7- Stories

Summer

By the time Trunks arrived at the clearing, the Princess was already there. She was busy sewing something. Trunks took a curious step closer.

"What are you doing?"

The Princess gasped as she pricked her finger. "Owe," She frowned at her finger before she looked at Trunks. "I was working on a dress," she told him.

Trunks watched as she stuck the finger in her mouth and gave it a light stuck to stop the bleeding. His eyes widened slightly as his mind wandered to a forbidden place for a second before he snapped it back. He glanced around the clearing to avoid staring at her, "I see."

"Um," He turned to face her when he heard her start to speak and was relieved to see the finger out of her mouth. "I never did thank you for yesterday, for catching me, I mean," her dark eyes held his. Slowly, she reached up and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ears. "Thank you."

Trunks nodded slowly. "I couldn't just let you fall," he mumbled. "You could have gotten hurt. You really need to be more careful," he said.

"I will," she promised. She nodded her head as she blushed lightly. "I'm not sure if you remember this or not, but my name is Pan."

He remembered that it was the name is mind hadn't been able to stop thinking about for weeks now. Calling her Pan though, seemed strange. He felt as if there should be more to it somehow.

"Pan-" he began, but somehow he couldn't stop himself. "-Na."

"Huh?" Pan blinked at him in confusion.

"Panna," he whispered as he looked at her and his heart thudded against his chest. "Your name." At least, that's what he would be calling her.

He watched as her cheeks darkened and her lips parted as if she were surprised and Trunks was afraid that maybe she didn't like it. Suddenly, she twitched into a grin that let him know that she liked it. "What's your name?" She asked.

Trunks stood for a second as he wondered if he should give her his real name or not. "Trunks," he said. Was it strange that he wanted to hear her saying his name?

"Trunks," her gentle voice whispered.

Trunks felt his heart drum in his ears. Did she really have this much power over him?

"Trunks," she said again before she motioned to the spot on the blanket beside her. "You're more than welcome to sit beside me if you want."

Part of his mind was telling him that he needed to leave. He had already been there too long, but another part, a bigger part of himself wanted to stay. Slowly he walked over to her before he took a seat on the blanket. He made sure there were several feet between the two of them and she turned to smile at him.

"I still can't believe I know a Saiyan," she said.

"You're not going to tell anyone, right?" Trunks raised a brow. "I'm not exactly supposed to be here, plus, I don't think the King would be happy to know his little sister is in company with a monster," he teased.

"I don't think you're a monster," she told him.

Trunks felt himself blinking in surprise at her simple comment. She didn't think he was a monster? Then again, she didn't know of the horrible deeds he had done.

"And you don't have to worry," Pan added. "I won't tell anyone, especially not my brother. If he knew, he would never let me come here again."

"You must like this place," Trunks commented as he glanced around.

"Mhm," she nodded as she looked around as well. "When I was little, my father used to take me and my brothers here all the time to play. My father is gone, and so is one of my brothers," her face grew sad as she glanced at her hands. "But-" she looked up at him quickly with a small smile. "I still like to come here. It has a lot of nice memories and it's so beautiful."

Trunks was silent for a few seconds. He honestly didn't know much about the royal family on earth, other than the fact that the king was fairly young. He hadn't even known about the princess until he met her. She had gone through a lot of troubles though. Losing a father and brother must have been rough.

"I lost my Hyung when I was younger too," Trunks commented.

"Hyung?" She raised a dark eyebrow.

"Oh, it's a Saiyan word. It's what boys call their older brother," Trunks explained. "Well, technically he wasn't my Hyung, he was my Samchon, or uncle, in your terms, but we were close."

Pan gave him a gentle smile. "You two must have been if you called him your older brother."

Trunks nodded slowly. It was strange for him to admit something so personal to Pan when he hadn't even known her that long. He had felt like he could trust her with that information though.

"If Hyung is what a boy calls their older brother, then does a girl call their older brother?" She asked him curiously.

"Oppa," Trunks said. "Though you don't have to be someone's actual sibling to call those things. You just have to have a close relationship with them. A lot of girls call the boys they date Oppa."

"So, if I get to have a close relationship with you, I call you Oppa?" She asked.

Trunks felt his cheeks growing extremely warm. The thought of her calling him something like that made him let out a small breath.

"Sorry," she apologized when he didn't answer right away. "I hope that wasn't disrespectful. It would probably be weird of me to call you that since I'm human."

"N-no," he shook his head quickly. "The question just surprised me, is all," he mumbled.

Pan smiled softly. "What about your parents? Do you call them by special names as well?"

Trunks didn't know why she was so curious, but he honestly wasn't complaining. He was nice talking to her about his language. "I call my father, Appa, and my mother, Eomma."

"Those sound really sweet," she told him. "I just call my Mom, Mama," she giggled. "And my brother, Gohan, I just call him Han half of the time. Some of his royal advisors don't like it," she scrunched up her nose. "They think I should address him with more respect but Han doesn't seem to mind."

"That's good then," Trunks said. "He's the King, right? As long as he doesn't mind then no one else should either."

"Right," she smiled with a small nod. "Trunks, if I may- Why did you come back to earth?" She asked.

"I was curious," he admitted. "Although I've been to several different planets, there's none out there quite like the earth. Then, when I got here, I heard beautiful singing- you," he told her.

Her cheeks darkened in a blush. "I didn't realize you heard that."

"You shouldn't be shy," he said. "You have a beautiful voice. I watched you for a few minutes and I don't know," he shrugged his shoulders. "I was curious about you so I came back."

"About me?" She asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah," Trunks nodded. "I don't know why, or what makes me so curious about you, but I am," he told her.

"I'm curious about you too," Pan said.

"I'm glad," his lips twitched into a small smile. "I need to go," he said as he stood up.

"Already?" She frowned. "You didn't stay long."

He knew he hadn't been there long but he needed to go. He had never met someone like Pan before, someone who made him want to tell all his deepest darkest secrets to and that was frightening him.

"I need to go back to my planet," he told her. "No one knows I left so if I'm gone for too long and someone comes looking for me, I could get into trouble." If wasn't a lie. He had left right after eating breakfast and he didn't want to stay gone for too long in case someone came looking for him.

"Will you be back?" Pan asked.

Trunks wanted to come back. He wanted to talk to her more, even if he didn't know what the feelings were she was causing him to feel. "When I can," he promised.

She smiled at him and nodded her head. "Goodbye, Trunks."

"Goodbye, Panna."

Trunks let out a sigh as he arrived back in his room. He left his room as he wandered down the castle hallways, his mind was filled with the Princess and he didn't think he would stop thinking about her. He needed a distraction! He needed to find Endou so they could spar, or even Radtiz.

"Trunks," his mother's voice called and he turned to see her and Bulla walking towards him. "How's the bracelet working?" She asked curiously.

"Good," Trunks answered quickly.

"Eomma told me she gave you a transportation bracelet," Bulla grinned up at him slyly. "Just why would you need one of those?"

"None of your business," Trunks huffed down at her.

Bulla's smirk was mischievous. "What are you hiding, Oppa?"

"Nothing as bad as you," Trunks smirked knowingly.

Bulla's eyes widened fearfully, but before she could speak, Bulma did.

"You two stop bickering. Let's go find your Appa, I want to go into the market and stop by that noodle vendor."

Bulla waited until their mother was several yards ahead of them before she spoke quietly, "how did you find out?"

"You suck at sneaking around," he told her bluntly. "I'm honestly surprised Appa hasn't found out."

Bulla pouted. "You won't tell him, right?" She asked softly.

Trunks wasn't sure what most brother and sister relationships were like, but he thought his and Bulla's were normal. They bickered and fought over every little thing and it seemed they lived for aggravating each other, but at the end of the day, after everything, Bulla was still his little sister- even if he did try to give her away a few times when she was a baby. He still loved her and wanted her to be happy.

"If I see no reason to," Trunks told her softly. He was beginning to have his own secret, one that was a lot bigger than Bulla's so how could he even think of telling on her?

Bulla gave him a grateful smile. "You can be the best Oppa sometimes."

"I know," Trunks smirked. "Now come on, let's go help Eomma wrestle Appa to the market."

"Okay!" She chirped as she grabbed his arm.

Pan focused on her project as she gingerly strung together the flower stems. She was so into her work, that she hadn't even realized her guest had arrived until he spoke.

"What are you doing?"

She gasped as she glanced up at him with wide eyes. His beautiful blue eyes were watching her curiously and slowly he sat down in the same spot he had a few days prior when they had last talked. Pan couldn't contain her smile, he was back!

"Trunks," she greeted. She loved his name, even if it was a little strange that he was named after underwear. She thought it made him unique.

"Panna."

The way Trunks said Pan's name caused her heart to race. There was no doubting it- Trunks was the man of her dreams. She didn't know why or even how she dreamt of him before even meeting him, but she did. It had to be a sign of fate, right?

"I was wanting to ask this the other day but I didn't get a chance to," Pan started. "What's it like living on Vegeta-Sei? If you came the day of the trade then you must be in the Royal Squadron, right?" Her eyes widened slightly as she gasped. "Then you must know the King, too, right? Wow! What-"

"That's a lot of questions," Trunks chuckled.

"Sorry," Pan felt her cheeks burning as she looked at the grass in front of her. She was curious about him but she needed to be careful to not scare him off.

A hand touched her cheek and she gasped as she turned to see Trunks moving a strand of her dark hair out of her face. He seemed just as surprised by his actions as she was and quickly dropped his hand and cleared his throat.

"To answer your questions, I can't really compare living on Vegeta-Sei to earth since I'm not from here but one of the major differences is that the gravity there is a little stronger. We also have two suns and our summers are hotter than this, though earth seems to be more humid. We don't have as many plants, either," he commented as he glanced around at the forest. "And yes, I am in the Royal Squadron and I am strong," he smirked at her. "As for the King, well, of course, I know him, he's my Appa after all."

Pan let out a surprised yelp. "Your Appa?! Then you're," she trailed off, her eyes growing impossibility bigger.

Trunks grinned in amusement. "I'm the Prince," he confirmed it.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" Pan gasped.

"What difference would it have made? Will you stop talking to me now that you know I'm the Saiyan Prince?" He asked.

"No," Pan shook her head as she felt her cheeks grow warm. She had liked him before she even knew he was the Prince. "It just took me by surprise is all," she told him. "So that necklace, does it mean you're the Prince?"

Trunks smiled and placed the necklace in the palm of his hand. "Yep. It's the Saiyan Crest made out rare rubies from the Dragons Den mines. Me having it means I'm the Prince and it's my birthright."

"Dragons Den?" Pan blinked. "Does Vegeta-Sei have dragons?" She whispered in awe.

Trunks chuckled and shook his head. "No, though there is a legend that says that Dragons used to roam Vegeta-Sei."

"Wow," she awed.

"Speaking of Dragons," Trunks began. "That book you were reading not too long ago about the Princess in the tower. Wasn't there a Dragon in that?"

"Ah!" Pan opened the bag that was sitting beside her before she pulled out the book. "I did promise I would finish reading it, didn't I? Would you like me to?"

"Well, I am curious about how it ends," he told her. "And you have a very nice voice when you read."

Pan felt herself growing warm. It was the second time he had complimented her voice and it made her feel giddy inside.

"Okay," she told him as she opened the book up from where she last left off and began to read.

Trunks opened his eyes in surprise and glanced around. He hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep but he had grown comfortable listening to Pan read. He glanced beside him and was surprised to see her gone, but she couldn't have left, all her belongs were still scattered under the tree.

"Did you finally wake up?"

Trunks' eyes darted to the stream where she stood with her ankles in the water. She was smiling at him brightly and he stood up as he walked over to her.

"How long was I asleep?" He questioned.

"A good hour," she told him.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep," he sighed.

"It's okay," she told him warmly. "You looked comfortable so I didn't bother you, but you missed the ending of the book."

"And how did it end, Princess?" He asked curiously.

"The Princess discovers that the dragon who everyone feared was actually gentle and protecting her from evil ones who were after her for her crown. The two of them escape and live happily together in another kingdom."

"Wait," Trunks blinked. "Are you telling me the Princess took off with a dragon?"

Pan looked at him and grinned mischievously. "A dragon that was actually a cursed Prince from a distant kingdom."

Trunks let out a snort and shook his head in amusement. "Do you like those kinds of stories, Panna?"

"I do," she told him softly. "I like reading about fantasy worlds. Do you not?"

"I'm not a fan of reading," he told her honestly. "But if you were the one reading the stories then I might listen."

"Listen or fall asleep?" She teased him.

Trunks rolled his eyes and couldn't help the twitch of his smirk. "I should probably be getting back to Vegeta-Sei," he told her.

"Will I see you again soon?" She asked softly.

"As soon as I can come back," he promised. "Goodbye, Panna."

"Goodbye, Prince Trunks," she told him.

Trunks arrived back in his room with a smile twitching across his face. Every time he left from meeting with Pan, he found himself excited and eager to go back again even more than he had been the last time. She was drawing him in and he found himself not caring.

Trunks left his room and headed towards the dining room. Even though it was still early on earth, Vegeta-Sei was a good hour ahead of them and so it was nearing dinner time. Loud, obnoxious laughter filled the hallways, and Trunks glanced over just in time to see Raditz and Endou. The father and son pair were in undoubtedly drunk and using the other for stability as they walked down the hallways.

"Did you two go to the pub again?" Trunks huffed at them. "Appa keeps telling you to stop."

Endou looked at him before he let out a loud snort. "Trunks?!"

"What? Are you so drunk that you can't even recognize me?" He rolled his eyes.

"Check your head, Prince," Radtiz snickered.

Trunks blinked in confusion before he lifted his hand to feel his head. There was something soft on it and quickly pulled it down. It was a flower crown made out of daisies from the earth.

"Panna," Trunks grumbled. She had totally gotten him and then just let him leave with it on as well!

"Panna?" Endou laughed. "Is that the name of the flowers?"

"No!" Trunks barked. "You two idiots go get sober!" He ordered before he stormed away.

Once Trunks was far enough away he glanced at his palms where the flowers still sat. A small smile crossed his face before he closed his hands. He was still hungry, but first, he was going to put these flowers somewhere no one else would see them. They were a gift from a Princess, after all.

"There is no greater power on this earth than story."
-Libba Bray