Disclaimer: I own nothing except the pic used, though I don't own the characters.

Surviving History

Chapter Twenty Six – Family Outing

Filtered sunlight glared down through an overcast sky as Pan and Trunks followed Hero out of the darkened secret corridor and onto a secluded alleyway outside. The passage appeared to have spit them out on the edge of town where any activity and traffic was scarce. Sounds of the festival were distant but still noticeable as Hero beckoned them to follow. "I'm thinking our first order of business should be a new wardrobe for the kid. Sorry to say, but even for a crazy festival like this, her cave-man outfit will attract a lot of unwanted attention."

Pan turned to regard Rink, who was still riding Duke like a horse as he lumbered along behind their procession. Indeed, the girl still wore her ragged brown pelts from her home planet and Pan guessed she did sort of look like a cave-man child. "You have a point there. Got any place in mind?"

Hero nodded. "There's a clothing store a few blocks ahead-" he winced as they stepped onto a busier street, with various shops lined up on either side and where people, human and otherwise, wandered by, all of whom were also headed for the festival. "If we can make it that far, that is."

Pan was about to question him, and could tell Trunks was too, when a couple of unpleasant squeals split the air, followed by a string of incoherent yammering as a pair of teenage girls scrambled up to Hero. Among their excited gibberish, Pan noted that they appeared much younger than her.

Poor Hero was at a loss as they fawned over him and it surprised Pan to discover that they didn't even think he was the real thing. "Awesome costume mister!" one of the girls yowled, both her and her companion bouncing excitedly.

"Yeah," the other girl agreed. "You could pass as the real Trunks if you didn't have your twin brother with you!"

Hero offered them a nervous smile but couldn't utter a single word in response when they suddenly switched targets. "Speaking of your brother, what's with your hair pal?" Both girls homed in on Trunks, one of them wagging her index finger matter-of-factly. "Everyone knows Trunks has long hair."

The other girl nodded in agreement and both appeared to be waiting for Trunks' response, though he too seemed to be at a loss for words. Pan almost couldn't restrain a snort. If only they knew how "authentic" both men really were.

With their hands still joined, Pan could feel Trunks' anxiety from the unwanted attention in the way his grip tightened a fraction and how his palm began to sweat. Idly, she wondered where his nervousness concerning female attention, besides her own of course, had truly stemmed. Stowing her curiosity for the moment, she gave his hand a light squeeze and he seemed to blink out of his stupor.

The overly excited fangirls were still waiting for his response when he cleared his throat and copied his counterpart, smiling pleasantly. "Just trying to give the guy a new look, I guess?"

Both girls gave him a flat look, turned to each other, and then suddenly lost all interest. "Whatever. Enjoy the festival!" They shuffled off in a hurry, completely overlooking Pan, Rink and Duke.

Both Hero and Trunks scarcely had time to sigh in relief when the next contender confronted them. This time it was a woman who was... obviously beyond her teenage years and wore insufficient clothing which could easily be attributed to a questionable lifestyle, if one was stereotyping, of course. One thing was certain though, she was making a bee-line for Hero, and he knew it. Obviously in a state of panic, he turned to Duke and Rink and began to reach for the child when the dog grumbled and stepped back. "Come on Duke, I need the kid or every female in a five mile radius will be after me."

The dog grumbled again and the woman in question was only getting closer. Pan didn't really understand what he was trying to do but if it meant they could get through town easier then she wasn't about to interfere. Actually she found the situation amusing as Hero began to bargain with the canine. "I'll give you my leftovers for a week, alright?"

The dog sneezed and held his ground but finally relented when Hero raised the offer to a month's worth instead. By the time Hero lifted a thoroughly confused Rink to his shoulders in a piggyback hold, the woman was only a few feet away, struck speechless at the sight of the child, her unusual clothing and the fuzzy brown tail she sported.

Hero merely grinned in triumph and strode past the promiscuous woman, giving her a healthy berth and leaving Pan and Trunks to deal with the unpleasant situation as Duke trotted off as well.

When the under-dressed woman turned to them, it occurred to Pan in that instant that just because she and Trunks were holding hands didn't mean a particularly bold person wouldn't try something, though honestly, Pan wasn't even the least bit worried.

She knew too well that Trunks was honest and genuine. She also had faith in his intelligence, that he would know full and well the consequences of any sort of betrayal on his part. Although they're new relationship hadn't been established for even a full week yet, she was confident in where she stood in his life and felt that they were already far beyond the point of such childish jealousy and the fruitless arguments it created.

In all actuality, the more she thought on the matter, it felt like their relationship had been in the works for a lot longer, just, neither of them had been aware of it until recently...

Thankfully the woman had enough sense to move along without a word and only a passing furtive glance. Still, once they caught up with Hero and Duke, Pan couldn't help but grumble in irritation. "Hey Hero, I thought you said this nonsense wouldn't happen?"

"It's because we're still a ways off from the festival," he answered in an apologetic tone. "Once we get closer, there will be more look-a-likes and we can blend in more."

Pan noticed that with Hero carrying Rink they made much better progress down the street, with the child seeming to serve as a repellent to any and all unwanted female attention. Apparently Hero alone was fair game but seeing him with a kid was an instant red flag. There were, or course, a few passerby that couldn't help but coo over how cute the girl was but they quickly lost interest after seeing her very real tail switching around behind her.

"Here it is," Hero said as he came to a halt in front of a small shop with a clothing sign hanging overhead. He glanced up at the child clinging gently to his lavender head. "You ready for some new duds, Rink?"

The girl tipped her head curiously. "What are duds?"

Hero chuckled as he stepped through the store's entrance. "You're about to find out."

After Hero had picked out some appropriate garments, paid for them and had Pan fit the girl into them in a dressing room, the foursome were well on their way again. Duke, who had been waiting patiently outside, snuffed and inspected Rink and her new attire before Hero replaced the child on his shoulders once again. "Right, now lets go see if we can have some fun?"

Pan could hardly contain her snickering as Trunks pulled a hand up to his face and scoffed after seeing what the back of Rink's shirt depicted. An unmistakable character with lavender hair was at its center with the words "My Hero" plastered underneath. "Really?" was all he had to say on the matter.

Pan found herself losing the battle with her laughter and she leaned against him as her body shook with humor. Hero tipped his head back to offer a sympathetic look. "Yeah, it's all they're selling during the festival, sadly."

Tugging on Trunks' hand, Pan began to half-heartedly turn back towards the shop. "I really think I need one of those shirts myself."

"Oh no you don't," he said and gently corrected her path with a tug of his own. "I forbid it, fervently."

Still snickering, Pan relented and laid her head against his shoulder as they walked. "Come on Trunks, it's just a shirt."

"It's embarrassing!" he insisted. "It'll be hard enough explaining things to everyone back home without you wearing something like that!"

"But you are my hero Trunks, just think of all the times you've saved my skin." Lifting her free hand, Pan began to tick off one finger at a time. "Let's see, there's that whole Turles incident, and before that there was that time with Baby, and I don't know how many times during the first Grand Tour-"

"Pan," Trunks interrupted with a too-pleasant grin. "I can think of a few ways to shut you up, would you like to hear what they are?"

Stifling her laughter, Pan gave him a playful nudge. "Ok, ok, I'll stop. But you owe me some type of overly-priced-festival-snack for good behavior."

Whether things were truly overly-priced or not didn't really matter, since Trunks admittedly hadn't brought any zeni from home, and therefore Hero ended up just handing them a wad of the currency with a shrug. "Capsule Corp. ends up getting ten percent of the festival proceeds anyway."

Taking in his surroundings, Trunks quickly filtered out the constant din of chatter generated from the gathered populace and noted with a small measure of surprise how many "Trunks decoys" there really were.

When Pan scampered off to get a snack with her share of the zeni and Hero wandered off in search of a restroom, Trunks suddenly found himself alone with the dog and the child. Since they were safely among the throng of the crowd, Hero had relinquished his need for Rink's "fangirl protection" and the child was currently standing beside her canine escort with a handful of his brown fur in one hand. She had watched Pan disembark for a food vendor but seemed disinclined to follow after her through the crowd, which seemed to be making her nervous.

Trunks sighed in a troublesome manner and scratched at his head in annoyance but finally knelt down and tried to offer an easy smile. "Come on Rink, let's go try a game while Pan gets her food." He figured the child would need some reassurance and a distraction if they were ever going to successfully integrate her with the modern world.

Though hesitant, she returned his smile and nodded. It seemed that the term "game" was universal, though she probably had a very simple term in mind, like tag or something.

When neither of them moved or seemed to know where to go from there, Duke gave an impatient huff and moved to nudge Trunks' hand with his snout. Wincing with displeasure at the dog's proximity, Trunks had to give the beast some credit towards his unusual intelligence. Stamping down an uncomfortable shudder in response to interacting with the dog, he leaned down and offered the girl his hand. "Right, my apologies Duke." To Rink he said, "shall we?"

Again, she hesitated but eventually released her grip on Duke and reached up to take his hand as he led her away. She craned her neck around to try and keep an eye on Pan but quickly lost sight of her in the swarming mass of people. Growing anxious by the development, she started to whimper and only stopped when Trunks spoke a soothing reassurance. "Don't worry, Pan can find us once she's done."

The child grew suddenly distracted by the various attractions when Trunks led her to the gaming booths, where numerous other children bolted and scattered around the area. For a long moment Rink simply stared and seemed to be taking all the chaos in like an adorable little sponge.

Trunks couldn't help but chuckle when she suddenly started tugging him toward a particular booth involving a giant hammer and brightly lit pole with bell at the top. It figured she would be attracted to the most primitive game...

Rink watched with the utmost attention as a boy, probably only a few years older than her, made his attempt at slamming the provided mallet down on the metal target, which only made the lights blink a fourth of the way up the pole. "Oh, too bad!" the game master wailed in a mockery of disappointment and handed the boy a small consolation prize. "Here, a sucker for the little sucker."

As the boy trudged away with a frown, Trunks gave Rink an encouraging nudge. "Wanna give it a shot, Rink?"

Again, she hesitated, though she looked up at him with big, round, hopeful eyes. Unfortunately, her desire to play the game was squelched by her timidity and the unfamiliar, noisy surroundings. "You could win a really neat prize," Trunks tried again to sway her, but she seemed unfazed by his words and it didn't occur to him until later that she probably didn't know what a "prize" even was.

"No one else wants to try?" the game master whined after various passerby until his gaze fell on Rink and Trunks. His eyes lit up and he pulled a small plush doll from the prize shelf as he approached the two. He was a large, somewhat obese man with a deep, guttural voice and mustache that was probably fake. "How about this little lady? Wouldn't you like to win this fabulous monkey king plushie? I've only got one left, you know."

Trunks barely managed to keep from rolling his eyes. The guy talked like he had been dolling out prizes all day, but Trunks knew better, and he relished the idea of putting the cheat out of business for the night. He flashed a toothy grin and handed the burly man a few small bills. "Yes actually, she'd like to try."

The large man frowned at the zeni. "Sorry pal, this is only enough for one play."

"She only needs one to win."

"Eh?" The man shrugged indifferently, stowed the cash and waved at Rink to step forth. "If you say so, come on kid."

Rink looked up to her guardian, unsure, but Trunks nodded and gestured for her to go. Appearing to take a deep breath, the girl drew herself up and focused on the gold monkey doll in the game master's grasp as she followed him over to the brightly lit platform.

"Your dad's kind of a cheapskate ain't he?" the big man muttered to Rink, though Trunks had heard him just fine. The half Saiyan didn't bother to hide his scowl or temper the rumble in his throat. One, he wasn't her dad, and two, he wasn't being cheap, but none if it really mattered once Rink struck the target with that mallet... Aside from being a Saiyan, she had lived her whole life on a world with more gravity, therefore Trunks had no doubts that she was already fairly strong, despite her timid nature.

The loud clang, followed by the winding whistle that indicated the weight's ascension, and finally the crash that was the bell flying off the top of the poll, was like music to Trunks' ears and he didn't bother to hide the complacent smile on his mouth.

The game master gawked up at the damaged poll for a long time before he looked down to Rink in shock. The girl was blinking in confusion between the monkey doll and the large man's face, trying to determine in her young mind if she had earned the toy or not. Quickly, the man spun to question Trunks with an incredulous and uncharacteristically high pitched voice. "How did she do that?"

Grinning, Trunks shrugged. "I couldn't tell you, but you might want to give her that toy before she gets upset."

The large man scowled and began waving his arms around expressively, effectively making Rink's gaze follow the toy's rapid movements like a kitten watching a clock's swaying pendulum. "B-b-but I had the thing rigged for two hundred pounds!"

"Then it sounds like you set it up wrong," Trunks replied indifferently and let his hands fall from a shrug into firm fists at his sides. "Either way, if she gets upset, I get upset." Silently he added, "just give it up pal, I'm a CEO back home, I will ruin you."

The game master's scowl quickly faded to a frown and after uttering something between a growl and whine, he handed the stuffed monkey down to the hopeful girl and trudged over to tend to his newly broken machine.

Yipping with glee, Rink snatched at her new toy and scampered back over to Trunks. "It looks like Raion!" she announced as she held it out for him to see.

Trunks tipped his head in thought, trying to remember what the boy she called Raion looked like but failing miserably. He would have to take her word for it. Nodding with a humoring smile, he bent down to pick her up and set her atop Duke once again.

With what seemed like impeccable timing, Pan suddenly appeared at his side and shoved a plastic bag of food into his hands. "What I miss?"

Trunks narrowed his gaze at her as she innocently popped a small round snack of some kind into her mouth with one hand and held a bag of the stuff in the other. He assumed it was something entirely unhealthy, deep fried in something else that was entirely unhealthy, but he was too afraid to ask. Instead, he hefted the bag she had handed him. "A snack?"

Pan shrugged and popped another round morsel as Rink began imploring for the food. "The line was long, figured you guys would be hungry too." Grinning at the girl, Pan offered her bag of snacks and nearly coughed up what she had in her mouth when she seen the plush doll tucked under one of Rink's arms. "That looks like Raion!"

"Yeah," Rink said and presented her prize proudly and pointed to the mallet game booth. "That big man gave him to me."

With one glance to the man and his ruined business, Pan laughed and gave Rink's head a pat. "Nice job Rink! We'd better keep you away from the rest of the games though. They might throw us out if we start putting all the crooks out of business."

Rink didn't seem to understand what she was talking about but the girl had more important matters on her mind as she reached for more of the snacks. It was becoming more and more obvious to Trunks that the child, without question, had a Saiyan's metabolism. Sighing wearily, he pushed the bag of empty calories away from her and peered into the plastic sack he was holding. "Anything substantial in here, Pan?"

Despite his obvious disapproval of the unhealthy snack, Pan grinned mischievously, tossed another round morsel at Rink and gave him a shrug. "Do hotdogs count as "substantial"?"

Before Trunks could glare at her and protest, Duke barked and gave the large sack a nudge with his snout, demanding the "payment for his services" that Bulma had mentioned. After tossing a "dog" to the dog with a grumble, the half Saiyan proceeded to hand one to Rink when Hero finally decided to rejoin them. His eyes were wild and he looked like a skittish meerkat on the lookout for predators.

"You took long enough," Trunks remarked with a knowing, sympathetic smile. "Run into some trouble?"

"More like trouble is running after me!" Hero whined and sighed in a pathetic exhaustion. "It's normally not this bad, but I can't seem to walk five steps without some female tailing me!"

"Maybe you should try cutting your hair," Pan said as she munched away. When both men gave her a quizzical look she rolled her eyes and added to clarify, "you know, since those two girls from earlier said that "everyone knows Trunks has long hair", maybe the majority will leave you alone for awhile if you cut your hair."

Both men blinked at her for a moment. "That's, actually a really good idea," Trunks replied, sounding more astonished than he intended and mentally berating himself for it after the fact.

"What do you mean, "actually"?" Pan growled and glared at him. "Of course it's a good idea, I'm a genius." Tapping her chest proudly she sent him a sly look. "Or don't you remember saying so a couple weeks ago when you couldn't fix that transparent whatchamacallit?"

Trunks arched a brow. "The time-space transponder?"

Snapping her fingers, Pan nodded with a smile. "Yeah, that thing."

Smirking and huffing with amusement, Trunks leaned over to plant a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Yes Pan, you're a genius."

"And don't you forget it."

Clearing his throat objectively, Hero shuffled over to Rink, who was just finishing her meal and was still mounted on the dog. "Well, I'm not cutting my hair, but I will borrow the kid for awhile longer. Sorry Duke, you have to share."

After snatching the child up, monkey doll and all, Hero set her on his shoulders once again and beckoned for Pan and Trunks to follow him. "Come on, there's a few attractions I think you guys might enjoy."

Feeling a swell of contentment, Trunks reached out to take Pan's hand again as they began to follow their guide through the throng of the crowd. He didn't realize he was smiling so warmly until she mirrored his expression and stretched up to give him a quick peck on the lips. At that point, Trunks decided he wasn't really interested in anything else the festival had to offer; he was already enjoying himself.

AN: Well, you guys asked for family interaction, so there it is. It was so silly, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. That mallet-game scene was heavily based on a certain scene in the last DBZ episode. I couldn't help myself. :)

Next Chapter: In his mind, if they didn't encourage her to be more independent then she would never truly adapt to her new environment.