DOWN TO MY LAST SAIYAN

Are we there yet?

What was she thinking? Time had only made his worry deepen. She was refusing to interact with her father and Bra. He thought he knew what she wanted. But suddenly, right when he would gain access to her full thought process, she closed like a clam. At least she was eating and training. But unless he was in the same room with her he had no idea what was going on. He approached the door to her apartment, it unlocked and opened for him. She did not smile or act like it mattered that he had finally come to her again. And this perturbed him more than anything. They had just only bonded, but she acted so…. indifferent. She was acting like him!

"I thought that you might like to join everyone for dinner tonight," Vegeta announced doling out his plan.

"I don't think so." She quipped and preceded to hit the floor and start pushups.

Most people did not outright defy him, primarily when he was cordial. Bulma would say that he could catch more flies with honey. He was trying.

"And that Vegeta is exactly your problem." Pan let out jumped up from the floor and slapped her hands to remove non-existent dust.

He did not hesitate to fly at Pan and grab her by the throat and push her against the wall.

"Explain yourself." He growled.

Tears formed in corners of her eyes. She was not expecting such a fast reaction. She was prepared, but he did cut off most of her breathing slightly.

"what?" she managed to get past her tongue.

Then he held up two fingers. "I want to know how you have shut off our connection, and two, explain my problem to me."

Pan closed her eyes, the tears rolled down her face, not that she would cry, just to stop them from brimming. She was angry after all.

Slowly he stopped squeezing let her slide down to the wall.

"Gee Prince, that is almost abuse."

"Pan I am in no mood to discuss domestic violence with you. You are a Saiyan, this is mere foreplay." Then he smirked.

"If you were such a Saiyan you wouldn't be so wounded over my grievances." She replied.

"ah, so it has something to do with not pleasing you? What have I not done to make you happy?"

He was beginning to relax, Pan was up to her ways. Not dissimilar to Bulma.

With that thought, he was not expecting a smack on his face. Ah! So unlike Bulma, this hurt.

Then he looked at Pan very closely. She was seriously mad. Her eyes shined, but she was not her usually bratty mode. She reminded him of her family when provoked.

He prided himself, for he was no dolt. "How are you doing this?"

Pan, in turn, held up two fingers. "One, I am my father's daughter. And Two, Vegeta, my father is no dolt either."

She could hear his inner thoughts, and he could not listen to hers. She had become a two-way mirror to him at will. He should not have let her wander through his mind at their first coupling. He had never been with a Saiyan female like her. He had never allowed anyone but Bulma and his children to see inside. He would show her that she could not begin to decipher how he thought, she would not take his will away.

He crushed up to her. Pressing his lips roughly to her face, grazing her with his. Only thoughts of ravishing her were forefront in his mind, as he pushed his will into her. He could see her tremble with fear and excitement. It did not change their attraction; he wanted her, and she still wanted him. No matter what her mouth spewed, no matter her display, all their barriers were broken, the bond made it so.

Kami, she wanted him. Despite all her thoughts of Trunks, there was no room in head or heart for anyone except Vegeta. The two were so similar, biologically, that psychologically, she responded to him in such similar ways.

"No, that's not it exactly." He spoke aloud. "But you are learning fast. Faster than I would have imagined. In simple terms, we are mere slaves to each other. It is there so that we might be better able to protect one another. It is very basic right now."

"I thought you wanted my explanation?" she quizzed him for not a moment before was he asking her to explain herself and his problem.

He stopped touching her and looked at her. "I thought that throwing you on the ground and ravishing you might be a better way to persuade you to eat with your family tonight."

She had to smile a little. Their conversations were going to be finished one day. "I might be persuaded, but I doubt you could get me to eat with my father after we ah…" she rolled her eyes to the floor. She was still captured in his arms.

"Are you avoiding Gohan because of us of because of him and Bra?" he asked.

"Both."

"well, we will talk about this later."

Vegeta grabbed her back close to him and picked up where he had stopped. He knew that if he pulled on her earlobe, she would have nothing left to think about. That was one of her most sensitive spots.

"Ah, Vegeta…."

It was more than satisfying that she finally got his name correct.

Kami how arrogant can you get? She asked him telepathically. Her mouth too busy to form words now.

He need not bother to answer her. He only continued to smother her with his mouth, and remove what little clothes she had left on.

The argument continued. Pan was not ready to face her father and Bra.

"Why must you be so obstinate?" he asked.

"Really, you can't see how much this bothers me. I can't be angry at my dad and Bra if we now have done the same thing." She huffed and crossed her arms.

Vegeta tried another line of attack, "are you embarrassed that I am your mate?"

Pan literally crossed her eyes. Embarrassed that she chose Vegeta? Upset that this was the one? Of all the silliest notions. Then she stopped thinking. He was baiting her.

"No, I am not embarrassed by us. However, it leaves little room to be mad at them now isn't it?"

"So, you have no reason to be angry at them. So you. Ah, I see. You have to swallow some of that pride?" Vegeta chuckled.

She pointed at him, "You have no room to talk. And it's not about my pride. It is that, why couldn't they have waited? If it is so important, you waited, a bit that is…"

"You won't know what or why unless you talk to them. It is a miracle after all." He calmly explained.

"why a miracle? Here we are?" she pointed out.

"Yes, here we are, and do you remember the first time you could hear my words, my thoughts, and my wishes?"

"Yes." She pouted.

"you are no dolt, so when was the first time you could hear when I talked to Bulma?" he asked tensely. He did not like talking about Bulma to her.

"It was before, you weren't talking to Bulma." She told him.

"Before what, who was I talking to?"

"Trunks." Pan hated speaking about Trunks to Vegeta.

"Trunks… how long ago?" he asked

"I don't want to talk about him." She cried.

Vegeta took Pan into his arms holding her steady. " I won't make you talk about my son, but when did you hear me, what was I saying?"

"You, you told him to bring me home. We had been training too hard, Goten had left. You told him not to take advantage." She uttered.

"bring you home? I never said that."

"I'm not lying, you said to bring me back to the infirmary. To come back home."

He let go of Pan suddenly, "you, that was three years ago! Is that the only other time?"

"No, but it was never that much. Just trivial things now and then."

"Why didn't you ask me about it? Why weren't you curious to know how you could hear me?"

"I thought it was like how you could talk to Bra and Trunks…" she paused wondering why she never asked about this.

"Three years ago?" he questioned again. Then absently picked up a blanket that had been near his feet. He threw a blanket to Pan. "Get dressed, you are having dinner with everyone else. We have some things to talk about and I need your linguistics." He turned to leave but paused, "don't think about ignoring my wishes. You would not like it if I tore your little sanctuary down."

He did not like it, he had not known that Pan could hear him at times before now. It seemed maybe their connection was something more. It probably had more to do with how much time she spent at his home. However, Vegeta did not know enough about a familial link. It made him question what else was significant to have led to such a thing. Then he remembered. It had been between him and Bulma. Bulma and her damn cigarettes that she tried not to smoke in front of him. He always knew…. Three years ago, the doctors saw the first black spot on her lungs. Just as her father before. However, she braved it, though her crystalline eyes shinned and teared as she explained to him that she was not telling the children nor was she going to go through the treatment like her father had. But she did stop smoking that day. Vegeta had contemplated then as he did now. He had immersed himself in medical journals that seem to be within fingertips reach at Capsule Corporation. Lung diseases were known to him, he too had seen varied species die from all kinds of respiratory ailments. The radical treatment on earth was at times no more barbaric, and no more successful than other planets. However, eradicating the dead tissue was something he understood. Thanking the gods, he trusted his own strength and senses. His own Ki was channeled and with surgical precision, radiated the spot. Sadly, it became an ongoing series of treatments. She never gave up to her physicians what Vegeta was doing but documented all that he did to try and save her. However, the disease always ahead one tiny step. But it did work. She suffered no ills from what he did, as with radiation and surgery or chemo. Bulma sustained no lasting effects. She promised him that tissue could not be regenerated, but she could live without a lung, even just if she had parts of one! However, he remembered her parting words, she was living on borrowed time. She had been giving months to live back then. Yet he kept her alive, safe, and healthy for three years. Three fucking years! Pan had been hearing him for three fucking years. He had had no idea, not until that last day.

The foursome sat down at a steel table. There were no comforts of home life here. The last time they had eating together, it had been months before the strike on earth. Then there were more family members and friends. The home was warm with laughter and Chi-Chi's cooking. In the stark reality of the situation, memories were strong. Pan just could not look at her father, and she wanted to yell at Bra, but it seemed so petty. However, she could wait until they were somewhere in which air her grievances to her best friend, and even to her father. Vegeta was giving her much to think about. He had promised her challenging work and revenge. He promised her a way to make the pain lessen.


"So how long till we reach, Tech Tech?" Pan questioned not to any person.

"Two weeks," Gohan explained. He had seemed desperate to talk to Pan.

"Vegeta, you said something about my linguistic?" she asked of him looking at him for the first time.

Bra noticed how sharp Pan's eyes were. Pan had had no trouble looking at her father. It was hurting Gohan to no end. She felt Gohan's pain of Pan's deliberate cut.

"Your father and Bra don't know as many ciphers," he explained but was interrupted.

"Not everyone uses their own language when communicating, especially in space. Mostly its code or computer language. Too many things can be intercepted on open channels. Vegeta you taught Trunks and me this. Only closed signals like from capsule Corp to one of her ships. You want to intercept light waves communications out here?"

"I need you to look and listen to some things we pick up, just to understand if we are being tracked." Vegeta was enlightened.

"Of course, we are being tracked. This ship isn't one of ours." She complained.

"We have been scouring it since leaving, I have found no such tracking," Bra spoke up.

"We all have been." Gohan corrected.

Pan then looked at her father, "Everyone here has been in space, what the exception of Bra. But do not act so ignorant. The track is not inside of a ship." She explained like they were ignorant.

"The Hull?" asked Bra.

"The hull, the fuel, the water, the chips for money, anything we took from the planet could be tracking us. It's a collateral risk we choose."

Then she rolled her eyes.

Vegeta was happy enough. Pan had not been so much inside her head as she left everyone to believe. To say he was proud would give her too much credit. The last thing he needed was for her to think she knew more. This did, however, get her out of her room.

"So, are you going to help us?" Bra asked.

Pan knew that she had been duped. She was not sitting with former classmates at her high school. She was with some of the most brilliant minds she had ever encountered some of which lacked space travel. In theory, Bra knew as much as Bulma, or Vegeta or even her own father. And to her remembering Trunks. She did need to do her part to help them all get somewhere safe. No matter her personal issues.

She did not have to enjoy it, though she missed her personal connection to her best friend. She did not want to discuss Gohan, or Vegeta, or Trunks; she desperately wanted to talk about her mom and Bulma to Bra. It made it too weird to talk about anything else on a personal matter. However, before they would try to pry out her feelings; something which Vegeta was only privy to; Pan did not want to be alone in the awkward zone she had felt like she was in. Vegeta did like to hammer things out in his head. She had garnished so many little tidbits of concern.

"Just one thing before I help, I would like to know how long before the attack had you two been able to communicate through your bond?" Then Pan stared directly at Gohan.