Chapter 4: "Getting To Know"

"Morning Trunks!" Dawn shouted as she ran down the stairs into the kitchen, where Trunks was sitting at the table.

"Morning Dawn! Toast?" the half-Saiyajin offered her.

"Two, please." She walked over to the fridge, took out the orange juice and filled her glass, while Trunks was now walking to the toaster, with two pieces of toast in his hand. After one week of living there, Trunks already felt like he was home. Everyone was so nice to him and tried to help him. And Dawn was much like a sister to him – a sister he never had.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked, when he handed her the toast two minutes later.

"Better than the last nights. Bye the way, where are Faith and Spike?"

"They are already at the Magic Box. We will also go there straight after breakfast. There will be someone you have to meet," he explained, carefully choosing his words. He had no idea how the teenager would react to find out that they – or rather Spike – had found the new Slayer, the one that was just called because of her sister's death.

"Really? Who?" She nipped at her glass.

He took a deep breath. Should he really tell her? Well, she would find out eventually, so why not now? Then she would still have some time to adjust to the thought and most likely wouldn't blow up in front of Pan. "Last night, while patrolling, Spike found the new Slayer." Dawn almost spit her orange juice over the table, when Trunks told her that. "Her name is Pan, but she has lost her memory. Giles talked to the Council, and they told him, that she's the one, but they didn't want to tell him anything about her, because they thought it would be better, if she finds out on herself."

"Wait a minute. Did you just say she lost her memory? Is she the girl, who escaped from the hospital?" Dawn was now getting curious about the girl, who should be the Slayer after her sister. Sure, she was a bit shocked by this revelation, but she knew that there would be one girl who would have the same calling like her sister had.

"As a matter of fact, she is." Trunks couldn't stop thinking about that girl he just met one night before. When he saw her, it felt like a déja-vu. Something about her felt familiar, but he couldn't say what.

"Cool. Is she strong?"

He looked at her. What? No throwing a tantrum, starting screaming or something like that? He smiled at the thought how well Dawn took the news and continued, "I don't know. I didn't see her fight, but Spike told us that she already killed three vampires when they met. And her ki-level is as high as Faith's." (AN: In my story, the ki level of a Saiyajin, when he isn't powered up, is as high as the ki of a Slayer.)

"Ki-what?" Dawn asked confused.

"Her ki-level. I'll explain that on the way. Have you finished?" Trunks wanted to know, when he saw the empty plate and glass in front of face. Dawn nodded. "Great, then let's get to the Magic Box. We don't want to let the others wait any longer."

~*~

"Hello everyone!" Dawn shouted, when she stormed into Giles' magic shop, followed by Trunks. "And? Where's she?" she asked exitedly.

"Hi Dawnster! She's in the training room, together with Faith. Faith wanted to test her out," Xander told her, immediately knowing, who Dawn was referring to. He also already had the pleasure to meet the probably newest member of the Scooby Gang and he really started to like her.

"And? How is she? I mean, is she nice?"

"I-I like her," Tara said.

"Yeah, me too. She has such a warm and carefree aura around her. She's really nice. But I can also feel that she already had gone through much pain," Willow told her.

"You think that was her reason for jumping from the roof?" Anya asked Willow.

"An!" Xander hissed.

"What? I mean, do you really think she just fell? Maybe she didn't want to live anymore. Maybe a boy hurt her and she couldn't deal with it. When it was a boy, I would like to be a vengeance demon again, so that I could show him not to hurt girls like her." The other Scoobies stared at her. "What? I like her!"

Dawn just shrugged and walked to the back of the shop. "Whatever! I will now go and say hi to her."

~*~

"Hey! You're really good," Faith complemented her, when they took a break and sat down on the mat, each holding a bottle of water in their hands.

"Thank you…" Pan blushed a bit, when the other Slayer said this.

"No, really! It almost seems as if you're fighting since you are able to walk. You must have had a really good teacher…" Faith looked at Pan and saw that her eyes somehow were sad and then she remembered that Pan has lost her memory. "Oh, sorry… I didn't think of it… I'm really…"

Pan looked up and smiled reassuring at Faith. "Don't worry. I can cope with it. I have the feeling that I've already experienced worse. But I must say, you're strong, too." At this moment, the door to the room was opened carefully and Dawn put her head through the door gap.

"Hey Dawn! Come in! We just took a break!" Faith said cheerfully.

"Hi Faith! And you are Pan I guess," Dawn said, when she extended her hand to the new Slayer.

"Hi Dawn. Yeah, I'm Pan. Nice to meet yo," Pan shook her hand and smiled a bit uncertainly. This was the sister of the previous Slayer after all and the others had already filled her in on the most important things that had happened in the last years.

"Nice to meet you, too!" Dawn smiled back, trying to make the other girl feel comfortable.

"Hey! Dawn! I have an idea! Why don't we show Pan Sunnydale today and we could also go to the mall, buying her a few new clothes. And tonight Pan and I go slaying," Faith suggested and Dawn nodded smiling.

"But, I- I don't have any mon…" Pan was sure that she didn't like shopping, even though she didn't remember it. Something inside of her told her that.

"No buts! Don't think about money, I'm sure Giles will borrow you something and you can pay it back sometime later," Dawn told her.

"Okay, I don't think I have a choice," Pan admitted and Dawn pulled her and Faith to the feet.

"And maybe we could talk Trunks into coming with us. I bet Pan will like that," Faith said, causing Pan to blush.

"Faith!"

"What? Do you really think I don't see how your eyes began to shine every time we're talking about him?" This comment made Pan blush even more. "You see. I knew there was something like love on the first sight. His eyes also began to shine last night, when Spike talked about you. But now let's go!"

With that, Faith left the training room, followed by the two other girls. "Hey Giles! Dawn and I want to show Pan around Sunnydale, if you don't mind and we want to do some shopping for her, that means we need your credit card."

"You can go showing Pan around, but you won't get my credit card," Giles answered matter-of-factly.

"Oh Giles," Dawn whined, "pleeeeaase."

"Okay, okay, but don't spend too much money," Giles told them, when he handed Faith his America Express.

"Thanks! Hey Trunks! You wanna come with us?"

"No, sorry. But I still have to talk to Giles," Trunks apologized.

"Okay… Dawn, Pan, are you coming? The mall is waiting!" Faith said, when she was almost out of the door.

"We're coming!" Dawn shouted back and grabbed Pan by her arm, trying to drag her outside.

"Giles, I promise, I will give you the money back," Pan told him grinning.

"No Pan, you don't have to do that," Giles said smiling reassuringly.

"Thank you very much."

"PAN!" the other two girls shouted from the outside.

"I'm coming!" she answered desperately and threw a helpless look at the Scooby Gang, but they just smiled with played pity. Pan then threw her arms in the air in a why-me?-way and left the shop, following the other two girls.

"Hey girls! Wait a minute!" Giles shouted. "It's better when you go to the hospital before, so that they won't search for Pan any longer."

~*~

"So Trunks," Giles turned back to the young Saiyajin, "you said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes, but can we please speak in private?"

"Sure, follow me," Giles said and led Trunks to the back of the shop. "So?"

"Well…" He scratched the back of his head, showing a bit of shyness. "I thought of this since I you offered me your help. I want to pay you back and I want to do this in another way than doing research. I want to train Faith, and now Pan. And maybe even Dawn."

Giles took of his glasses and started to clean them. "Mmh, I can understand that you want to train Faith and Pan. They're both stronger than me and I don't think that I can teach them more than theory. But why do you want to train Dawn? She's just a normal girl and way too young to go slaying…" he asked confused, putting his glasses back on his nose.

"That's where you wrong," Trunks interrupted him. "You must know, as I've been trained, one of the first things I was taught was reading the power level of my opponents, that means knowing how strong they are or how high their ki is. And I've noticed that Dawn's ki is higher than the one of normal humans. I know that she is just 'made', but she is made out of the Slayer's blood as far as I understand and with this blood cursing through her veins I know that I can make her stronger. As to the fact that she too young for slaying… Wasn't her sister her age, when she was called and had to kill vampires? Giles, Dawn is a part of this group and she is anything but helpless. Of course I have to ask her first, if she wants me to train her and I will just do it when she agrees.

"Well, I think you've got me here... Okay, I'll allow you to train Dawn. By the way, do you think you can teach Faith and Pan this power level thing?"

"Sure, that shouldn't pose to be a problem."

"Okay, I agree. And we ask Dawn about her training. And if she doesn't want it, you won't train her."

~*~

Quentin Travers sat at his desk, reading some old book, when someone knocked at the door. "Come in! The door is open!"

Inside stepped a bald Asian man, obviously a monk, dressed in red and yellow clothes, followed by the young Watcher Stevenson. "Oh, good morning Yasuo! I didn't expect you that early," Travers greeted the monk.

"Konnichi wa Mr. Travers." The monk bowed slightly. "Where is the young girl I shall teach?"

"She's over there. Please follow me." Quentin Travers led the monk to the door of the room next to his office and opened it. "She's still sleeping. Shall I wake her up for you?" he asked. The monk nodded and Travers turned to Stevenson. "Stevenson. Get her ready. The training will start today."

"Alright Mr. Travers," the young Watcher answered and walked over to the young girl in the bed.

"She's pretty strong," the monk told the elderly Watcher, when Travers closed the door behind himself.

"How can you tell already? You don't even know her well enough."

"I can feel her inner energy, her ki. It is pretty high for a girl of her age, and it increases by any minute. It will be an honor to teach her how to control this power. It won't take long and she will be the strongest Slayer who has ever lived."

'She already is my friend, she already is…' Mr. Travers thought, when the monk said that.

"Uncle Quentin! Uncle Quentin!" the small girl, her long blond hair bouncing up and down, while she was running towards to Watcher, and her hazel eyes twinkling, shouted.

"Hey little princess! Did you sleep well?" Travers asked smiling, almost compassionately.

The girl nodded. "Yes, but I dreamt about a girl called Dawn, what does that mean?"

"That was a prophetic dream. This girl, Dawn, is your worst enemy. Just in a few months you'll be strong enough to kill her easily. And this man will make you that strong. This is Mr. Yasuo. He will be your teacher," Mr. Travers informed her.

"Hello Mr. Yasuo, nice to meet you," the girl said smiling and the monk bowed in front of her, a motion that the girl mimicked.

"The pleasure is mine."

~*~

The two Slayers and Dawn were just walking out of the hospital and decided that they now wanted to go to the mall. Much to their surprise, Pan didn't have any problems with the doctors. At first they looked a bit confused, when the girl, who just escaped the night before, was now standing in front of them, telling them that she's alright and that she found a few people who wanted to help her. But the doctors insisted to examine her one last time before deciding to let her go and when they finally came to the surprising result that her wounds were completely healed, they let her go, a bit reluctantly, but she assured them that she would come back, if she had any problems.

~*~

Bra and Marron were at the mall, doing their big shopping, which they did once in a month. But they didn't have the fun they usually had, especially Bra, because there was one person missing.

"Hey Bra! Do you still eat that?" Goten asked, when he saw his girlfriend just picking in her food. The girls met the boys, that means Trunks and Goten, at the All-You-Can-Eat-Restaurant at the mall.

"Huh? No, you can have it," Bra answered absently, shoving her plate over the table to him.

"Hey hon, what's up with you?" Goten was now worried. A Saiyajin never gives his food away.

"I don't know. I just don't have the fun today I should have. I want Pan to be here, forcing her to try the dress I chose for her last week, one day before she disappeared."

"I thought you were the one who told us that Pan is strong enough to take care of herself," Trunks snapped at her.

"I know! But I miss her and it isn't the same without her here," Bra snapped back and a tear ran down her cheek.

"Sorry Bra," Trunks apologized, running with his hand through his hair. "It's just that I also miss her that much and I would never forgive myself if something happens to her and she won't be able to come home." This information that he should be the one, who had caused all of this, was still weighing heavy on his shoulders. He wasn't even sure what he would do, if they didn't find a way to bring Pan back. But he was sure that his life would never be the same then – he would never again be able to look into Gohan's eyes again.

~*~

Pan was really glad that she could sit down on a bench in the mall. Faith and Dawn had already dragged her from one shop to another for the last two hours and in this time she really remembered that she never liked shopping – a really important memory, as she though ironically. Of all the things that she could remember, it was that she hated shopping. But the best thing was that she not just had to try on dresses or clothes for parties, she also had to try on comfortable and practical clothes for slaying – if it were otherwise she was sure that she would have jumped a second time off that roof.

Just when she began to relax a bit, she already heard her two 'kidnappers' coming to her. "So Pan, what do you think of a short lunch break?"

When Faith said the word lunch, Pan snapped back into reality. "Lunch? Sounds really good!" she said smiling. "Let's go. Where's the food court?"

"It's over there," Dawn told her.

"Okay, come on! I'm starving to death!" Pan whined, when her stomach grumbled.

Not even five minutes later the three girls were seated in the food court, Pan and Faith got each two burgers and French Fries, while Dawn just had one burger. "Wow, shopping makes almost as hungry as slaying, I tell you!" Faith said, between taking bites of her burger, "But that's also an advantage of being the Slayer. You can eat as much as you want and you won't get fat."

"Really? Cool!" Pan said and took a huge bite from her burger. At least she was now filling one small hole in her stomach. Of course she could eat more, but she was paying the food with Giles' credit card and she didn't want to spend much more money on his costs without being able to pay him back.

The three girls really had fun this afternoon, and Faith really enjoyed it, too. Never did she have so much fun when she wasn't slaying. She was really glad that first Angel, then the Council and now the Scoobies gave her a second chance, and she intended to use it. But Faith was also glad that Dawn had fun. That was the first time since Buffy's death that she was that carefree and was smiling almost constantly. And both her and Pan were relieved that Dawn seemed to like the new girl. Pan had truly been afraid that Dawn wouldn't like, accept or maybe even worse, really hated her, because she was the Slayer after Buffy.

The sun was already setting, when they finally got out of the mall. While they were walking Dawn home, Faith and Dawn showed Pan Sunnydale, well the part of Sunnydale that was lying on their way. When they arrived at 1630 Revello drive, Dawn insisted that the two Slayers came inside till the sun had completely set.

At the same moment as Pan and Faith wanted to leave again, Trunks and Spike came home.

"Oh, our three favorite girls are already at home. So, how was shopping?" Spike asked, when they entered the house.

"Great!" Faith answered. "Even though it seems as if Pan doesn't like shopping, but we bought her many many clothes."

Spike raised playfully and eyebrow at the new girl. "A girl who doesn't like shopping? Does that exist?"

"Yes it does," Pan answered, scowling at the vampire, with her arms crossed over her chest. "But the food was great," she added grinning.

At that comment, Trunks began to chuckle involuntary and everyone stared at him. "Sorry, but you just looked exactly like my father and a friend of mine and if I didn't know better, I would say you are either related to one of them or you spent too much time around them."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you," Dawn suddenly said, "but now that you are all here, I want to ask you something." Dawn took a deep breath, when they looked at her. She had thought about this the whole day since she met Pan and thought that this was the right decision. "Pan, I know I just know you for not even 10 hours, but I want to ask you to move in with us."

"What? But I thought there weren't any free rooms here," Pan asked confused.

"No, there's still one room free in this house. Buffy's."

"What? No! I won't move in the room of your sister, I just can't do that," Pan told her.

"Nibblet, why?" Spike wanted to know.

"See, Giles isn't used to a permanent guest – at least not when he isn't chained up in the bathtub or tied to a chair…"

At Pan's really confused face, Spike just said, "Don't ask."

"Well, whatever and I'm also sure that Pan doesn't even want to be his permanent guest. And I think that it would have been Buffy's wish that her successor, if I like her, would move into her room if necessary. And I like you Pan. Even though I just met you today, you became like a sister to me, like Faith or Trunks and Spike, okay, they are like brothers to me, and I do also say that you might need something what's like a family, but to get to the point - do you want to move in with us?" Dawn looked directly into Pan's eyes, almost pleading her to say yes.

"Dawn, I don't know what to say…" Pan was totally unsure of what to do. Sure, this was really a big offer and exactly what she needed. Dawn was right, she didn't want to bother Giles longer than necessary, but could she move into the room that had belonged to a girl, who had just died one week ago?

"Say yes…"

Pan sighed, reluctantly deciding to give in to the teenager, who was right now looking at her with puppy dog eyes. She truly seemed to mean what she said. "Okay, if this is really no problem with you or the others, I think I have no other choice. I'm glad that you already see me as family. That's exactly what I need. Are you okay with it?" she asked the others and they nodded. "Okay, yes."

"I knew you would do it! Thank you!" Dawn squealed and hugged the new Slayer.

"No, I must thank you," the quarter Saiyajin hugged her back.

~*~

Later at patrol, Faith and Pan were hiding behind a few bushes on the graveyard, watching a couple of vampires, obviously waiting for a new vampire to come out of his grave.

"Do you hear what they are talking about?" Pan asked Faith.

"No, they're too far away and besides they are whispering. What do you think, should we attack them now? They are just two, easy to handle."

"Let me do this," Pan said and hid her stake under her denim jacket. "I want to have some fun before." The girl carefully stood up and walked towards the vampires. Faith remained silently behind the bushes, wondering what her fellow-Slayer was up to, but ready to help her, if she got into trouble.

"Excuse me, please," the black-haired girl said innocently, when she was near the vampires.

Startled they turned around, facing the girl. "What do you want?" one of them asked her.

"Uhm, I'm new in this city and I think I got kinda lost. Can you maybe help me?" She was now standing directly in front of the larger vampire, who looked at his friend after she posed that question. The other nodded at him smirking and both turned their attention back to Pan.

"Sure, where do you want to go?" the larger one asked her, licking his lip.

"I've heard there should be a club nearby. Would be nice if you can tell me where I find it," she told him winking.

"I think we could even bring you there," the smaller vampire now said.

"Oh, if you don't mind. But it looked like you were waiting for someone," Pan said, looking around.

"No, we were just taking a walk," the large vampire lied and put his arm around her shoulder. 'She's cute and she smells good. Why not making her to one of us? She might be a good lay.'

'Now I understand what she wants to do,' Faith thought, when Pan walked away with the two vampires. She wanted them to leave the grave, so that Faith could take care of the fledgling. 'Somehow boring for me, but she'll have her fun.' She didn't even need to wait long. Just a few minutes after Pan left, the new vampire arose from his grave, but Faith already awaited him and staked him, before he could even stand up straight. 'Okay, and now I'll see how Pan is doing.'

"How long do we have to walk until we get there?" Pan whined. 'Wow, I never thought that I'm such a good actress.' She smirked inwardly.

"Not long, my love, not long. But we will have an eternity," the large vampire said.

"Huh? Eternity? How do you mean that?" she asked, playing clueless.

"Look, we're here." He suddenly stopped, when they were standing in front of a crypt.

"But that's not the club," Pan stated.

"No, but do you want to see this crypt from the inside. I've heard that there are a few cool skeletons."

"No, but thank you. I don't want to go there."

"What? Are you scared?" the small one now wanted to know.

"Me? And scared? Never!" Pan said, playing upset and walked into the crypt. The two vampires looked at each other and followed her. When they were inside, the large vampire closed the door.

"Wow! Cool! I've never seen a crypt from the inside before!" Pan shouted excitedly as she looked around.

"Yeah? I'm sure you've never seen something like that before," the large vampire said and both morphed into their game faces.

"What do you… AHHH!" Pan played being shocked by the vamps and tried to run away, but stumbled over a stone.

"You first," the large vamp told the other, "but leave some blood for me."

"Sure," he said and walked towards Pan. He grabbed her by her throat and pushed her against a wall, leaning now with one hand against it, while stroking her neck with the other. "Don't worry darling. At first it will hurt a bit, but later it will feel good."

At the moment the vampire wanted to bite her, Pan pulled out her stake unnoticed by the vamp and tossed it at his heart, dusting him. "Really, did your mommies never tell you to be careful with pointy things?" Pan scolded the other vamp smirking.

"Who-who are you?" the remaining vampire asked, totally stunned by the dusting of his friend.

"I'm Pan…" She ran forward and threw a roundhouse-kick at him, which threw him at another wall. "The Vampire Slayer."

"The …?" He didn't have any time to answer, because Pan already dusted him.

"You were boring, do you know that? But at least I could introduce myself to the undead," Pan said shrugging to no one in particular and left the crypt. On the outside she met Faith.

"Hey, did you kill them?" Faith asked curiously.

"Yeah, but they were too easy. I thought I would have a bit of a challenge," Pan told her somewhat disappointed.

"Oh come on. Days like that exist. But you may now say what we should do next."

"Eating. I'm starving."