Chapter 3:

It was about midnight when Pan heard her door slowly creep open. She sat up straight and looked towards the door, trying to identify the intruder. It was definitely a masculine shape, but very unfamiliar. The intruder crouched down and creped towards her bed going slowly. Then he sat up on one knee and rolled his left trouser leg up and slipped something out soundlessly. It glittered in the moonlight from the half covered window. She recognized it as a five inch bladed knife.

Pan started to sweat. I can stop this if he throws it…but I can barely see. She looked to where his face was supposed to be and saw to red glittering pin-points of light. Oh my God!!! This isn't Reiko…he's not a killer…eep…he is. But that was when he was controlled…right…

She slumped down and was half way to her mattress when the intruder whispered, "Shhh…don't…move…" It was defiantly Reiko.

Oh Kami…Reiko's coming to me in the middle of the night with a knife…. she tried to scream but her throat had frozen in fright.

Then he lunged at her, flinging the knife, he landed on her bed right beside her, the knife floating right in front of the wall just inches beside her face. Pan's eyes were wide with fear. Reiko pushed her off of the bed and a lizard-like creature fell from the wall on to her bed, the knife in it's back. Another of the lizard creatures leapt from the ceiling onto Reiko's back. He reached for the knife but it had fallen out of reach. He rolled over onto his back and crushed the animal with his weight. Then he sat up suddenly and reached behind and grabbed the thing off his back and dug his thumb into the throat. He groped for his knife and when he found it wrenched it from the animals back and stuck it between the other's eyes. Pan wanted to hurl but was to engrossed in the surprisingly non-gory scene to look away.

The one that fell off the wall disappeared and was soon followed by the one with the knife in between the eyes. Reiko sighed and slipped the knife back into it's sheath.

Reiko reached over, grabbed Pan's hand, and pulled her up from the tangle of sheet and pillows on the floor, where Reiko had pushed her. She stood up and gazed into his eyes, searching for an answer, or some expression, and slipped on a bed sheet and took Reiko down with her. He landed on top of her, palms to the floor just inches from her face. Pan had her eyes squeezed shut and her body was a tense as a board, braced for a heavy impact. They heard footsteps in the hall and Gohan and Videl burst into the room, seeing them on the floor with a tangle of sheet around them. Pan and Reiko hadn't recovered from the fall and Gohan and Videl hadn't recovered from seeing their daughter on the floor with a strange guy. There was a heavy silence for many seconds, ticking away to a minute.

"What are you two doing?!" Gohan broke the silence.

Reiko quickly got off of Pan and stood…looking at the ground, blue hair falling in thick spikes along his face. Pan sat up and crossed her arms.

"What do you think we were doing?!" she paused, enjoying the look on her parents faces and Reiko blushed secretly to himself. "He came in here and saved my life. There were two little….." Pan trailed off and Reiko picked up.

"There were two Shadow-Wraiths in her room."

"And what, pray tell, is a 'Shadow-Wraith'?" Videl asked, voice rising.

"It's a genetically-engineered lizard-like creature that lives and moves only in shadow. You can't see it till you injure it or kill it and once they're dead…they disappear." Reiko sighed, knowing they weren't going to believe this.

"Come here Pan." Gohan said. Pan got up, and crossed her arms and walked over to him. He put his hand on her forehead, using a trick his father had taught him, how to read minds and 're-live' the past.

"They're telling the truth." Gohan said. Videl heaved a sigh of relief. "How did you know these 'Wraiths' were here, if you can't see them?"

"They have a distinct, subtle smell, like rotten flesh, and I can see in the shadows. It's part of the demon blood, cause it's where they live." Pan gave him a puzzled look but Reiko didn't meet it, he was greatly fascinated with his feet at the moment.

"Pan you and Reiko need to get back to bed." Gohan said sternly. He stepped aside as Reiko slipped through the door. "Pan…you need to put a shirt on when you sleep, and some shorts."

Pan looked down as herself and blushed deep crimson, she was in her skivvies. She ran to her closet and she felt her dads eyes on her back, silently thinking to himself That girl is gonna be in trouble with the law someday.

"Good night Pan." Videl said and turned around to go back to her bed. Gohan whispered the same and left Pan alone. She pulled on her shorts and shirt and climbed into bed, and sighed. This is going to be a long night. She thought and tried to go back to sleep, casting wary glances to the side of her room.

"Good morning Pan. Did you sleep well?" Videl asked once Pan entered the kitchen. Her mom was standing over the stove cooking a large breakfast.

"Fine." She said quickly, taking a seat, eyeing Goku who sat eagerly awaiting breakfast at the table. "What's cookin'?"

"Nothing fancy, just bacon and eggs, pancakes and saus…" Videl started, but stopped when she saw Goku drooling all over the table, "GOKU! what are you doing?!"

"……*drooooooool*…"

Pan kicked Goku from under the table.

"…Sumimasen, Videl…just listening to someone talking about food along with the smell makes me drool. Hehe."

Pan rolled her eyes. "Where's Reiko?" she asked, remembering what she came in here for.

"He's on the roof, I think…why?" Goku answered.

"He wasn't in his room and he's not in here." Pan said and got up. She ran from the room to the front yard.

"Hey, whatcha doin out here?" Pan asked softly, so as not to startle Reiko as she flew up to the roof.

He didn't reply.

"Reiko…?"

"They're coming again." Reiko muttered, but his eyes looked vacant.

Pan walked over to him an sat beside him, following his gaze. He was staring towards the sun. She tentatively waved a hand in front of his eyes. "Hello?" she asked.

"Hm?" he asked, starting out of his trance.

"I said, 'What are you doing up here?' and what did you mean by 'They're coming?'"

"I'm just watching the star-rise. Where I was born, the nearest star is too far away to watch it like this." Reiko said with a hint of nervousness in his voice, probably remembering last night.

Pan stared at him. Reiko stared back for a second, then looked away.

"What about the other question?" Pan reminded him.

"I was 'seeing.'" Reiko said. Pan stared at him questioningly. "It's where I extend my Ki out into space. I go into a trance and 'read' the signals that come back. It's a very old trick my grandpa taught me. But you don't wanna hear about that."

"I do wanna know." Pan said. Then she heard her father call.

"Get down here, you two! Breakfast is ready!"

"Hurry up!!!" Goku echoed from the kitchen.

"Are you gonna eat with us?" Pan asked.

"I don't know…you go ahead." Reiko said. Pan looked one last time at him and flew off the roof.