Disclaimer: I don't own it, it's not mine, ee - i - ee - i - o

Ages: Pan - 17
Trunks - 19

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"And that's what's wrong with her." Bulma finally finished, completely exhausted with her tale. She looked around her, trying to catch a glimpse of what everyone was feeling.

Vegeta was leaning against the wall, his characteristically apathetic face plastered on, but she noticed he was a bit paler than usual. Trunks' knuckles were white from gripping Pan's hand, his eyes wide with horror. Pan was quietly accepting, probably in denial.

Gohan looked ready to kill, and Chi Chi had fainted half way through the lecture. Goten was trying to revive his mother while Bra sobbed quietly.

"So there's nothing we can do then?" Pan asked, glancing around the room.

Shaking her head sadly, Bulma need not have answered, but she did anyway. "Nothing Pan. I'm sorry. Odds are you have another few years left in you, but they'll be painful as your body slowly begins to rebel and then shut down. I'm going to open up a whole ward of the on site hospital for this. Dr. Masaki said we should expect more patients soon."

"That's it then?" Pan reiterated, still not quite believing her ears. Bulma only nodded.

The young, black haired girl stood, hands shaking. "Thank you Bulma-chan for being honest with me." She turned and left the room at a run, heading to Kami - knows - where, Trunks in close pursuit.

************

"Pan?" Trunks whispered, coming up behind the hunched figure. "Are you ok?"

The figure turned to meet his eyes, her black hair sticking to her wet cheeks. Trunks sharp intake of breath made a hissing noise. How could he not have realized how pale she was getting, or how thin? He kneeled in front of her and reached out a hand to brush aside her hair and wipe away her tears.

"Pan-chan?" He asked again tenderly. The reaction he received surprised him as the small girl flung herself into his arms and began to cry, sobs wracking her body.

"Trunks, I don't want to die! I mean, I'm a…" she paused to half-sob, half-hiccough, then continued "a fighter! I should die in battle! Like Grandpa with Cell or Vegeta-sama with Frieza. Not waste away slowly for years because I let some bacteria or something get to me." Her pain-filled sobs were more bitter now, as if she cursed whatever god had given her this fate.
"Ssh, Panny, it will be alright. I'll…well I'll be there for you every step of the way you know that. Everyone else too, even Vegeta is concerned. We'll make it better for you. And you still have time, years probably, so for a long time life can continue as it has now. Maybe when the end comes it will be quick. So you'll have a few years in relatively good health…" Trunks paused in his efforts to comfort, unsure of whether he was helping at all. He had had to choke back several lumps in his throat already, and he could just imagine how Pan must feel.

"Pan, we…I'll be there, and it will be ok. I promise you."

The pair sat there for a while, Trunks rocking Pan back and forth slowly while she cried, each scared to death, but too afraid to say it.

********

Several hours later, a tall, extremely hunky purple-haired man made his way through the kitchen door of Capsule Corps, balancing a petite woman in one arm and opening the door with the other. He quietly closed it with his hip, and levitated off the ground, making his way up the stairs, still cradling his dark haired beauty.

As silent as he was trying to be, half-way to his own quarters he heard footsteps and sighed in resignation, turning to meet his father. "Yes 'tousan?" he whispered, fearful of waking Pan.

"She ok?" the man asked with a nod in the direction of Trunks' cherished burden.

"In time…I think she will be" the younger man responded with a sigh. He hadn't added the words "I hope," despite how unsure he was. Vegeta just snorted. "She'll learn. She's strong, the strongest of all you hybrids" he noted with uncharacteristic pride. "Don't worry." With that he turned and left, leaving a rather bewildered Trunks and a very unconscious Pan.

********

Late the next morning, Trunks woke up with an odd ache in his head and feeling particularly cramped. Opening his eyes to discover why he had such little room in his bed (since we all know where the headache came from), he almost fell off in surprise at what he found. There, beside him, and tucked under his arm, was a sleeping Pan-chan. Her dark hair was draped across her bare shoulder (as she still wore the tank top from the previous day), one hand was holding his tightly, and her brows were furrowed in concentration.

Ignoring just how wrong he would have previously found this situation, he snuggled back up to her, after all, with what had happened yesterday he doubted anyone would be overly concerned. He unconsciously caressed her stomach with his thumb…unconsciously that is, until he felt her muscles relax under him and heard her sigh.

A smile tugged at Trunk's lips, despite all the troubling thoughts that were now flooding back to him from the previous night's revelations. He didn't know what they, meaning all the Z-gang, were going to do about this, but he did know that he wasn't leaving her side, not for anything
And that he was going to have to sleep with her more often.

**********

Weeks passed by and much remained the same. Eventually, Bulma convinced everyone to move onto the Capsule Corps compound. She worked around the clock to get the new hospital wing ready, and a patient waiting list was already forming, with Pan's name at the head.

After much yelling and many tears, Pan and Trunks were allowed to share a bedroom. Gohan warned however that if he felt any strange ki-piques he would kill Trunks. The new couple grumpily assented, happy to take what they could.

Vegeta returned to training Pan, convinced that the stronger she was, the longer she would last. Both Gohan and Trunks were opposed to this, but together Pan and Vegeta fought them off.

Pan…that poor girl was taking the total and complete brunt of all of this, and didn't know who to turn to. Trunks understood and listened but, she didn't want to strain him more than necessary. She was afraid for her life, and that was a difficult sort of pain to want to share with anyone. It seemed however that Vegeta was right. She was strong. Quite strong. Already she had become resigned to her fate and was determined not to let it slow her down until she was literally incapacitated. She was, after all, Saiyan. Death was bound to visit her earlier than usual. Besides, maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't hurt. That's what she feared the most.

**********


::No, no, please…not yet!:: Pan whimpered in her sleep, tossing the blankets and flipping on to her back. ::I can't, it isn't time yet!:: she tossed again, this time landing a heel in the shin of her companion, who had, until recently, been sleeping peacefully.

"Oof, hey Pan what are you doing?" Trunks asked, squinting his eyes against the sunrise beginning to peek through the room.

Pan whimpered again and faced Trunks, who realized that she was sleeping because her eyes were closed and her forehead drenched with sweat. He quickly shook her shoulders, hoping to wake her up, and was greeted by a very surprised gaze.

"Trunks? Oh, did I wake you? I'm sorry, I had another nightmare." Trunks frowned. These nightmares were becoming more and more frequent and, not only were they causing both him and Pan-chan to lose sleep, but they were clearly plaguing her throughout the day. Small dark circles were beginning to show their prominence under Pan's features, her skin was even paler than usual, and her normally shiny black hair hung limp.

"Same one?" he asked gruffly, drawing the petite figure closer to him. Pan tucked her head under Trunks' chin and nodded. "Basically. A tall black figure came at me, closing his hand around my throat. Obviously Death…" she broke off, pausing after the word that she now spoke with disdain "…but this time, a white, shining figure was beside him. It held a finger to its mouth to shush me, as if I should be accepting, but I wasn't going to have any of that…then you woke me up."

She snuggled closer to Trunks' well-defined chest, making circles with her finger on his back. He shivered slightly and pulled her even closer, kissing her forehead. "Don't do that Panny, you know I'm ticklish there!" he whispered, lightly nuzzling her ear. She stopped imeadiately, afraid of what would happen if she tickled him again. "Hmph, you're no fun! As soon as someone tickles you, you go into a fit of laughter, turn Super Saiyan, and break the bed!" she scolded lightly, hitting his shoulder for emphasis after each point.

"Well, don't tickle me then" Trunks scolded back "after all, you remember what also happened didn't you?" Pan smirked at the question, then blushed when she remembered exactly what her father had accused Trunks of doing when his ki spiked.

Not that Pan and Trunks were living a completely celibate life. Afterall, they did share a bedroom. Neither of them managed to keep their hands to themselves for long but…they weren't having sex yet. Both of them were too afraid of Gohan's reaction, so they made do with what they could and were none the worse for the wear.

This line of thinking was beginning to encourage Pan and she grinned wickedly as she moved her hand lower to where Trunks' tail should have been. Her plan was foiled by Trunks rolling on top of her and pinning down her hands. "Sorry Pan-chan, you know I'm never one to stop you but you haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in two weeks, and I'm not going to be the reason that dad kicks your ass in the GR tomorrow morning." So saying he nipped her nose affectionately and rolled back over, spooning the now flustered Pan. She 'hmphed' and crossed her arms, but eventually melted into Trunks' embrace.

"Trunks…what if I…" Pan began, tensing up, but her bedmate interrupted her sentence with a kiss on her shoulder. "Shh, 'Tousan taught me a bit of telepathy. I can guard your dreams for you." The quarter saiyan relaxed again and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

*******

After a few more weeks, life at Capsule Corp began to slow to a routine. Pan trained with Vegeta every morning, worked with Bulma in the hospital every afternoon, spent her evenings with her parents, and finally, her nights with Trunks.

Pan enjoyed every minute of this day. Vegeta did an excellent job of keeping her mind off of her problems, and working with Bulma led her to realize how lucky she was to be Saiyan and therefore able to fight off the illness so well. Being with her parents was nice, because a lot of the stress in their relationship was disappearing, and nights with Trunks were always like short, wonderful days of their own. There was hardly a person she would rather be with, and Trunks made sure that it stayed that way.

Everything was going great, considering the horrible shadow they all had to live under. That is, until one morning when Pan showed up at the GR suited up in a sports bra and shorts, towel slung over her shoulder. The scene looked normal enough, but what was lacking was Vegeta. The prince jumped down behind Pan, startling her.

"Vegeta-sensei" Pan began, immeadiately falling into the tone she always used when Vegeta trained her "why aren't you in the Gravity Room."

"Well girl, I have decided that training is not having the effect we would like. Instead, we're going to try meditation." Pan gaped at her teacher, mouth open in surprise at his response.

"Training? Not working? But you think training is a remedy for everything!" She exclaimed, glaring at Vegeta in disbelief.

He snorted in response and shook his head. "Not for this…" "But Vegeta…" Pan began to interrupt him, but he turned the tables. "Listen girl, you're getting worse alright? I can feel the difference in your ki. It's not enough for anyone else to notice yet, but the disease is progressing quicker than my Woman had originally believed. So now we try meditation in the hopes that by centering your ki, you can conserve it."

Vegeta's explanation was wasted however, for as soon as Pan heard the words "you're getting worse" she had slumped to the ground in shock. "I'm dying. It's started" she whispered to herself, as Vegeta's black eyes gazed down at her.

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AN: Yay, a cliffie! Alright people, this chapter is a bit longer, so I hope you appreciate it ^_~
Only two more chapters to go, so you better R&R if you want to see them at all!

Ja ne!
Kawaii Me '.'