Disclaimer: *clutches at chest with a tight fist, pawing at the air with the other, eyes wide...gives one last gasp, a shudder, and falls over*

A/N: o.O Excel Saga...not wise to watch while feeling sane. Fruits Basket, on the other hand, needs to be bought.

Yeeeah...ok. Thank you to all of you have reviewed lately. A few things I'd just like to say to a few of you in response. To jterra, Two Weeks Notice is absolutely adorable! And hearing you compare PT to it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. And Pia...I look forward to your reviews; you always manage to say something that I can really take to heart. And you'd be surprised how much I don't premeditate my chapters. Of all the chapters I've premeditated...there is an image in one. And you haven't even seen it yet. I'm more or less a channel between the story and the screen. And everyone else, I really appreciate that you're accepting the fact that I'm pretty inconsistant about posting...even if that knowledge makes me feel pretty shitty.

Don't worry. Barring disaster, I won't be disappearing for more than a day or two until school starts back up on the 27th. And I hope to be finished by then...if that says anything.

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Petrified Tears
chapter 102



"I thought you'd gotten past this," ChiChi said demurely, holding up the dress, displaying the frayed, torn, and thready back. "Although I must say, you've never done a better job of annihilating a dress."

Pan shifted uncomfortably, scratching the back of her neck and looking down at some corner slightly behind her. Bra pouted with a whimper, and Pan couldn't help but smile just a little. Even though knowing Bra's current outlook on life, she was still Bra. And getting her into a dress had been a dream of Bra's since they were three.

"I didn't do it on purpose," she replied beseechingly. "It just kinda…well…"

Bra kicked at a shoe box, aiming for a wall, but sending it careening into the side of her best friend's head. Pan batted it away and rubbed at her ear. Bra grinned innocently and Pan stuck her tongue out at her, distorting her face.

ChiChi shook her head and set the dress on the chair before the vanity, digging into the bag she'd brought in with her, setting aside a sewing box and a thread box. "I had a feeling about this," she started, seeming to find what she was looking for. Slender hands emerged with a buddle swathed in white paper and tied with string. "When Pan destroys a dress, she destroys it. So I dug this out of my closet while I waited for Goten." She turned around, setting the buddle on the vanity top and gently tugging at the string. The girls moved closer, peering over her shoulders as she slowly undid the knot that kept the bundle together. "Now I know it's not much, but I know how much this meant to both of you…to all of us. Seeing our little Panny in a dress is something that rates up there with a miracle from Dende."

Pan blushed as her grandmother pulled away the string, unfolding the paper to reveal deep blue silk, feeling herself stop breathing as her grandmother's white hands lifted and unfurled the dress. Next to her, Bra clung tightly to her arm.

"N…nothing…nothing much?" Bra gasped, her eyes wide with wonder. "ChiChi, this is absolutely gorgeous!"

"Grandma, where did you get this? How come I haven't seen it before?"

ChiChi's eyes glazed a little with tears as she handed the dress to the girls, watching as they drew their fingers across the silver embroidery. "My Goku bought it for me not longer after we were married," she replied, taking the dress and holding it up against her granddaughter. Good, it was long enough, but not too long. "Got put it on, already!"

Without much prodding, Pan was easily ushered behind the dressing screen.

"ChiChi, how'd he ever find the money for something like that? I mean, I know you guys never really had any money or anything…"

"I never would have thought Grandpa would have done something like that," Pan added from behind the screen, her voice muffled as she pulled the tank dress over her head. A moment later, it came flying over the top of the screen, followed by rustles of silk.

"Yeah…no offense, but Goku always struck me as…well, a little thick headed."

ChiChi shook her head, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

"I know that. It's true on both accounts. But my Goku had the biggest heart, and while he may have been naïve, he always did everything he could to keep me happy. I'd yelled at him one morning about never having any nice dresses. He disappeared for a day, worrying me sick. When he came home, he gave me this."

"How'd he get the money?" Bra asked, resting against the edge of her vanity, pulling a hair brush and a few bobbypins out of a drawer.

"Odd jobs is what he told me." ChiChi shook her head. "I just wish I had had a chance to wear it. Since I never did, now it's Pan's job."

"My job?" came the response from behind the screen, the rustles of silk growing softer as they lay against skin.

"Yes it's your job!" ChiChi snapped before slipping back into her memories, her eyes sparkling. "Goku made me promise to make sure I made that dragon happy. So you have to make him happy because I'm too old to wear a dress like that!"

"Dragon?" Bra mutted, but cut off as Pan stepped out from behind the screen.

The dress was something that ChiChi definitely would have worn, being of traditional oriental style, although the slits up the thigh were by far higher than she'd probably have ever been comfortable with-Gohan would probably have choice words to say later when he saw his daughter. The dress was the same color as Pan's eyes as was the dress before it, but the sheen of silk was more alluring than the gloss of cotton. Silver embroidery outlined the dress, the missing sleeves accented her arms, the high collar her neck. The silts on either side separating the front of the dress from the back, delicate silver flowers embroidered into the silk.

Curled in the front half of the dress, silver scaled and elegant, was a dragon reminiscent of Shenlong, tail and legs crowded comfortably against the hemline, his head bowed just under Pan's breasts.

Without a word, Bra steered Pan into the chair before the vanity, pulling her hair into a high bun, the short layered strands falling around her eyes.

"Grandma," she mumbled quietly, her hands drifting almost dreamily against the dress, tracing the dragon, "this dress is…"

"It's yours, Sweetie. If you promise me you won't run away again."

Pan smiled and turned, embracing her grandmother and burying her face into her stomach, into the scent of lavender.

"It really is beautiful, ChiChi," Bra added as she dug through her closet, retrieving a pair of strappy silver heels.

The old woman beamed happily as she stepped back from her granddaughter, holding the side of her head with both hands.

"We've all waited a long time for you to grow up Sweetie," she said quietly. With a wink, she added, "Now get downstairs and help Bulma get her grandbabies already."

"Grandma!" Pan cried as Bra laced their arms together, pulling her friend from the room, shoes dangling from her fingers.

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A/N: Blegh...this feels like a filler to me, even though it's not. Anyways, that's tonight's chapter. I'm having trouble with FF again, so I'm just going to warn you all: if for some reason there is not chapter one night, just go to my site. www.angelfire.com/dbz/storytellers. I'll have posted there regardless, or have an explanation as to wtf happened.

Reviews = happy author.
Happy author = updates.
Happy author - reviews = sad chapters.

Heh...have any of you noticed that I'm not really chatty here anymore? I guess I'm a little sad about reaching the end.

-Panabelle ;P
All will be explained in time, and time is running out.