A/N: Sorry for the long wait for this chappie. I got sort of stuck with where I was taking the story next. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter. This chapter has a little Goten/Bra also.

Thanks again to my reviewers. You guys rock!

Ninjadude135

Nicenipps

Phantasom

Dutchangel1979

Em

Jazzyfizzler

Lovesanime92

Chapter 4

Several weeks had passed since Pan had started living in the palace. Trunks had given her a wonderful room all to herself and he was by her side as much as possible. She wasn't quite sure what to think of the Prince spending so much time with her. Was it possible that he liked her? She knew they had become friends in the past few weeks, but could there be more to it?

"Yikes!" a shrill cry emitted from Princess Bra's room. "Ewwww!"

Goten, who was stationed right outside her door came bursting in. "What is it Princess? Are you alright?"

Bra was squealing and standing on a chair in the corner of the room. "No I am not alright! There is some sort of rodent in my room!"

Just then a little mouse went racing by the chair and dashed into a small hole in the wall. Bra squealed again and rocked the chair dangerously to one side. "Ahhh!" She screamed as she tumbled off the chair.

Goten was by her side in an instant and caught her in his arms. "Are you alright?"

Bra looked flustered for a moment. "Um…yes. I'm fine thank you." She glanced up into his dark eyes and felt butterflies beginning to flutter in her stomach. She looked away quickly. "Um…you can put me down now."

Goten jolted back to reality. He'd been staring right back at her! He knew better than that. She was the Princess. He quickly sat her on her feet and took a few steps back from her and bowed. "I'm sorry Princess. I'll see that someone fixes the rodent problem for you immediately."

Bra sighed. "Thank you Goten." Now that she was standing again she missed the feel of his arms around her. She shook her head. She shouldn't be thinking like that. He was just a soldier. She smiled casually at him and then turned back to her closet where she had been organizing.

Goten bowed once more and excused himself. He couldn't believe he'd just been staring openly at the Princess. He couldn't help himself though. She was so beautiful! Even the way she had said his name was beautiful. He wished he could hear her say his name more often.

Later that day, Trunks and Pan strolled through the village together. Trunks was introducing her to some of the villagers and showing her how their kingdom was run. It was such a contrast to everything she had known. Everyone here respected and loved their King and the Prince. Everyone was taken care of. They all had homes, jobs, and food for their tables. Many of the villagers waved hello to the Prince as he walked by and he acknowledged each and every one of them. She just couldn't get over it.

Trunks noticed her smiling at him. "What? Did I do something?"

She smiled even brighter. "I just find it amazing that everyone here is so happy to see you. Back home if the King was coming by everyone dreaded it. It's so nice to see a happy village!"

He grinned back at her. "Well, that's how we like to run things here. If you want the people to respect you, you have to show them respect as well. If you want them to be loyal to you, then you have to be loyal to them. You get what you give."

She looked him in the eyes and smiled. "That sounds wonderful. Thank you again for letting me stay here. It means a lot to me."

He gently reached out and took her hand in his. "It's really no problem. To tell you the truth, I really enjoy your company. You're very different from most of the girls I've ever been around. Most of my experience with girls was with princesses. They were all selfish, greedy, and whiney. You're not like that at all."

She glanced shyly at the ground. "Um…thank you. I enjoy spending time with you as well. I thought that all members of royalty were just bred to be arrogant and self-centered. I never knew that they could be kind and caring. You've shown me just how wrong I was. You are much kinder than I ever would have expected."

Trunks grinned. "Well, while we're on this subject, I wanted to ask you a question."

She looked up at him. "Sure, what is it?"

"Well, I wanted to try and help you. I know you've been taken advantage of most of your life and you've been beaten and hurt. I don't want that to ever happen to you again. I was wondering if you would let me train you? I could show you how to defend yourself and become stronger."

Pan could see the care and worry for her safety in his eyes. They were pleading with her to say yes. She smiled and nodded. "That would be great! I've actually always wanted to learn to fight. I use to watch the warriors of my old village and I always longed to be able to do the things they did, but women were never encouraged to fight."

He looked at her questioningly. "Why weren't women encouraged? Many of the women here can fight. We look at it as a way of preserving our village's safety."

She sighed. "That was another thing put down by Phillip. He decreed that women were not to be trained. He never told anyone why, but I overheard him one day talking to his guards. The real reason was because of some legend he was told years and years ago. Apparently the legend runs in his family. They say that one day a female Say-jian will rise up to defend the people. She will bring chaos and destruction to the royal family and lead the people into a new era. That's what I heard anyway. If you ask me it's all pretty silly."

He listened intently to her story. He did remember hearing something about that from his mother years ago. He had ruled it off as some sort of crazy superstition that Phillip and his family had. He decided not to worry about it for now. He took her hand in his and led her back towards the castle. "Well, since you don't have to worry about that decree anymore, let's start your training today. I can show you some basics so that you can start practicing."

She grinned and nodded eagerly. "Let's go!"

As they headed off towards the castle hand in hand, a dark figure stood in the shadows glaring. "King George will not be pleased with this. I must tell him at once!"

Back at the castle, Trunks and Pan entered the training room. Many of the guards began looking at them oddly. What was the Prince doing here with that girl?

Trunks ignored the looks he got and led Pan to a corner of the room. He started off just showing her some kicks and punches. She already knew most of the basics from watching others so they got to move on rather quickly. Every time he showed her a new move it was almost as if she just absorbed the knowledge and immediately put it into practice. She caught on very fast. He could tell that she had strong power inside of her. He loved the spark of life that seemed to come into her eyes when she was practicing something new. It was almost as if he had awakened something inside of her that even she hadn't known existed.

After a few hours of training, they decided to call it quits for the day. She was exhausted after her first real training session, but still anxious to learn more.

"So are we going to train some more tomorrow?" She asked eagerly and with a pleading look in her eyes.

He smiled at her. How could he resist that look? "Sure. If that's what you want."

She nodded swiftly. "Yes, yes, yes!"

He laughed. "Well, I guess I'll take that as a yes then. In the meantime, we better go get cleaned up for dinner. I don't think my parents would approve of us showing up like this."

She nodded. "Alright. I'll see you in a little while." As she turned to walk away, she quickly whirled back around. "Trunks?"

He turned back to her. "Yes?"

She smiled cheerfully. "Thanks for everything today. I had a lot of fun!"

He smiled back. "No problem."

That night before dinner, Vegeta pulled his son aside. "Son, what is going on with you and that servant girl? You're spending every spare moment you have with her."

Trunks frowned at his father. "She's not a servant girl. Her name is Pan and nothing is going on. We just enjoy each other's company."

His father frowned back. "Then what's this I hear about you two holding hands and now you're training her!?"

He grimaced. "What's wrong with it? She needs to know how to defend herself! I'm trying to help her so that she doesn't get pushed around again like Phillip did to her!"

Vegeta nodded. "Very well, but what about the holding hands part? She's not a Princess you know."

Trunks groaned. "I know she's not a Princess, but that doesn't matter. She's different from all the Princesses I've met and that's what I like about her."

"Just be careful you don't like her too much. You know you've got to marry a Princess and having her around is not going to help you." His father sneered.

"I'm not interested in getting married right now and it's not your decision who I decide to marry!" With that, Trunks stormed off towards the dining hall.

Vegeta glanced at his son's retreating figure. "He's in for a shock when he gets to dinner. I didn't even get to tell him that I invited Princess Rose. This may prove to be quite an eventful night."