A/N: I can just say it again: OH MY GOD!!! Alone 26 reviews for the last chapter! This is just… incredible! I'm speechless, really… I really would've never thought that this story could be that successful… When I think of that I first didn't want to write it, because first wanted to finish "The Treasure of Power"… I'm so glad that I decided against it and started to write… THANK YOU GUYS!!! YOU REALLY MAKE ME HAPPY!!!
@ clt: Thank you for your 100th review of "The Lost Warrior - The Next Generation"! 100 looks way better than 99, or what do you think? J
@ blue angel: You're right. I used that letter as example for the letter Pan got, because I so had no idea how to write a letter like this! *lol*
Oh, and before I forget: HAPPY EASTER! (do you say that so?)
Chapter 7: The party
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Pan had been home for a few hours again, had finally satisfied her stomach, done the dishes and after taking a long and relaxing shower she stood now in front of a mirror in her bedroom. How could that happen? After what Goten had said and the realization had hit her that she was falling again for Trunks, she had decided to wear something casual, something not-revealing. But it really seemed like her subconscious was playing tricks on her and she found herself wearing almost the same clothes she already wore when she first arrived back in Satan City. The high-heeled black leather boots, the short black leather skirt with the silver belt and a low cut black top that also showed much of her flat stomach, including her navel piercing. Her long black hair was hanging loosely down her back.
Those were not her less-revealing clothes, but her most-revealing ones. Clothes that would make every man, or in her case a special Saiyajin, weak. Pan had no idea what was wrong with her, but fighting back those (almost) primal urges was getting more difficult than she thought. Whatever was doing this to her, whatever let her feel this way, it was stronger than everything she had experienced before. That must have something to do with her Saiyajinblood. She didn't understand that and she hated it, because that made it harder for her to control it. But she had to!
Pan just wanted to open her closet again to change into other clothes, when her doorbell rang. No! Startled she looked at her new alarm clock. Damn it! Too late! she thought. It was already seven and it was Trunks standing in front of her door, wanting to pick her up. Sighing, she forced a smile and went to the door to open it.
The only thing Trunks managed to say, when the door in front of him opened was, "Wow." He could just stare at her. She was breathtaking. Her clothes fitted her like a second skin and he had to fight the primal urge to take her then and there. He still had no idea what he meant to her and he had to be careful to not make a wrong move.
"Hey Trunks," she greeted him, trying to ignore his reaction on her. But it was harder than she wanted it to be. Her legs felt like jelly again and the only thing she wanted was to get lost in him. No, Pan! Stay cool! she told herself and quickly snapped out of it. "Please, come inside. I'll be ready in a minute," she said casually and led him to her living room.
"So, this is where you're living?" Trunks asked, when he waited for her, after she had disappeared in her bedroom to get her things.
"Yep, this is my home," she told him. As she came out of her bedroom just a minute later, she found Trunks standing on her balcony. She also went outside and stood now next to him. "See? Room with a view."
"Beautiful…" he said, smiling down at her.
Pan didn't know how to react. She didn't know if he was talking about the view or about her. "I think we should go now. I don't want to let Bra waiting."
"Okay…"
They went back inside and then left the apartment. Suddenly, when they stood in front of the elevator, a huge grin passed over Pan's face. It was working again. Okay Dende, she thought, if the rest of the evening goes smooth, I might consider not killing you.
"What are you smiling at?" Trunks wanted to know, when he saw her happy face.
"Nothing special. I'm just happy that this damn thing is working again. You must know, this afternoon, as I went shopping, the elevator was broken and I had to go all stairs down and then up again."
"All twenty floors?" Trunks asked confused. "Wow, you must be in a good shape."
"Well," she said, "I'm training on a regular basis to stay in shape. Even though I didn't have much time last week."
Trunks laughed. "Yeah, sorry about that. I hope that the next week will be a lot calmer."
~*~
At the party everyone was already there. The whole Son family, Krillin, Juuhachigou, Marron, Yamcha and even Mr. Satan, Piccolo and Muten Roshi were there. Everyone was busy talking, or in Piccolo's case meditating (Gohan had dragged him to that party). Vegeta was just leaning against a wall in his typical stance, watching everything that happened around him. Bra and Goten were sitting on the couch, as suddenly Trunks came into the living room, followed by Pan. "Pia!" She ran up to her. "I'm so glad you made it. Wow, you look great!" she said, but then whispered to her, "I see that you've followed Goten's advice."
Pan could feel her cheeks heating up. "Well… I… You look also great, Bra. And thanks for the invitation." How could she tell her that it wasn't really her who chose those clothes?
As Bra was running to greet this Pia, all heads turned to the newcomer. Bulma had already told them that she was Trunks' new assistant and how satisfied she was with her work, so almost all of them wanted to see her. The men, even the married ones, found themselves staring at her. Muten Roshi's nose was already bleeding, Yamcha was drooling, and Krillin, Goten and Gohan could just stare at this woman. Even Vegeta couldn't find a way to turn his gaze away from her. It seemed as if something was radiating from her. Suddenly it dawned to him. This girl…
"Stop it, Gohan," Videl hissed. "This woman could be your daughter, for Dende's sake."
"Huh? Oh… sorry Videl…" he said sheepishly.
Goten was the first one to recover and walked over to Pan, hugging her. "Hello Pia!"
"Hey Goten!" she greeted him. She was glad that he did it, because she started to feel really uneasy with everyone, especially the men and to make it worse, her own father(!), staring at her.
Bulma was the next one, who came up to her. "Miss Shen, I'm so glad that you're here. How are you doing? Coping with the stress at Capsule?"
"Good evening, Mrs. Briefs. I'm fine. I just needed to catch up some sleep."
"That's good. I knew it wouldn't be too much for you… But now let's stop talking about work. I would like to introduce you to everyone else. I see that you already know Goten…" Bulma led her around and introduced her to every single person in the living room. They made a short stop at Piccolo, who just looked at her and then turned back to his meditating. As Pan was introduced to Muten Roshi, Bulma had to whack him over his head to stop him from touching the guest. But the nearer Pan got to her parents, the more nervous she got. What if they recognized her? She had no idea what she would do when that happened. The next person, Bulma presented her, was… "Pia, I would like to present you Mr. Satan…"
"THE Mr. Satan?" Pan played along. She had to fake to be impressed by him, after all, everyone thought that he had defeated Cell.
"Yes, I'm THE Mr. Satan," he stated proudly, "The one and only…"
"Pia… I think we should now greet the others…" Bulma dragged her away from the 'World Champion'. She didn't want her to get bored to death by his stories, because she might still need her to raise grandchildren. This thought let her grin, as they arrived at the persons, whom Pan didn't want to meet. "Okay, and those are Son Gohan, his wife Videl and his mother ChiChi. They are really close friends of the family."
Pan bowed lightly. "It's nice to meet you." Dad, mom, grandma…
"Gohan and Videl have a daughter of your age," Bulma continued talking.
"Really?" she asked, playing surprised.
"Yes…" Gohan answered, "But we haven't seen her for seven years. She's in the States going to college and she hasn't called us in ages…"
Hasn't called them in ages? Son Goten… Pan sent a death glare at her uncle, who was talking to Trunks at that moment.
Luckily for him, neither Goten nor anyone else noticed this glare. He was way too busy talking to his friend and eating that he didn't notice anything. "I can't believe that I almost mistook her for Pan this afternoon…" he said.
"You what?" Trunks asked confused. "You mistook her for little Panny?"
Goten scratched the back of his head. "Yeah… One moment I really thought that it was her, but then I remembered that it was impossible. First of all she's still in the States and second I couldn't feel her ki. And besides, we all know that Pan would never wear something like that," he said referring to the clothes she was wearing at that moment.
"You're right… The day that I see our little Panny wearing clothes like that, including that navel piercing, I will dress in your brother's Saiyaman costume and help the police," Trunks said laughing.
"Excuse us please," Bulma said to Gohan, Videl and ChiChi. "But there is still one person left, she has to meet." Even though I really don't think that this would be a good idea, Bulma thought. "So, Pia, last but not least, this is my husband Vegeta."
"Good evening Mr. Briefs," Pan greeted him and extended her hand. Vegeta just stared at her intensely, glanced at Trunks, looked back to her, snorted and left the living room. "Okay… that was strange…" Pan mumbled. No comment, no insult, nothing. Was something wrong with him?
"I'm sorry for his behavior…" Bulma said and looked like she was going to explode. "I have no idea what has gotten into him…"
For the next few hours Pan had the time of her life. She really enjoyed talking to all of her friends again, even though no one knew that they were her friends and she had to keep her identity secret. She had almost forgotten how much fun it was to be together with the old clique, including Bra, Goten, Trunks, Marron and her and it seemed like they already saw her as one of them. But she also noticed that they were keeping things from her. In that time words like Saiyajin, flying, ki-blast, fighting and so on weren't mentioned a single time. They were almost… normal.
Another thing she enjoyed was the way her father was talking to her. He didn't treat her like a little girl, but like a grown-up and responsible woman. Pan really liked that and she hoped that her father would also see her that way, when she revealed herself to the others.
The whole time Pan tried to ignore the looks Trunks was giving her and the reaction she had on them. She had to admit that it was scary. She was just glad that this wasn't a party with dancing, otherwise she would have been afraid that something like what happened at the club two weeks ago would happen again. Just that now all members of his and her family would be watching this.
It was slowly nearing midnight and she was now sitting between Trunks and Marron on one couch and Goten and Bra were sitting on the other couch, talking. But Pan found it hard to concentrate on what they were talking. Being so close to him was so not good. His scent and the heat that was radiating from him made it difficult for her to resist him. But the longer she was sitting next to him, the more difficult it got. She had to get away from him and try to regain her composure.
"Excuse me please," she said and got up. "I'll get some fresh air…" Pan smiled at them and then left the living room. She hadn't seen the look of disappointment on Trunks face, as she had left.
Outside she was walking through the backyard of Capsule Corporation. This fresh night air was exactly what she needed to cool down. Suddenly she heard something behind her. She jumped around and instinctively got into a fighting stance. "Is there someone?" she asked, since she couldn't feel anything.
She almost jumped again, as someone emerged out of the shadows. It was Vegeta. He eyed her again and then smirked. "Do you want to spar, brat?"
"What?" Pan asked confused.
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As you see, another chapter! I hope you like it! But please let me know!
Eternally yours
ChibiChibi