Disclaimer: *sniff* As much as I hate to say it… But *sniff* they don't belong to me… *blows her nose*
A/N: Thanks again a lot for the nice reviews you've written for me!!! Now I'm sure that I'll hit the thousand reviews mark!!! *smiles and dances around in her room* But I hope you don't expect a special… Well, maybe I got an idea for some kind of special… So, write many many reviews and you'll get this 'special'. What it is, I won't say, yet… But I can tell you that I've already started working on it. Okay, I just got 102 words written and not even really started, but I did something!
So, enough with the babbling… There were again some of you who had questions…
@ Dragongirl96: Yes, Junior is the son of Bra and Goten! And, as I already described in the last chapter, an exact look-alike of Goten.
@ Pink Ice: Yes, Pan had avoided ALL contact to her family, so they don't know about Takeo. Everything will be explained when I start "History of Takeo", but I can already say one thing: The fight between Trunks and Pan had been the same in both timelines, so Trunks also told her in Takeo's time to go away and spare her parents the disappointment of what she had done.
@ Sakura Shoran: No, I couldn't have come up with a better name for Junior. Btw that isn't even his full name. I'm not sure if you'll get to know it in this story, but definitely in "History of Takeo" *grins*
@ Princess of Light: Why are you so sure that Trunks and Pan will get together in the future? The whole party could be a great disaster and letting them just hate each other more… You know how evil I can be! *crosses her arms and smirks in a Vegeta-like manner*
@ blue-angel1204: That was a cliffhanger? Mmh… I thought I got over them… well… whatever… Thanks for the compliment!
@ firekeeper23: To be blunt… I don't know… I've never been good in biology or genetics, but maybe two parts Saiyajin, one part human? Could that make any sense?
Chapter 27: Strange things
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Takeo was keeping something from her. She just knew it.
Pan and her son were sitting in the limo and on their way to the hotel, where the party of the firm Takeo was working for should be held. That itself wasn't that strange, but the whole day before had been more than strange. Takeo's behavior had… well… just been… weird. He had been unexplainable nervous all day. Always taking those strange side-glances at her, when he thought that she wasn't looking. She wished that he'd taken off his sunglasses so that she could have seen the look in his eyes. Not that she needed to look into his eyes to find out that something was going on, but it would have been a lot easier, if she had just been able to read them. Then she probably wouldn't sit there in the limo, looking at her son and muse about what was going on in his head.
But not just that he had been nervous like hell, but he also insisted that she wore the long black dress of silk she had still hanging in her closet. It had no straps and went almost down to the floor. Just a slit on the left side showed a bit of her leg. Her back was almost completely free, showing off her smooth tainted skin. The whole dress was simple, not and yet revealing and held a bit of Pan's youth in it. Because this dress was the one she had worn to her senior prom so many years ago.
Takeo had told her that he wanted his mother to be the most beautiful woman at the whole party and so he had chosen the dress for her to wear, not listening to her complaints about how old this dress was and that she would probably never fit in it again. But surprisingly, it still fit and was lying on her body like a second skin. After that, he did her hair, earning a questioning look from his mother. Takeo had just laughed at asked her, how he couldn't know how to do the hair after living most of his life with almost just women around him. In the end she ended up with her hair stuck up, but letting a few strands of it hanging out of the bun down her back and her bangs framing her face. Then at last to add the last charm, he put a silver locket around her neck. A gift he had given her once to her birthday, as he was still younger. 'You're beautiful,' he had said, when she had been looking at herself in the mirror. But at this moment she thought she had heard more in his voice that just those few words. It sounded like it was really important for him that she looked like she did now.
Pan let out an inaudible sigh, as she looked at her son, who was sitting across of her in the limo. He himself was dressed in a simple black suit with white shirt and black bow tie. But he was still wearing the sunglasses. She frowned. To protect her, as he had said after he had bought them more than fifteen years ago. She had just smiled bravely, assuring him that he didn't need to do that, but stubborn as he had been and still was, he hadn't taken them off and never did. He didn't want to see her hurt. Hurt because he had his father's eyes.
Trunks' eyes. Would she ever be able to tell him, who his father was? Telling him that Vegeta was his grandfather, after they had coincidentally met on a playground, had been inevitable, since they had just looked so much alike. Vegeta? On a playground? She first couldn't believe it herself, but he had then told her that Bra had forced him to take her and Goten's son Goku Junior, called Junior, to the playground, while they had to do something else. She had been there with Takeo and the two boys immediately grew quite fond of each other. But Pan feared that they might be discovered, so she forbad her son to see the other boy ever again, telling him that Junior had a bad influence on him. Doing this, she had destroyed the chance to grant her son a close friendship like the one between Goten and Trunks.
There he was again. Wherever she was, this name and face would always haunt her. She blinked a tear away. Takeo, maybe one day I might be able to bring this name over my lips and tell you, who your father is, she thought.
Takeo felt his mother's gaze on him. He looked up and saw the sad look on her face. He frowned. She was thinking again of him… "Are you okay, mom?" he asked worriedly.
Pan forced a smile. The last thing she wanted to do was ruining this somehow extremely important night for her son. "Of course I'm okay, Takeo," she said with fake cheerfulness and decided to change the subject. "But I could ask you the same question…" Her eyes suddenly got the mischievous gleam Takeo loved and at the same time hated to see. "Say, are you keeping something from me?"
Takeo swallowed hard. His mother was suspecting something. That was so not good. "No, of course not…" he answered hoarsely, suddenly having the feeling that the collar of his shirt was way to tight. If there was something he really couldn't do, then it was directly lying to his mother. Keeping things from her, that he could do, but lying?
"Takeo, you are a miserable liar, and you know that. You've been acting so strange the whole day. I just know that there's something you're not telling me!" Pan crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him smugly. "It's about your girlfriend, right?"
"I have no girlfriend!" he said, defending himself. Hey, it wasn't a lie!
Pan didn't even react to his statement and her grin turned into a smirk. "I think I know… The way you've been talking about your boss, she must be your girlfriend. But seeing as she is the head of the lab, I guess she must be older than you. But I'm not the one to judge your choice of women, since you're old enough to make your own decisions…"
"She's not my girlfriend!" Takeo blurted out. "I mean… Mom, she's older than you and even married for Dende's sake! And be sure, I don't want to mess with her husband!" Especially since he's a lot stronger than me! he added in his mind.
His mother just looked at him. Mmh, looks like he's telling the truth, but that wouldn't keep me from teasing him, Pan thought. "Whatever… I can't wait to meet her…"
Much to her disappointment Takeo didn't start to argue with her, but just nodded and looked back out of the window, watching everything passing by. First as he started to drum with his fingers on the arm, Pan noticed again, how nervous her son was.
Now Pan was confused. She had no idea what was going on, if Takeo didn't have a girlfriend he wanted to introduce to her. But something was definitely up!
~*~
Trunks Briefs, the not-so-young-anymore President of Capsule Corporation was standing impatiently in the large room his mother had rented for the party. But even though he was already 62 years old, there were many people who would guess that he was not a day older than forty. Some even said that he still looked like he was in the middle of his thirties and would never believe, when he told them his true age. That was the gift and curse of being part Saiyajin.
He had no idea, why his mother wanted to throw one, but she had told him that it had something to do with some success of one of her new inventions. What invention? He didn't know. They all just got on his private jet this morning, which brought them to LA, the City of Angels. Why? He didn't know. And now there he was, sipping at his drink and looking around, waiting for any clients to arrive, but until now, just family members and friends were present. At eight o'clock the party should officially start, so why, if that had something to do with a new invention, wasn't there any client to be seen?
"Mom?" he stopped her, as she passed by him.
"Yes honey?" she asked.
"Aren't there still people missing?" he wanted to know.
Bulma took a look around and then smiled at her son, not showing how nervous she was. "Yes, there are. The young man, who had tested the invention, Takeo Shen, I'm sure you've already heard of him, and his date are still missing. But they should arrive any minute now…" Without saying more, the scientist left her son standing and walked over to some friends, talking to them. Sighing, Trunks decided that he could do the same and went to his best friend and his sister, who were chatting happily. On his way there he noticed their son Junior sitting nervously on a chair, staring at the entrance. He paused for a moment, thinking about this strange day but eventually shrugged it off and joined the conversation. Why should his nephew be nervous? Maybe he should listen to his mother and take a vacation… All this stress was just making him paranoid…
~*~
A few minutes later the limo came to a halt in front of the luxurious hotel. A pageboy came up to it and opened the door in the back for Takeo. The young man stepped out then extended his hand to his mother, helping her out of the car, even though he knew that she didn't need his help. As they both were out of the limo and the door was closed again, it drove off to the parking lot, where it would wait until the end of the party.
Smiling, Takeo offered his mother his right arm, which she took gratefully and then he led her to the room, where, as Bulma had told him, the party would be held. He almost sighed with relief as he and Pan stopped in front of the closed door. Bulma had done a good job with ki-shielding the room, because he couldn't feel a single person inside.
Okay, here we go… he said to himself, before putting his hand on the doorknob. He just wanted to open the door, but felt his mother suddenly stiffen. "Mom? Are you okay?" he asked, more worried about that fact that she might've found out something than for her well being at that moment.
"What?" Pan looked up startled. "Of course is everything okay…" she lied. As soon as they had stopped in front of this door, she had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something she hadn't felt in years. Something she couldn't place. But she didn't want to worry her son. This was his night and she didn't want to ruin it. "Let's go…" she added hesitating.
"Okay…" Takeo was not completely convinced, but as long as she didn't run away, he thought that everything was fine. He finally turned the knob and opened the wooden door, leading his mother inside of the large room.
But as soon as they were inside, Pan stopped dead in her tracks. Those kis… She could suddenly feel kis… The kis of… She frantically looked around. No, she wasn't dreaming. They were all here! Her hands began to shake. She needed to get out before anyone noticed that she was there. She couldn't let them see her. Not her parents, not Goten and Bra, not Bulma, not… She took a step backwards, but was stopped by a hand pressed against her back. With a shocked expression on her face, she looked up and saw Takeo smiling at her. This innocent and oblivious to everything smile that he had inherited from her side of the family.
"Come on, mom… The boss of our firm is standing over there. I want you to meet him…" Takeo told her innocently. He knew that his mother had recognized everyone in the room, but he wouldn't let her get away! And with this inherited smile and aura there was no way that she would believe that he had been luring her here to meet even those people. Well, not yet…
Her whole mind was blank. Not knowing what to do or how to react, Pan gave in to the light pressure her son was inflicting on her back and let him lead her over to the man she didn't want to see. The man she had loved once, still loved and always would love. The man who had made her leave her home, her family, her true origin. The father of the young man, who was leading her there. The father of her son…
Takeo put a hand on the man's shoulder to get his attention. "Mr. Briefs," he said, as Trunks had turned around. "I'd like to introduce you to my mother, Pia Shen… Mom, this is my boss, Trunks Briefs, the President of Capsule Corporation."
The two former lovers could just stare at each other and Pan was sure that she would faint any moment. She threw a quick glance at Takeo, who was just smiling at them. Could he know? she asked herself.
"Pan…"
This disbelieving and yet soft voice pulled her out of her thoughts and let her eyes turn back to the man in front of her. She felt her dark eyes locking with his. "Trunks…" she just stuttered.
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Hehe, well, now they finally face each other after so many years… Mmh, what will happen next? I know I'm evil again, but I promise that this will be the last cliffy in this story! I swear by Dende! But it was just too tempting and I just had to do that! I thought, better stop now, before I can't stop writing and the chapter gets incredible long and I let you again wait sooooo long! By the way, I don't know when I'll update again, because I think that I'll pretty much to do in the next days. I just got all the documents for my oral examination in school and boy is that much! And I just have ten days to study!!!
Whatever, I hope you understand that!
And please review!!! Thanks a lot!!
Eternally yours
ChibiChibi
PS: I'd like to advertise one fic. It's called "The Phantom of the Tournament" (Story ID: 709153) written by ChunkyMunky241! I really recommend you to read it! It's written very well and especially something for fans of "The Phantom of the Opera"! Just this time it isn't about music, but about fighting! The angel (Bulma gave him the nickname Grumpy *lol*), aka Vegeta, gives Bulma fighting lessons, so that she could fight in the Dragon Team led by Goku! I can't say much more without giving too much away! So, just read it and don't forget to review this fic!