Alone

Chapter one: The Beginning

It was a usual day at Capsule Corp., the sun was shinning, the birds were chirping and Bulma was hitting Vegeta over the head with a frying pan.

"Damn woman, would you stop that?" Vegeta spat out.

* Whack *

"Not till you say you're sorry." Bulma smirked.

"Humph." Vegeta crossed his arms and started to walk away. Pan, Trunks, and Goten were getting a kick out of this while eating their saiyan-jin sized breakfast. Pan had spent the day with Bura, who decided she wanted to sleep all day.

"Do your parents ever stop fighting?" Pan asked still watching Bulma and Vegeta. Bulma had a hold of Vegeta's right arm hitting him over the head with the pan while he was walking away.

"I dunno, maybe." Trunks said with his mouth filled with pancakes.

"I wish I could block it out as easily as you." Pan said under her breath.

Goten turned his head to look at his niece. "Oh, what do you mean?"

"Mom and dad just fight a lot lately. That's all." Pan stated trying not to let the guys know that it bothers her………a lot.

Pan turned her head to see that Bulma was now on Vegeta's back, still hitting him upside his head. Vegeta turned and walked back into the kitchen to raid the fridge.

"Don't act like I'm not on your back!" Bulma yelled before hitting him again. Vegeta smiled, or at least it looked like a smile before looking at Trunks.

"Boy, get into the gravity room." He said emotionless.

"No! You're not going to spar with me on your back hitting you with a frying pan." Bulma yelled before hitting her husband again.

"With or without you, it doesn't really matter to me." Vegeta smirked.

"Fine you win." Bulma said defeated as she jumped off his back and set the pan down.

"Sure I do, I always do." Vegeta smirked once more.

"What!" Bulma screamed. She was about to grab the pan again but Vegeta intercepted her. He grabbed his wife and threw her over his shoulder and flew upstairs.

"I did not just see that. I did not just see that. I did NOT just see that!" Trunks repeated over and over again as he banged his head into the table.

Five minutes later, Bura came running down stairs in her nighties, consisting of a tank top and a pair of barely there underwear which both had little blue stars on them. Trunks shoved Goten's head down into his pate of food so that he wouldn't look at his sister.

"What the hell Bura! Goten's here!" Trunks yelled.

"What? It's not like he's never seen a woman before! Plus it's not all the different from a swimsuit." Bura yelled back.

"Ah, Trunks, I think you're drowning my uncle in the syrup." Pan stated while looking at Goten waving his arms wildly.

"Oops." Trunks said sheepishly as he let go of Goten's head. "Sorry."

"Nice nighties." Goten commented as he wiped the syrup off his face.

"Oh thanks, Pan has a pair too, only they have miniature black star dragon balls on them." Bura said evilly.

"So, why are you still in your nighties?" Pan asked as she put her plate in the sink.

"Mom and dad are on one of those sex-a-thons again. I couldn't stand it in my room any longer." Bura said shuddering. Trunks shuddered as if on cue.

"Okay…." Goten said oddly.

"For Dende's sake!" Trunks cried out as the whole house began to shake. "Can't they go a day with out?!"

"So, what do you want to do today?" Goten asked Trunks.

"Well, we have to be back by seven due to Pan's birthday party." Trunks replied, "Everyone is going to be here and I mean everyone. I think Goku got the clear to visit today, seeing how Pan is finally 18 today."

'Oh no.' Pan thought to her self. 'This can't happen, I know for a fact that mom and dad are just going to be fighting all night.'

"Pan, you there?" Trunks asked waving his hand in front of her face.

"What? Huh? Oh." Pan said dazily before slipping outta her train of thought.

"You going to come with us or staying with Bura?" He asked.

"Neither, I need to clear my head." Pan said still a little gone, "Maybe I'll just go on a flight or something or the other." She said as she left the room.

Pan flew around Satan City for what seemed like forever, thinking about her family. 'Wait, what family? All they ever do is fight. They're fighting when I wake up, when I come home, at dinner and before I go to bed. I don't think I can remember the last time when they weren't fighting. They're always bringing me into it, saying that I'm still a minor and they can't afford to get a divorce because of child support issues. Damn it. I hate this, sometimes I feel like I just want to die because of it, it feels like I already did.' Pan's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a semi blow it's horn. She open her eyes and realized that she had been flying a few feet off the ground of the free way, she quickly dodged the semi and flew back up into the safety of the air. She flew till she couldn't fly any more, so she took a seat in the valley by a neighboring mountain continuing her thoughts.

She closed her eyes and fell a sleep only to dream a dream, but wasn't a dream at all, it was an actual fight that her parents had had not too long ago, maybe a week or two earlier.

(Begin Pan dream sequence)

Pan was sitting on her bed trying to black out the sounds of her parents, but proved to be hopeless. Her parents screaming was so loud that not even a pillow would work any more. 'Had things really gotten this bad?' she thought to her self.

"Fine! Leave! Leave like you always do!" Videl screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Hey! I wouldn't be leaving if it weren't for you screwing every guy in town every time I go to train!" Gohan yelled viciously.

"I said I'm sorry! What else do you want me to say?" Videl screamed back hopelessly.

"Sorry can't reverse the fact that we're dying! Does it?" Gohan yelled back fuming, Videl didn't respond. "That sounds just great doesn't it dear?" he yelled sarcastically. "Warrior dies from HIV, wife and husband dead, mother and father DEAD!" he yelled even louder. Pan tried to block out the sounds but failed, hearing every single word crystal clear.

"So what do we do now? Huh?" Videl asked, "We get a divorce? Die alone?"

"I can't afford to get a divorce. Pan isn't eighteen yet. I can't afford child support!" Gohan yelled.

"Is this what it's all about child support?!" Videl asked furious. "Maybe I should've just gotten the abortion 17 years ago, then we both wouldn't be in this mess!"

"If I could reverse time I would!" Gohan yelled. Both of Pan's parents forgot that Pan was in the house, or maybe they didn't care. The last thing Pan heard before forcing herself to fall asleep was the sound of a vase breaking against the wall.

(End dream sequence)