You ask if I love you, well what can I say?
You know that I do, and that this is just one
Of those games that we play
So I'll sing you a new song – please don't cry anymore
And even ask for forgiveness, though I don't know just
What I'm asking it for
"Bra?"
Goten had found Bra in her room. She didn't seem to be doing anything in particular – just hurling screwed up sheets of paper at her waste paper basket. Only three or four had actually made it in.
"Whatcha doin'?" Goten timidly asked, trying to make conversation.
"Nothing much," she bluntly replied.
"I just thought, that since you left so quickly, you might have had something important…"
He stopped short when he noticed the sour look on her face.
"You know perfectly well why I left the room Goten," Bra curtly stated. "I didn't particularly feel like listening to you tell us all how wonderful being a musician is. You know, how much you love being on tour. How you're so glad that you left…"
"I'm not."
"What?"
"I'm not glad that I left." Goten dared to move closer to her, and when she didn't protest, he sat next to her on her huge bed. He almost smiled as he remembered some of the fun moments they had shared on that bed. "My band could never be my friends or family. Life on the road could never be like home. Something was always going to call me back. Well…that and my band ditched me." Goten blushed and looked at his feet as he made the confession.
"Why?" Bra asked. For the first time since they had started talking, she did not use a snappy or bitchy tone. She seemed genuinely interested.
"We weren't making any money. See, we'd book a joint, and say that they could take the hire fee out of the ticket sales. But a lot of times, the ticket sales weren't enough, and we got replaced by someone else. Someone who'd pay up front. I guess I can't blame the guys for leaving. In the same position, I probably would have quit too."
"And miss the chance of playing with the great Son G?" Bra allowed herself a little smile.
Goten returned it. "Now come on, you know I'm not that great." He cleared his throat. "Bra – I owe you an apology. I don't know what I was thinking, leaving you like that…"
"I…uh…owe you an apology, too," Bra admitted, looking at her feet. "I should have been more understanding. I was a real bitch."
"Yeah, you were," Goten sighed. Goten grinned broadly, stopping Bra's forming snarl mid-way. "I'm only joking."
She threw a pillow at him, hitting him right in the face.
He looked at her sheepishly. "I deserved that, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did," Bra replied, with arms folded and a patented Vegeta-smirk on her lips. "But you also deserve this." She slowly moved closer to him, and placed her lips against his.
After a moment of shock, Goten broke away. Though he had longed for this with all his heart, he wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do. Was Bra just caught up in the moment? Or did she still hold deep feelings inside?
Bra misunderstood his reasons for pulling away. She looked away, ashamed and heartbroken. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."
"There's no need to be sorry, B-chan."
Bra looked up. He hadn't called her B-chan since they had broken up. It had always been his pet name for her. She blinked several times, and the tears that had been rimming her eyes spilled onto her cheeks.
Goten brushed them away with his finger, savouring the feel of her pale soft skin.
"What's happening, Goten?" she asked. "Why did you pull away?"
"I was worried that you were just caught in a moment," he admitted. "I thought that you kissed me to fulfil a lingering lust that you had, or something like that."
Bra shook her head, violently. "No! Never!"
"Then…you do still love me…?"
Bra was silent for a moment, before she answered in a whisper. "Yes, I do. Even though you hurt me more than anyone, and everyone else put together, I still cannot budge you from my heart. I love you, Goten…I think I always will."
Goten was not too proud to cry in front of Bra, and soon tears spilled from his eyes also. When he finally found his voice, he said, "The kais must love me too, because I don't deserve this. I don't deserve anyone after the pain I put you through. But, if you're willing to give me a second chance, maybe I can prove myself to you…"
Bra threw herself into Goten's awaiting arms. "Goten, of course you can have a second chance."
* * * * * *
"Fuck them, fuck them, fuck them!" Pan screamed. She delivered countless blows to a punching bag in Vegeta's Gravity training Room. She had not altered the gravity level, so the punching bag she had chosen was not looking particularly healthy. Tears of anger stained her face. She roared and prepared to punch the bag once more, but a hand stopped hers before it reached the unfortunate bag.
"Still haven't learnt to control your temper, I see," Uub quietly commented.
Pan pulled her hand out of Uub's, and stared at him, panting. "I picked it up from Bra, who inherited it from both her parents. And my own mother can be a fucking bitch when she wants."
"I'm sure they didn't mean to offend you, Pan."
"Well, they did! Whether they meant to or not doesn't matter."
"Yes, I does," Uub tried to reason. "If someone meaningly hurts you, they don't deserve forgiveness, but if it was unintended…a simple mistake…"
"Their 'simple mistake' proved that they don't even know their own daughter!" Pan snarled. "It proved that all I ever was to them was a disappointment. I was never as sexy and beautiful as Bra, or as cute and sweet as Marron. That's what they wanted in a daughter, and all they got was me!"
"Pan, you know that's not true."
"It is! They used to say it…when I came home dirty, or when I got into fights at school. 'Why can't you be more like Bra?' 'Marron never got into fights at school.'" The truth of Pan's hatred for her parents poured out of her. She had kept it deep inside for so long, not revealing to anyone why she had been so deeply angered by their accusation. The tears of anger were replaced by tears of sorrow. "I guess that they thought, if I was a lesbian, it would be easier for them to disown me…"
"Gohan and Videl aren't like that, Pan. And if you think they are, I guess that makes you no better than them."
Uub's words, and the truth within them, hit Pan like a tonne of weights. She didn't know the deepest reasons for their suspicion. How could she condemn her parents when she herself had acted just as rashly as they had?
"Did you even see their faces when they saw you here?" Uub continued. "They were heartbroken. You're their only child, and whoever and whatever you are, they will love you."
"You're right, Uub. I did act a little hastily. I always have. Maybe I should talk to them…"
"Yes, you should. But, before you go…" Uub took a deep breath. There was a question which had darkened his heart for more than a year; had forced him into a pit of depression. "Why did you stop loving me?"
The question caught Pan off-guard, but she couldn't deny that she had expected to hear it at some stage. "I-I didn't."
"Then, why did you call off our relationship?" He didn't even try to hide the pain in his voice.
Pan was forced to answer his question – which she in fact had asked herself in recent days. "I was scared. I was so young, and you were the first man that I had truly loved…and had loved me. It was so overwhelming – I didn't know what to do."
"So, you dumped me?" Uub scoffed.
"I'm sorry! It was all I could think of to make the fear go away."
"I would have done anything for you, Pan-chan! Why didn't you come to me first? Why didn't you tell me you felt that way? We could have worked something out together!"
"Alright! I admit: I made a mistake!" Pan cried. Uub's earlier words echoed in her ears. "But that was all it was – a simple mistake. I didn't mean to hurt you. Are you going to practice what you preach?"
Uub smiled slightly. "I forgave you a long time ago, Pan. I just wanted to know why. I needed that closure."
"Closure? That's all you wanted?" Their conversation had stirred long sleeping feelings within Pan. She wanted him back. She wanted him to still love her like she still loved him. "I still love you, Uub. I really do. That's why I haven't been with anyone else. That's why my parents thought I was a lesbian. Because I couldn't forget about you."
"I hoped that you would say that."
Pan felt her heart began to crumble as she prepared for Uub to take revenge against her. She knew that she had hurt him deeply. She had heard that he had needed to seek professional help after their break-up. And now she believed that he was going to hurt her back. To laugh in her face at her admittance of love.
"I always loved you, Pan. You hurt me – and I still loved you. And now you ask for me to take you back…and I still love you. Despite the pain you have caused me, I will always love you."
"Oh, Uub!"
* * * * * *
"Uh…I hear you've become quite the little flirt," Trunks stammered, trying to make conversation with Marron.
Her eyes narrowed, making her look disturbingly like her mother. "I've heard much the same about you. Capsule Corp.'s model collection seems to be growing bigger all the time."
"Well, you know…everyone seems to want a piece of Trunks Briefs Vegeta."
"Why don't you share out some of your ego? I'm sure it's big enough."
The conversation wasn't going as well as Trunks had hoped. He had thought that maybe if he and Marron had been able to start a normal conversation, the flame that had been between them might have sparked again. Instead, she seemed to be baiting him; urging him into an argument. But he wasn't about to give in to that.
"Yeah, maybe I could," Trunks mumbled a barely audible response to her comment. The ever-arising moment of uncomfortable silence followed.
"I wonder how the others are going," Marron thought out-loud.
"Probably better than we are," Trunks grumbled.
"What was that?"
"I was just thinking how much like you mother you've started to become. Do you have a heart of steel too?"
"How dare you! My mother may have once been cruel, but she's changed…"
"Yes, I know. But you seem to be going to opposite way. You used to be so sweet and caring. What happened?"
Marron stopped the array of insults that she had been about to throw at Trunks. Instead, she truthfully answered his question. "I fell in love with you. I fell in love with my best friend. Do you know what that does to a person?"
"Yes, I do. You were my best friend Marron – and I fell in love with you. But look at us now! All we do is pick fights, and sleep with as many anonymous people that we can to make each other jealous!"
"Can you think of something better we can do?"
"Yes – we can give it another shot. We have nothing to lose – if we keep like this our friendship will be lost before too long. And we have everything to gain."
"Trunks…"
"I still think about you Marron, and everything we have. None of those models could compare with you." Trunks took one of Marron's hands in his.
"I must admit, I haven't found anyone quite like you." Marron looked up at Trunks, with desperate hope in her eyes. "Oh, Trunks, do you really think it could work again?"
"It can and it will. True love always survives and lives on."
* * * * * *
Eventually, the reborn couples found their way back to a group, and shared stories. And they also ventured outside to where their friends and family were chatting, unaware of what had just happened.
Pan, with help from Uub to overcome her shame, apologised to her parents. Videl wept, and held her daughter close.
Gohan wrapped his arms around them both. "There's no need to apologise Pan. We made the mistake, not you." He looked at Uub, and knew that he had something to do with Pan's repentance. He mouthed "Thankyou" to the younger man.
Vegeta looked at his own daughter and her chosen mate. "I see you've gotten back together with Kakarrot's brat."
The other parents had not even noticed the other two couples, so caught up in the reunion of Pan, Gohan and Videl.
"And, Marron, back with Vegeta's spawn," Juuhachigou said, mocking Vegeta's tone.
Vegeta stared her, and smirked. "Point taken, jinzouningen."
"I think we have okaasan to thank here," said Trunks, beaming at his mother.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Trunks," Bulma sighed, feigning innocence. But the slight smile that tugged at the edge of her mouth and twinkle in her eyes told her children – at least – that one of her great plans had worked out exactly how she had hoped. It seemed that she had been right, and Trunks had been wrong: Things could go back to the way they once were.
* * * * * *
Finished! Finally! What can I say – I'm a sucker for happy endings. Hope y'all liked the story…and if you can find it, listen to the title song. It's really good…but then, that's just my opinion!
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