's going on?!" A confused Chi-Chi yelled.
From Goku's explanation, things were soon sorted out. Aparently, he was supposed to have gone into Trunks, Pan, Bra and Goten's time...but screwed up, and ended up here instead. Ah well, mistakes happen. Everyone was inside at the moment, just having a good time.
Goten sat still on a hilltop, deep in thought. 'Tousan is back...he's coming back with us...Home...'
Behind him stood Bra who called his name softly. "Goteeen...come inside! We miss you, especially your otousan!...And me." She added, smiling affectionately at him.
Returning the smile, Goten stood up, and, in a sudden spontaneous mood, picked up, causing delighted squeals. Together, the pair proceeded to go inside, and heard everyone laugh and talk and be just plain happy...A welcome scene to Goten.
Although he did notice something seemingly odd. Trunks and Pan were away from the festivites, talking...nervously. After watching them for a while, Goten gave up on trying to figure them out, and was gladly pulled into the joy of the others.
Meanwhile...
"...So, Pan, that's the whole story." Trunks finished, running a hand nervously through his hair.
Looking down, she smiled. A wide, happy smile.
He loves me...I know he does.
Pan looked Trunks straight in the eye. "Trunks?"
"Hai?"
"Ashiteru, Trunks Vejiita Briefs."
Instantly, Trunks pulled Pan into a tight embrace. "I love you, too, Son Pan."
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