Hello all. How's my readers doing today? Good I hope. I changed my pen name again. Yep. I'm the Angry Black Woman now. I think I'm going to stick with this one. And as for this story.... I got 105 reviews! Oh my God, I was practically cheesing when I saw this. Thank you all so much for all your reviews and comments and such. I was going to do a little 100 review special, but I couldn't think of anything to post, so I decided against it. Maybe I'll do a little 120 review special or something and have little snippets of my other stories and some that I haven't posted as well. You know, come to think of it, you guys can tell me what you think. I can write little mini stories or something about anything you want. Sounds good to me...
Special Thanks to reviews from:
Brandon B
sugar
zighawk- Email me with any kind of information if you still want the story done. My email address is on my bio.
Anime Ambreen and Poke Manic
Strawberri-grl- 100th reviewer! Yay!
ills
Matt
pan86
Aisha ClanClan
Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I wasn't Akira Toriyama. I think you get my meaning.
Chapter 11
When Trunks awoke the next morning in the guest room bed of the Son house, his first thoughts were of Pan's plan to bring her parents together. He had fought with her well into the night about it, and of course he lost, but now he had all intentions of bringing it up again and conquering her defenses. After all, he was the reason his world existed at all, he was the one who defeated the Androids, and to top it all off, he was Saiyan royalty. How hard could it be to win an argument with his woman?
As an after thought, he looked over his shoulder and noticed that Pan was nowhere to be found. He squinted, still somewhat in a haze, and stumbled his way outside the room into the hall to look for her.
He found his way into the kitchen, thinking that that was probably where a semi-Saiyan would be in the morning, and only found Chichi clearing dishes from the table and Goten and Little Trunks watching cartoons in the living room.
Chichi looked up and smiled at him. "Well, hello there, Trunks. How are you this morning?"
Trunks still looked confused and ran a hand through his tousled, lavender hair. "Uh... good... Have you seen Pan this morning?"
"Yes, I have," Chichi replied. "She ate breakfast with us and then disappeared after Gohan went to school."
- Shit.- Trunks thought. "Oh..."
"Are you hungry?" Chichi asked, then realized that was a dumb question to ask a half-Saiyan.
And as Trunks sat down to eat the mountains of food Chichi prepared, he couldn't help wondering if Pan's absence had something to do with Gohan and Videl. (A/N: Duh... He's a smart one, isn't he?)
~*~
Gohan walked down the hallways of Orange Star High School with a lighter step and a much brighter face than he had had the night before. Pan had instilled new hope in him, and although it was still a mystery to him, he felt that this woman with the familiar looks and the long, raven hair could be trusted, that if you put faith in her she could do almost anything. It was a strange and foreign feeling, and he couldn't help but wonder what it meant.
"So where's your first class?"
Gohan turned to the woman next to him in the bandanna, baggy red shirt, and black jeans with a grin. "It's right down this hall. I sure hope your plan works, Pan."
Pan grinned, looking just like the teenage version of her father. "It will, Gohan. Trust me, it will."
She managed to enroll herself into Orange Star High School in a matter of minutes, after explaining that she was the long lost relative of Gohan Son and desperately wanted a chance to continue her education. They asked no questions, surprisingly, and simply complied, since Gohan was one of their most promising students. Of course Gohan thought the story she concocted was just that, a story, and Pan smiled again to herself as she thought of it. If only he knew....
They turned one sharp corner and were finally in his homeroom class. She even managed to get into all of his classes, except one, and Videl was also in all of his classes. She figured it would be much easier to bring them together if they were together most of the time.
Gohan found his seat next to Videl, and Pan took the vacant seat next to Gohan, earning a glare from the pig-tailed girl in the baggy shirt. Pan simply smirked at her, thinking to herself how much fun this adventure was going to be.
~*~
"So, you're saying this handful of scrap metal caused you and your girlfriend to get transported here?"
Trunks nodded as he sat in a chair next to the blue-haired scientist in Capsule Corp.'s lab. He had decided to simply let Pan do whatever she wanted, only for today, just so he could have a clear enough head to assist the Bulma of this time in trying to find a way for them to get back to their time. It would only make him irritable to have to try to find Pan and drag her to Capsule Corp. with him like a bad little girl, so he ignored it for the time being.... well, the best he could, anyway.
"May I ask what you were doing when this thing was destroyed?" Bulma asked, one delicate eyebrow raised as she poked and prodded at the various pieces of metal on her desk.
Trunks didn't notice what she was hinting at by her expression and simply replied with, "Well, things got a little rough and the next thing we know we're somewhere on a street and the invention flew to the ground."
"Things got a little rough?" Bulma raised her eyebrow again and looked him dead in the face. "What does that mean?" Her face suddenly twisted into a slow smirk, and catching her meaning, Trunks almost flew out of his chair.
"No, no, no," He repeated, flailing his arms around. "Nothing like that.... no.... no... NO!"
Bulma laughed. "Ok, Trunks, I get it. I'm sorry. I had to ask."
Trunks, who was blushing furiously, looked at his mother with a weird expression. "I was just trying to get the damn thing away from her but she was so stubborn, it turned into a fight to get possession of it. Honest! That's what happened!" He felt like a kid that was blamed for breaking something and had to stumble around for the truth to clear his name.
"Ok, Trunks. Calm down." Bulma told him, still laughing, but her joy was cut short when a spiky-haired, arrogant man walked down the stairs in nothing but spandex shorts.
"Woman," He roared with his raspy, powerful voice. "Food," was all he said, and anyone could see the streak of dominance in his demeanor by the tone of his voice.
"Get some yourself, Vegeta," Bulma told him, disgusted at having to be interrupted because of his selfish needs. "Can't you see that I'm busy?"
It was then that Vegeta actually noticed Trunks' presence, although he felt his ki around the house all morning. "So I see. What brings you here again, future brat?"
Trunks just smirked at the name. "An accident. My girlfriend and I got transported here and now we have no way to get back home, since the invention is now demolished." He gestured toward the pieces of metal and Vegeta just snorted in answer.
"Where is this 'girlfriend' you speak of?" Vegeta asked. He felt around for another ki, but didn't find anything unfamiliar.
"To be honest, I haven't a clue," Trunks answered. His ki slightly rose when he thought of what she was probably doing.
Vegeta snorted again. He wanted to meet this girl that his son had chosen to bond with. It wasn't just the bite mark that was clearly in view on his neck, but it was a number of ways that Trunks' acted that told Vegeta that she was his mate. For starters, his ki rose when Vegeta asked him where she was, and only a bonded Saiyan gets so possessive of their mates as to get antsy and even angry when they don't know where their mates are. And then there was a way in which his eyes looked when he said the words, "my girlfriend", that spoke volumes. It was a look of tenderness and possession that Vegeta was sure Trunks didn't even know existed.
Something else about Trunks aroused Vegeta's curiosity. He squinted his dark eyes at him, and without warning, leaned over and actually sniffed his son from the future. When Vegeta's nose turned up with a look that said, to Trunks, "You smell like shit, boy", he suddenly looked confused and panicked.
"Uh... what?" Trunks asked as calmly as possible as Vegeta sniffed him again.
"Your scent..." Vegeta murmured with a look of concentration, which turned to disgust again. "The scent of Kakarrot spawn."
Trunks narrowed his eyes, and then it hit him and he looked suddenly nervous. He was smelling Pan. But how could he detect that she had Goku's genes inside of her from simply smelling him? He realized now that there were some things that he really didn't know about the Saiyan race.
"Oh, Vegeta, grow up," Bulma said. "All he did was spend the night at Chichi's house. How can you possibly smell 'Kakarrot spawn'?"
"Easy," Vegeta replied, then smirked. "They have strange, strong smells. Kind of like you, woman...."
Bulma glared at him. "What do you mean by that?"
"Humans stink," He replied simply, as if it was a well known fact.
Bulma forgot all about the broken invention and her future son and started one her trademark battle of words with her husband. Trunks just sat there staring into space, thinking that if Vegeta could smell Pan on him, then he might be well on his way to finding out who Pan was, which was very dangerous. He'd either have to hide Pan's face from him at all costs, or douse himself in cologne the next time he entered the house of Bulma Briefs.
Back to the Future... Er... Present... Er... You get my point....
"Goddamn it..." Bulma said in exasperation. She was working nonstop to try to find a way to bring her son and future daughter-in-law back to their time, but nothing was working. She'd sent Videl home the night before, with some difficulty, but she still didn't want to rest until she figured out how to bring them back. She felt like a complete failure at that moment, for she had never had such a rough time with a scientific problem. She was beginning to wonder if she'd finally found the one thing that challenged her.
"Well, good morning, Sunshine," Videl said sarcastically. She was at the top of the stairs leading to Bulma's lab, and had just walked in in time to hear Bulma's curse. "I take it things aren't going well..."
"Unfortunately they're not," Bulma replied with a sigh. She looked truly exhausted on the outside, and she felt that way too, but there was a feeling inside her that wouldn't let her quit if it was the last thing she ever did. "I just can't figure out where they went. It almost seems..." She wanted to say impossible, but she didn't want to panic Videl. Although Videl was a very strong person, a woman who was never one to back down from a challenge, she was also very susceptible to panic-stricken moods in a matter of seconds. Things like losing her parents and husband to the Androids along with motherhood gave her a slightly more cautious eye and dulled her impulsiveness and bold attitude, and she was also very protective of her only child for obvious reasons. Pan was all she had, and she probably would never function right again if she ever lost her.
"I know how you feel...." Videl told her, in regards to their current situation. It was mind-boggling to her too, although even more so, since Bulma was the science genius.
Bulma nodded and decided that to continue when she was obviously tired and hungry wouldn't be a very wise decision. "What do you say we take a break and get something to eat? I could use a little rest right now."
Videl nodded, but like Bulma, she didn't want to leave the situation unattended to for long. "Sure. That sounds good. I'll cook you something."
They proceeded up the stairs, and then suddenly, Bulma began to laugh. "Do you even remember to how to cook for a human, and not a Saiyan?"
Videl laughed with her. "No, not really, actually..." She trailed off and they both were silent as they ate. They knew they had to find their kids soon. They're whole existence depended on it.
Back to the Past....
It was lunch time at Orange Star High School, and as Gohan and Pan stood in line waiting to get their lunches, Videl watched them closely. She'd been watching them ever since Pan made herself known to Orange Star, and she didn't know why, but Pan irritated her. Of course it could've been the way she just appeared out of nowhere with the future version of Trunks and interrupted her flying lesson. And it also could've been the fact that Pan got along with her friends better than she did. And then there was the fact that everywhere Gohan went, she went. She decided it was the second and first choice, even though she knew deep down inside that it was actually the third one. She hated Pan being so close to Gohan, for understandable reasons. She stuck to him like she was a little girl or something. Who did she think she was, his daughter?
Gohan leaned over to whisper in Pan's ear, "What exactly are you going to do to help me get Videl?"
Pan smirked at his impatience. "Don't worry about it. Good things come to those who wait." - Even though I don't have a clue as to how to get you two together. I wish I knew, but I really don't. I already decided against trying to make her jealous, because that would just be creepy. Goddamn it, why is this so hard!- She also thought of the what Trunks was going to say when she saw him later that day, and she almost cringed at the prospect of the tongue-lashing she was sure to get.
She followed Gohan absentmindedly to a table near the back of the cafeteria where Videl, a girl with short, blonde hair, and a guy with long hair of the same color were already seated. She had already met them, and knew them as a ditzy blonde named Erasa, and a pompous jerk named Sharpner. She hated Sharpner right from the start, as soon as he opened his mouth and tried to hit on the teenage version of her mother. And the hatred only increased once he flung an insult her "father's" way. To be blunt, Sharpner was clear on the other side of the tracks, a long way from Pan's good side.
"Hey, Pan. Gohan," Erasa greeted them, with a flirtatious hint in her high-pitched voice as she said Gohan's name. She winked and smiled at him, making him blush. Videl and Pan looked they wanted to pummel her face in for it. That just sent Erasa to the bad side where Sharpner was.
Sharpner greeted Pan and mumbled something to Gohan, and Pan grudgingly said a polite hello to him too. He grinned idiotically and said, "How are you doing today?"
Pan raised an eyebrow at him. Something about his tone made her suspicious. "Um... good..."
"That's great," He said in the same tone, and Pan was thankful that she was sitting on the opposite side of the table next to Gohan and Videl. That was, until he reached over and laid a hand on her knee. Her eyes widened like plates and he just grinned like the fool that he was.
"So how do you like school so far, Pan?" Erasa asked conversationally.
Pan swiped Sharpner's hand away and gave him a warning look before turning back to Erasa, who was seated next to Sharpner. "It's ok. I mean, how fun can school actually be?"
"You have a point there," Erasa replied as they ate their lunches, even though Gohan and Pan were clearly not satisfied with the amount of food. They were both finished in a matter of seconds. "Wow... I guess you are related to Gohan after all..." Erasa said in regards to her eating habits.
Pan laughed and brought her hand to the back of her head. "Yeah, I guess so."
Videl raised an eyebrow at that, but continued to eat quietly as she watched Pan's every move like a vulture waiting for the right moment to swoop down on its prey.
Pan was about to bring Videl into the conversation when Sharpner's persistent hand crept back to her knee. Her ki flared up, a gesture Gohan clearly noticed, and picked the time when Erasa started to talk again (for he knew she could talk for hours when she wanted to) before he whispered to her, "Anything wrong?"
Pan moved Sharpner's hand again and tried to remain as calm as she could when she answered Gohan. "No, I'm good." Then she started to feel some new feeling, a feeling that she only felt with her mother. It was a feeling that told her to spit out the truth, and she almost grinned when she felt it come to place. "Well... I'm kind of having a little problem with someone here at this table." She motioned to Sharpner with her eyes, who was pretending to listen to Erasa and catching glances her way.
Gohan raised an eyebrow and felt a sudden urge to protect Pan. "Sharpner? What's he doing now?"
Almost as soon as Gohan uttered the last few words, Sharpner's hand reappeared on her knee, this time creeping its way all the way up her thigh. Her eyes widened with anger, as did Gohan's when he noticed, but before he could act on it, Pan sprung up, reached over the table, and yanked Sharpner out of his seat by the collar of his shirt. Erasa and Videl both looked startled as they moved away slightly, but Gohan only smirked at her reaction, and was reminded of Videl by her act of sudden violence.
"What is your problem, asshole?" Pan yelled into Sharpner's face. "Did you not understand that I don't like you? Didn't you figure out that I wasn't interested the first time I moved your hand away from my damn knee?!" She was almost speaking through gritted teeth and Gohan couldn't help but notice that her ki continued to rise.
"Uh... sorry..." Sharpner mumbled, looking like he was about to piss on himself.
"Sorry?" Pan continued to yell in his face, and her ki rose even more as she said it.
Sharpner nodded pathetically, hoping that that would make her leave him alone, and Pan smirked. "Well, unlike you, I'm not going to feel sorry when I do this," She brought her fist back and knocked the living shit out of him, literally. The force of her fist sent him into a wall, and he slid down into it on his now soiled pants.
The rest of the spectators, along with everyone else in the cafeteria, looked totally shocked by the power that she possessed, then most of them remembered that she was related to Gohan and that shouldn't be such an odd situation. It didn't stop Pan, however, from blushing and imitating the Son gesture, realizing that keeping her heritage a secret might just be a little harder than she thought.
"Uh... guess I don't know my own strength..." She said sheepishly through nervous laughter, while Gohan and Videl exchanged glances, wondering what this girl from the future was hiding.
~*~
Trunks sighed as he sat next to Bulma, who was still trying to piece the invention with no name back together. It seemed hopeless to both of them. It was like trying to put a puzzle back together, but with wires and metal and complicated grooves in which the pieces were supposed to fit into.
"I'm sorry, Trunks," Bulma told him. "This is just really hard... and time consuming. I can't believe I ever built something like this..." She said the last part almost to herself, wondering how something that was described to be the size of a football be so intricately designed.
"It's ok... I'm sure my mom from my time is trying to figure something out," Trunks told her, although he couldn't see how she would ever be able to figure out where they went. It seemed almost pointless, like the answer had blown away in the wind and was never coming back.
"You need food.... we'll take a break," Bulma told him, and smiled at his reaction. Food was always the Saiyan alternative to every situation.
As they headed up the stairs to the kitchen, Bulma turned to Trunks and asked, "So, where is this girlfriend of yours? I'd like to meet her sometime."
Trunks smiled at the mention of the girl that he loved. "I hope you can meet her too. I'm not really sure where she is at the moment, though...." His smile faded as he thought of it.
Bulma noticed the drastic change in his mood and inquired, "Did you two have a fight? You look a little down in the dumps, kid."
Trunks shrugged. "Sort of. More like a disagreement. See, she has this silly little idea in her head and I'm against it. And being the stubborn girl that she is, she went along with it anyway."
Bulma nodded as she turned on the stove and stuck her head in the refrigerator. "I see. And you're a little angry about it, right?"
"Hell ye- I mean, of course."
Bulma smirked. "Well don't you think she has a right to make her own decisions?"
"Of course I do.... but this is a little different... it's hard to explain."
"Ok, I won't pry in your business anymore. But I do have a question. Do you love her?"
Trunks didn't appear to be startled by the question like she thought he'd be. She expected him to cower in a corner, like Vegeta almost did when she asked him if he loved her for the first time. But instead, he smiled slowly, and his blue eyes shined with a tenderness that told Bulma even before he said the words, "More than anything."
Bulma smiled. "Then that's all that matters, right?"
"Right." - But that won't stop me from screaming at her the first chance I get....-
~*~
Pan and Gohan walked the first few blocks from Orange Star on their way home, and turned into an alley so that Gohan could fly without being seen. He called the nimbus cloud for Pan, assuming that she couldn't fly, and together they took off in the direction of the Son House.
"Pan," Gohan shouted over the sound of the wind in their faces. "I hate to sound ungrateful or impatient, but when exactly will this plan of yours take effect?"
"I'm not really sure, Gohan," She decided to be honest with him. "I haven't got an actual clue as to how I'm going to do this.... and then there's Trunks to think of..."
"Trunks?" Gohan asked. "What about Trunks?"
"He doesn't want me to do this," She said simply. "I discussed it with him last night and he made a big deal about not interfering with your world because it could change the future or something.... I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention."
Gohan laughed. "So why are you doing it then?"
Pan looked at him with a smile. "I guess it's just something I know in my heart is right."
Gohan seemed satisfied with that answer, and turned back towards the skies. Pan thought she should see Trunks and get her dosage of screams and yells over with, and feeling his ki nearby, she called out to Gohan and told him she wanted to see him. He nodded, but almost had a heart attack when Pan jumped off the nimbus cloud.
He stopped flying and stammered, "What the-" But stopped when he noticed her hovering in the sky in front of him. "You can fly?"
Pan grinned. "Yeah. Trunks taught me." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't exactly telling the truth either.
Gohan nodded to her and then asked, "You want me to show you where Capsule Corp. is? I can feel his ki there."
"No, it's ok. I know where he is." She almost smacked herself when she noticed that she slipped up again.
"You do? How can you tell?" Gohan asked.
She decided to tell him about the bond, that she knew where he was at all times because of it, as well as his thoughts and otherwise. She was stretching the truth just a bit, but it got him off to his house and left her alone at the door of Capsule Corp. to face the wrath of the Prince of Saiyans' only son.
Speaking of the prince, he was the first face that Pan saw when she rang the doorbell, and it wasn't exactly a happy face either. He sized her up and immediately noticed something familiar about her.
"What do you want?" He asked harshly, still in his spandex training shorts.
Pan looked at him long and hard and deduced that by the enormous amount of muscles, and slight resemblance to Trunks that this was the almighty Saiyan Prince, Vegeta. She also deduced that spandex on him was not very attractive.
"I'm looking for Trunks," She answered Vegeta, not once alarmed by his tone. "Is he here?"
"Depends on which one," Vegeta replied. "I assume you mean the future brat." She nodded and he moved aside to let her in. It was when she brushed past him that he got a whiff of her scent, the same scent he smelled on Trunks. "So, you're his mate, eh?" He asked, his eyebrow slightly raised.
"Yes, I am," Pan replied. "My name is Pan. You must be Vegeta," She smiled, and added, "Prince of all Saiyans."
Vegeta smirked. "Indeed I am. The brat is downstairs."
Pan nodded and disappeared into the hall, following the trace of Trunks' ki, while Vegeta placed a hand on his chin, pondering the scent that radiated off of her.
- I was right.... it was the scent of Kakarott.... but...- He stopped there and went back to his training. He'd have to have a word with Trunks later.
~*~
"So, you went to Gohan's school, huh?" Trunks asked, angrily. After Pan met Bulma, she departed up the stairs to Vegeta to give the two lovers some much needed time. "Didn't I tell you not to do that?"
"What gives you the right to run my life?" Pan shot back, just as angry at him as he was at her. "You are not my father, Trunks."
"I've been more of a father to you than anyone else!" He blurted out, then regretted his choice of words.
Pan's face grew into a sullen facade. "Yeah.... and all because he was too much of a great person to risk your life... so instead I got you instead of a father...." She sat down in a nearby chair. "It's times like this that make me wonder if that was such a good idea...."
Trunks' anger faded as he knelt in front of Pan and took her hand in his own. "I'm sorry, Panny-chan. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that you can't do this. Tampering with the events in the past can possibly mess up the future. It's too risky."
"But yet you can come here twice..." She mumbled, and started to talk again before he could defend that situation. "Yeah... I know that was a different story, but let me ask you this: Didn't you think that Goku would've tried to get your parents together when you told him who they were?"
Trunks looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head. "From what I've heard, Goku would be to carefree and absent-minded to think of something like that."
Pan narrowed her eyes but said nothing in regards to that remark. "I still don't see what harm it'll do to get them together..."
"You'll see when we get back to our time and find out we have to destroy mind-controlling slugs or something."
Pan sighed and looked away from Trunks. "You want to know why I want to do this?"
Trunks looked intrigued. "Why?"
"So there can be a Pan in this time.... so my dad won't have to feel like everyone he loves gets taken away from him..." She looked at him with tears in her eyes, and Trunks' heart melted when he saw them. He'd never thought of it like that, and he supposed that Gohan could very well feel that way. He had to watch so many of his friends and family die on countless occasions, and his father was dead forever because of his power blinding his good judgment. It would only be natural for him to feel something akin to that feeling, and that would certainly be unfortunate. So with a begrudging sigh, Trunks groaned out an, "Alright... do it... just don't get in my way..."
Pan grinned and hugged Trunks tightly. "Really? Oh thank you, Trunks! I love you so much!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course you do now that you got what you want." He shook his head at her when she finally let go. "Just like when you were a child. You always hated your best friend, Trunks-kun, until you got what you wanted. Then you were in love with me."
"Best friend..." Pan mumbled as she thought of something. And then she grinned when a plan finally formed in her head. - I can't believe I never thought of it before...-
~*~
Late that night, Trunks tossed and turned in his bed at the Son house. He dreamed of a dark, hollow place, with no light whatsoever. The invention lay at his feet in a million tiny pieces, but when he bent down to pick them up, they disintegrated.
He looked around then, confused, and heard laughter in the distance, and someone calling his name. He looked in every direction, and suddenly, Pan came into view. She was far away from him, off in the distance of the dark place, laughing and pointing at him.
"Pan!" He called out to her and ran her way, but the closer he got, the farther away she became.
And then suddenly, a small black box appeared in her hands. The laughter ceased, as did Trunks' running as she opened it up. Inside were two small puppets that Pan held up for Trunks to see, and laughing again, she began to put on a show. She made the puppets hug and kiss, and to Trunks' horror, the puppets were Gohan and Videl.
He ran toward her once again, but this time what stopped him was something even more frightening, for out of the shadows came a dark figure that engulfed Pan and her puppets. The only thing that was left was Pan's bandanna, which upon further inspection, displayed the words: I TOLD YOU SO!
*~*~*~*~*
Like the ending? This just basically came out of nowhere and I just had to use it. As for future updates, I'm not really sure when I can get the next one out. You're basically going to have to be patient. Once "A Prince's Past" is rapped up, I can devote all my time to this fic and it'll be updated a lot quicker. Anyway, review, read my other fics, check out my bio for more info, whatever. Just make sure you review. I need 100 more reviews!
Next Chapter: Xavier visits Capsule Corp. and gets unwillingly enlisted in Bulma's bizarre plan to bring Trunks and Pan back. Meanwhile, Trunks tries to cope with the many images and nightmares he begins to have and his father's interrogations, as Pan works on becoming better friends with Gohan and Videl.
Special Thanks to reviews from:
Brandon B
sugar
zighawk- Email me with any kind of information if you still want the story done. My email address is on my bio.
Anime Ambreen and Poke Manic
Strawberri-grl- 100th reviewer! Yay!
ills
Matt
pan86
Aisha ClanClan
Disclaimer: Last time I checked, I wasn't Akira Toriyama. I think you get my meaning.
Chapter 11
When Trunks awoke the next morning in the guest room bed of the Son house, his first thoughts were of Pan's plan to bring her parents together. He had fought with her well into the night about it, and of course he lost, but now he had all intentions of bringing it up again and conquering her defenses. After all, he was the reason his world existed at all, he was the one who defeated the Androids, and to top it all off, he was Saiyan royalty. How hard could it be to win an argument with his woman?
As an after thought, he looked over his shoulder and noticed that Pan was nowhere to be found. He squinted, still somewhat in a haze, and stumbled his way outside the room into the hall to look for her.
He found his way into the kitchen, thinking that that was probably where a semi-Saiyan would be in the morning, and only found Chichi clearing dishes from the table and Goten and Little Trunks watching cartoons in the living room.
Chichi looked up and smiled at him. "Well, hello there, Trunks. How are you this morning?"
Trunks still looked confused and ran a hand through his tousled, lavender hair. "Uh... good... Have you seen Pan this morning?"
"Yes, I have," Chichi replied. "She ate breakfast with us and then disappeared after Gohan went to school."
- Shit.- Trunks thought. "Oh..."
"Are you hungry?" Chichi asked, then realized that was a dumb question to ask a half-Saiyan.
And as Trunks sat down to eat the mountains of food Chichi prepared, he couldn't help wondering if Pan's absence had something to do with Gohan and Videl. (A/N: Duh... He's a smart one, isn't he?)
~*~
Gohan walked down the hallways of Orange Star High School with a lighter step and a much brighter face than he had had the night before. Pan had instilled new hope in him, and although it was still a mystery to him, he felt that this woman with the familiar looks and the long, raven hair could be trusted, that if you put faith in her she could do almost anything. It was a strange and foreign feeling, and he couldn't help but wonder what it meant.
"So where's your first class?"
Gohan turned to the woman next to him in the bandanna, baggy red shirt, and black jeans with a grin. "It's right down this hall. I sure hope your plan works, Pan."
Pan grinned, looking just like the teenage version of her father. "It will, Gohan. Trust me, it will."
She managed to enroll herself into Orange Star High School in a matter of minutes, after explaining that she was the long lost relative of Gohan Son and desperately wanted a chance to continue her education. They asked no questions, surprisingly, and simply complied, since Gohan was one of their most promising students. Of course Gohan thought the story she concocted was just that, a story, and Pan smiled again to herself as she thought of it. If only he knew....
They turned one sharp corner and were finally in his homeroom class. She even managed to get into all of his classes, except one, and Videl was also in all of his classes. She figured it would be much easier to bring them together if they were together most of the time.
Gohan found his seat next to Videl, and Pan took the vacant seat next to Gohan, earning a glare from the pig-tailed girl in the baggy shirt. Pan simply smirked at her, thinking to herself how much fun this adventure was going to be.
~*~
"So, you're saying this handful of scrap metal caused you and your girlfriend to get transported here?"
Trunks nodded as he sat in a chair next to the blue-haired scientist in Capsule Corp.'s lab. He had decided to simply let Pan do whatever she wanted, only for today, just so he could have a clear enough head to assist the Bulma of this time in trying to find a way for them to get back to their time. It would only make him irritable to have to try to find Pan and drag her to Capsule Corp. with him like a bad little girl, so he ignored it for the time being.... well, the best he could, anyway.
"May I ask what you were doing when this thing was destroyed?" Bulma asked, one delicate eyebrow raised as she poked and prodded at the various pieces of metal on her desk.
Trunks didn't notice what she was hinting at by her expression and simply replied with, "Well, things got a little rough and the next thing we know we're somewhere on a street and the invention flew to the ground."
"Things got a little rough?" Bulma raised her eyebrow again and looked him dead in the face. "What does that mean?" Her face suddenly twisted into a slow smirk, and catching her meaning, Trunks almost flew out of his chair.
"No, no, no," He repeated, flailing his arms around. "Nothing like that.... no.... no... NO!"
Bulma laughed. "Ok, Trunks, I get it. I'm sorry. I had to ask."
Trunks, who was blushing furiously, looked at his mother with a weird expression. "I was just trying to get the damn thing away from her but she was so stubborn, it turned into a fight to get possession of it. Honest! That's what happened!" He felt like a kid that was blamed for breaking something and had to stumble around for the truth to clear his name.
"Ok, Trunks. Calm down." Bulma told him, still laughing, but her joy was cut short when a spiky-haired, arrogant man walked down the stairs in nothing but spandex shorts.
"Woman," He roared with his raspy, powerful voice. "Food," was all he said, and anyone could see the streak of dominance in his demeanor by the tone of his voice.
"Get some yourself, Vegeta," Bulma told him, disgusted at having to be interrupted because of his selfish needs. "Can't you see that I'm busy?"
It was then that Vegeta actually noticed Trunks' presence, although he felt his ki around the house all morning. "So I see. What brings you here again, future brat?"
Trunks just smirked at the name. "An accident. My girlfriend and I got transported here and now we have no way to get back home, since the invention is now demolished." He gestured toward the pieces of metal and Vegeta just snorted in answer.
"Where is this 'girlfriend' you speak of?" Vegeta asked. He felt around for another ki, but didn't find anything unfamiliar.
"To be honest, I haven't a clue," Trunks answered. His ki slightly rose when he thought of what she was probably doing.
Vegeta snorted again. He wanted to meet this girl that his son had chosen to bond with. It wasn't just the bite mark that was clearly in view on his neck, but it was a number of ways that Trunks' acted that told Vegeta that she was his mate. For starters, his ki rose when Vegeta asked him where she was, and only a bonded Saiyan gets so possessive of their mates as to get antsy and even angry when they don't know where their mates are. And then there was a way in which his eyes looked when he said the words, "my girlfriend", that spoke volumes. It was a look of tenderness and possession that Vegeta was sure Trunks didn't even know existed.
Something else about Trunks aroused Vegeta's curiosity. He squinted his dark eyes at him, and without warning, leaned over and actually sniffed his son from the future. When Vegeta's nose turned up with a look that said, to Trunks, "You smell like shit, boy", he suddenly looked confused and panicked.
"Uh... what?" Trunks asked as calmly as possible as Vegeta sniffed him again.
"Your scent..." Vegeta murmured with a look of concentration, which turned to disgust again. "The scent of Kakarrot spawn."
Trunks narrowed his eyes, and then it hit him and he looked suddenly nervous. He was smelling Pan. But how could he detect that she had Goku's genes inside of her from simply smelling him? He realized now that there were some things that he really didn't know about the Saiyan race.
"Oh, Vegeta, grow up," Bulma said. "All he did was spend the night at Chichi's house. How can you possibly smell 'Kakarrot spawn'?"
"Easy," Vegeta replied, then smirked. "They have strange, strong smells. Kind of like you, woman...."
Bulma glared at him. "What do you mean by that?"
"Humans stink," He replied simply, as if it was a well known fact.
Bulma forgot all about the broken invention and her future son and started one her trademark battle of words with her husband. Trunks just sat there staring into space, thinking that if Vegeta could smell Pan on him, then he might be well on his way to finding out who Pan was, which was very dangerous. He'd either have to hide Pan's face from him at all costs, or douse himself in cologne the next time he entered the house of Bulma Briefs.
Back to the Future... Er... Present... Er... You get my point....
"Goddamn it..." Bulma said in exasperation. She was working nonstop to try to find a way to bring her son and future daughter-in-law back to their time, but nothing was working. She'd sent Videl home the night before, with some difficulty, but she still didn't want to rest until she figured out how to bring them back. She felt like a complete failure at that moment, for she had never had such a rough time with a scientific problem. She was beginning to wonder if she'd finally found the one thing that challenged her.
"Well, good morning, Sunshine," Videl said sarcastically. She was at the top of the stairs leading to Bulma's lab, and had just walked in in time to hear Bulma's curse. "I take it things aren't going well..."
"Unfortunately they're not," Bulma replied with a sigh. She looked truly exhausted on the outside, and she felt that way too, but there was a feeling inside her that wouldn't let her quit if it was the last thing she ever did. "I just can't figure out where they went. It almost seems..." She wanted to say impossible, but she didn't want to panic Videl. Although Videl was a very strong person, a woman who was never one to back down from a challenge, she was also very susceptible to panic-stricken moods in a matter of seconds. Things like losing her parents and husband to the Androids along with motherhood gave her a slightly more cautious eye and dulled her impulsiveness and bold attitude, and she was also very protective of her only child for obvious reasons. Pan was all she had, and she probably would never function right again if she ever lost her.
"I know how you feel...." Videl told her, in regards to their current situation. It was mind-boggling to her too, although even more so, since Bulma was the science genius.
Bulma nodded and decided that to continue when she was obviously tired and hungry wouldn't be a very wise decision. "What do you say we take a break and get something to eat? I could use a little rest right now."
Videl nodded, but like Bulma, she didn't want to leave the situation unattended to for long. "Sure. That sounds good. I'll cook you something."
They proceeded up the stairs, and then suddenly, Bulma began to laugh. "Do you even remember to how to cook for a human, and not a Saiyan?"
Videl laughed with her. "No, not really, actually..." She trailed off and they both were silent as they ate. They knew they had to find their kids soon. They're whole existence depended on it.
Back to the Past....
It was lunch time at Orange Star High School, and as Gohan and Pan stood in line waiting to get their lunches, Videl watched them closely. She'd been watching them ever since Pan made herself known to Orange Star, and she didn't know why, but Pan irritated her. Of course it could've been the way she just appeared out of nowhere with the future version of Trunks and interrupted her flying lesson. And it also could've been the fact that Pan got along with her friends better than she did. And then there was the fact that everywhere Gohan went, she went. She decided it was the second and first choice, even though she knew deep down inside that it was actually the third one. She hated Pan being so close to Gohan, for understandable reasons. She stuck to him like she was a little girl or something. Who did she think she was, his daughter?
Gohan leaned over to whisper in Pan's ear, "What exactly are you going to do to help me get Videl?"
Pan smirked at his impatience. "Don't worry about it. Good things come to those who wait." - Even though I don't have a clue as to how to get you two together. I wish I knew, but I really don't. I already decided against trying to make her jealous, because that would just be creepy. Goddamn it, why is this so hard!- She also thought of the what Trunks was going to say when she saw him later that day, and she almost cringed at the prospect of the tongue-lashing she was sure to get.
She followed Gohan absentmindedly to a table near the back of the cafeteria where Videl, a girl with short, blonde hair, and a guy with long hair of the same color were already seated. She had already met them, and knew them as a ditzy blonde named Erasa, and a pompous jerk named Sharpner. She hated Sharpner right from the start, as soon as he opened his mouth and tried to hit on the teenage version of her mother. And the hatred only increased once he flung an insult her "father's" way. To be blunt, Sharpner was clear on the other side of the tracks, a long way from Pan's good side.
"Hey, Pan. Gohan," Erasa greeted them, with a flirtatious hint in her high-pitched voice as she said Gohan's name. She winked and smiled at him, making him blush. Videl and Pan looked they wanted to pummel her face in for it. That just sent Erasa to the bad side where Sharpner was.
Sharpner greeted Pan and mumbled something to Gohan, and Pan grudgingly said a polite hello to him too. He grinned idiotically and said, "How are you doing today?"
Pan raised an eyebrow at him. Something about his tone made her suspicious. "Um... good..."
"That's great," He said in the same tone, and Pan was thankful that she was sitting on the opposite side of the table next to Gohan and Videl. That was, until he reached over and laid a hand on her knee. Her eyes widened like plates and he just grinned like the fool that he was.
"So how do you like school so far, Pan?" Erasa asked conversationally.
Pan swiped Sharpner's hand away and gave him a warning look before turning back to Erasa, who was seated next to Sharpner. "It's ok. I mean, how fun can school actually be?"
"You have a point there," Erasa replied as they ate their lunches, even though Gohan and Pan were clearly not satisfied with the amount of food. They were both finished in a matter of seconds. "Wow... I guess you are related to Gohan after all..." Erasa said in regards to her eating habits.
Pan laughed and brought her hand to the back of her head. "Yeah, I guess so."
Videl raised an eyebrow at that, but continued to eat quietly as she watched Pan's every move like a vulture waiting for the right moment to swoop down on its prey.
Pan was about to bring Videl into the conversation when Sharpner's persistent hand crept back to her knee. Her ki flared up, a gesture Gohan clearly noticed, and picked the time when Erasa started to talk again (for he knew she could talk for hours when she wanted to) before he whispered to her, "Anything wrong?"
Pan moved Sharpner's hand again and tried to remain as calm as she could when she answered Gohan. "No, I'm good." Then she started to feel some new feeling, a feeling that she only felt with her mother. It was a feeling that told her to spit out the truth, and she almost grinned when she felt it come to place. "Well... I'm kind of having a little problem with someone here at this table." She motioned to Sharpner with her eyes, who was pretending to listen to Erasa and catching glances her way.
Gohan raised an eyebrow and felt a sudden urge to protect Pan. "Sharpner? What's he doing now?"
Almost as soon as Gohan uttered the last few words, Sharpner's hand reappeared on her knee, this time creeping its way all the way up her thigh. Her eyes widened with anger, as did Gohan's when he noticed, but before he could act on it, Pan sprung up, reached over the table, and yanked Sharpner out of his seat by the collar of his shirt. Erasa and Videl both looked startled as they moved away slightly, but Gohan only smirked at her reaction, and was reminded of Videl by her act of sudden violence.
"What is your problem, asshole?" Pan yelled into Sharpner's face. "Did you not understand that I don't like you? Didn't you figure out that I wasn't interested the first time I moved your hand away from my damn knee?!" She was almost speaking through gritted teeth and Gohan couldn't help but notice that her ki continued to rise.
"Uh... sorry..." Sharpner mumbled, looking like he was about to piss on himself.
"Sorry?" Pan continued to yell in his face, and her ki rose even more as she said it.
Sharpner nodded pathetically, hoping that that would make her leave him alone, and Pan smirked. "Well, unlike you, I'm not going to feel sorry when I do this," She brought her fist back and knocked the living shit out of him, literally. The force of her fist sent him into a wall, and he slid down into it on his now soiled pants.
The rest of the spectators, along with everyone else in the cafeteria, looked totally shocked by the power that she possessed, then most of them remembered that she was related to Gohan and that shouldn't be such an odd situation. It didn't stop Pan, however, from blushing and imitating the Son gesture, realizing that keeping her heritage a secret might just be a little harder than she thought.
"Uh... guess I don't know my own strength..." She said sheepishly through nervous laughter, while Gohan and Videl exchanged glances, wondering what this girl from the future was hiding.
~*~
Trunks sighed as he sat next to Bulma, who was still trying to piece the invention with no name back together. It seemed hopeless to both of them. It was like trying to put a puzzle back together, but with wires and metal and complicated grooves in which the pieces were supposed to fit into.
"I'm sorry, Trunks," Bulma told him. "This is just really hard... and time consuming. I can't believe I ever built something like this..." She said the last part almost to herself, wondering how something that was described to be the size of a football be so intricately designed.
"It's ok... I'm sure my mom from my time is trying to figure something out," Trunks told her, although he couldn't see how she would ever be able to figure out where they went. It seemed almost pointless, like the answer had blown away in the wind and was never coming back.
"You need food.... we'll take a break," Bulma told him, and smiled at his reaction. Food was always the Saiyan alternative to every situation.
As they headed up the stairs to the kitchen, Bulma turned to Trunks and asked, "So, where is this girlfriend of yours? I'd like to meet her sometime."
Trunks smiled at the mention of the girl that he loved. "I hope you can meet her too. I'm not really sure where she is at the moment, though...." His smile faded as he thought of it.
Bulma noticed the drastic change in his mood and inquired, "Did you two have a fight? You look a little down in the dumps, kid."
Trunks shrugged. "Sort of. More like a disagreement. See, she has this silly little idea in her head and I'm against it. And being the stubborn girl that she is, she went along with it anyway."
Bulma nodded as she turned on the stove and stuck her head in the refrigerator. "I see. And you're a little angry about it, right?"
"Hell ye- I mean, of course."
Bulma smirked. "Well don't you think she has a right to make her own decisions?"
"Of course I do.... but this is a little different... it's hard to explain."
"Ok, I won't pry in your business anymore. But I do have a question. Do you love her?"
Trunks didn't appear to be startled by the question like she thought he'd be. She expected him to cower in a corner, like Vegeta almost did when she asked him if he loved her for the first time. But instead, he smiled slowly, and his blue eyes shined with a tenderness that told Bulma even before he said the words, "More than anything."
Bulma smiled. "Then that's all that matters, right?"
"Right." - But that won't stop me from screaming at her the first chance I get....-
~*~
Pan and Gohan walked the first few blocks from Orange Star on their way home, and turned into an alley so that Gohan could fly without being seen. He called the nimbus cloud for Pan, assuming that she couldn't fly, and together they took off in the direction of the Son House.
"Pan," Gohan shouted over the sound of the wind in their faces. "I hate to sound ungrateful or impatient, but when exactly will this plan of yours take effect?"
"I'm not really sure, Gohan," She decided to be honest with him. "I haven't got an actual clue as to how I'm going to do this.... and then there's Trunks to think of..."
"Trunks?" Gohan asked. "What about Trunks?"
"He doesn't want me to do this," She said simply. "I discussed it with him last night and he made a big deal about not interfering with your world because it could change the future or something.... I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention."
Gohan laughed. "So why are you doing it then?"
Pan looked at him with a smile. "I guess it's just something I know in my heart is right."
Gohan seemed satisfied with that answer, and turned back towards the skies. Pan thought she should see Trunks and get her dosage of screams and yells over with, and feeling his ki nearby, she called out to Gohan and told him she wanted to see him. He nodded, but almost had a heart attack when Pan jumped off the nimbus cloud.
He stopped flying and stammered, "What the-" But stopped when he noticed her hovering in the sky in front of him. "You can fly?"
Pan grinned. "Yeah. Trunks taught me." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't exactly telling the truth either.
Gohan nodded to her and then asked, "You want me to show you where Capsule Corp. is? I can feel his ki there."
"No, it's ok. I know where he is." She almost smacked herself when she noticed that she slipped up again.
"You do? How can you tell?" Gohan asked.
She decided to tell him about the bond, that she knew where he was at all times because of it, as well as his thoughts and otherwise. She was stretching the truth just a bit, but it got him off to his house and left her alone at the door of Capsule Corp. to face the wrath of the Prince of Saiyans' only son.
Speaking of the prince, he was the first face that Pan saw when she rang the doorbell, and it wasn't exactly a happy face either. He sized her up and immediately noticed something familiar about her.
"What do you want?" He asked harshly, still in his spandex training shorts.
Pan looked at him long and hard and deduced that by the enormous amount of muscles, and slight resemblance to Trunks that this was the almighty Saiyan Prince, Vegeta. She also deduced that spandex on him was not very attractive.
"I'm looking for Trunks," She answered Vegeta, not once alarmed by his tone. "Is he here?"
"Depends on which one," Vegeta replied. "I assume you mean the future brat." She nodded and he moved aside to let her in. It was when she brushed past him that he got a whiff of her scent, the same scent he smelled on Trunks. "So, you're his mate, eh?" He asked, his eyebrow slightly raised.
"Yes, I am," Pan replied. "My name is Pan. You must be Vegeta," She smiled, and added, "Prince of all Saiyans."
Vegeta smirked. "Indeed I am. The brat is downstairs."
Pan nodded and disappeared into the hall, following the trace of Trunks' ki, while Vegeta placed a hand on his chin, pondering the scent that radiated off of her.
- I was right.... it was the scent of Kakarott.... but...- He stopped there and went back to his training. He'd have to have a word with Trunks later.
~*~
"So, you went to Gohan's school, huh?" Trunks asked, angrily. After Pan met Bulma, she departed up the stairs to Vegeta to give the two lovers some much needed time. "Didn't I tell you not to do that?"
"What gives you the right to run my life?" Pan shot back, just as angry at him as he was at her. "You are not my father, Trunks."
"I've been more of a father to you than anyone else!" He blurted out, then regretted his choice of words.
Pan's face grew into a sullen facade. "Yeah.... and all because he was too much of a great person to risk your life... so instead I got you instead of a father...." She sat down in a nearby chair. "It's times like this that make me wonder if that was such a good idea...."
Trunks' anger faded as he knelt in front of Pan and took her hand in his own. "I'm sorry, Panny-chan. I didn't mean to upset you. It's just that you can't do this. Tampering with the events in the past can possibly mess up the future. It's too risky."
"But yet you can come here twice..." She mumbled, and started to talk again before he could defend that situation. "Yeah... I know that was a different story, but let me ask you this: Didn't you think that Goku would've tried to get your parents together when you told him who they were?"
Trunks looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head. "From what I've heard, Goku would be to carefree and absent-minded to think of something like that."
Pan narrowed her eyes but said nothing in regards to that remark. "I still don't see what harm it'll do to get them together..."
"You'll see when we get back to our time and find out we have to destroy mind-controlling slugs or something."
Pan sighed and looked away from Trunks. "You want to know why I want to do this?"
Trunks looked intrigued. "Why?"
"So there can be a Pan in this time.... so my dad won't have to feel like everyone he loves gets taken away from him..." She looked at him with tears in her eyes, and Trunks' heart melted when he saw them. He'd never thought of it like that, and he supposed that Gohan could very well feel that way. He had to watch so many of his friends and family die on countless occasions, and his father was dead forever because of his power blinding his good judgment. It would only be natural for him to feel something akin to that feeling, and that would certainly be unfortunate. So with a begrudging sigh, Trunks groaned out an, "Alright... do it... just don't get in my way..."
Pan grinned and hugged Trunks tightly. "Really? Oh thank you, Trunks! I love you so much!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course you do now that you got what you want." He shook his head at her when she finally let go. "Just like when you were a child. You always hated your best friend, Trunks-kun, until you got what you wanted. Then you were in love with me."
"Best friend..." Pan mumbled as she thought of something. And then she grinned when a plan finally formed in her head. - I can't believe I never thought of it before...-
~*~
Late that night, Trunks tossed and turned in his bed at the Son house. He dreamed of a dark, hollow place, with no light whatsoever. The invention lay at his feet in a million tiny pieces, but when he bent down to pick them up, they disintegrated.
He looked around then, confused, and heard laughter in the distance, and someone calling his name. He looked in every direction, and suddenly, Pan came into view. She was far away from him, off in the distance of the dark place, laughing and pointing at him.
"Pan!" He called out to her and ran her way, but the closer he got, the farther away she became.
And then suddenly, a small black box appeared in her hands. The laughter ceased, as did Trunks' running as she opened it up. Inside were two small puppets that Pan held up for Trunks to see, and laughing again, she began to put on a show. She made the puppets hug and kiss, and to Trunks' horror, the puppets were Gohan and Videl.
He ran toward her once again, but this time what stopped him was something even more frightening, for out of the shadows came a dark figure that engulfed Pan and her puppets. The only thing that was left was Pan's bandanna, which upon further inspection, displayed the words: I TOLD YOU SO!
*~*~*~*~*
Like the ending? This just basically came out of nowhere and I just had to use it. As for future updates, I'm not really sure when I can get the next one out. You're basically going to have to be patient. Once "A Prince's Past" is rapped up, I can devote all my time to this fic and it'll be updated a lot quicker. Anyway, review, read my other fics, check out my bio for more info, whatever. Just make sure you review. I need 100 more reviews!
Next Chapter: Xavier visits Capsule Corp. and gets unwillingly enlisted in Bulma's bizarre plan to bring Trunks and Pan back. Meanwhile, Trunks tries to cope with the many images and nightmares he begins to have and his father's interrogations, as Pan works on becoming better friends with Gohan and Videl.
