A/N: It is with regret that I have two errors in the previous chapter:
- Trunks left Pan on her SEVENTH b-day. Sowee, I missed that part.
- Goten is suffering from a bout of ANEMIA not amnesia. Yet again, another carelessness on my part. -.-;;
Next time I promise to be more careful when I type ^^;;.
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Trunks grinned at his best buddy as they ate the last few pieces of the cake. "You're the best, Goten! Thanks for the food!"
Goten chuckled. "I'm sure you missed this kind of meal in outer space, huh?"
"Boy, you have no idea how much!" He continued munching on the chocolate cake. "Mmm! Good! Marron's an excellent cook! Don't you think so, Goten?"
"Well, she's learning a lot from Mama." He shrugged a little. "Both she and Pan cook marvelously."
"Pan…" He leaned back on his chair, a pensive look on his face. "Poor kid…Gohan should have been stronger for her. For a fighter like him, it was pretty dumb for him to allow himself to become like this. Didn't he even think about his daughter?"
"We can never read what is in Big Brother's heart and mind. He loved Videl' nee-san so much…but we just have to pray that he can get himself back together soon enough. I feel sorry for my niece."
"She doesn't look so affected…"
"That's true, but no matter how mature she may seem, she still has the heart of a child, Trunks. She gets hurt." His eyes saddened. "Have I told you what happened in Pan's birthday after you left?"
He shook his head slowly.
Goten sighed. "She refused to be in the party and she opted to wait outside the gates of the house for you. She insisted that you would come. She said that her fiancé promised her his presence."
Suddenly, the cake lost its initial taste. He put his plate down. "Y-You know that I only said that so she would let me board the spaceship already."
"She never doubted you once, Trunks. She took that promise seriously."
"She was just a child then. I didn't know it would matter that much."
Goten played with his fork. "Ah well, I trust that when you go find those dragon balls, you will be able to make it up to her."
"I'll do my best, Goten."
"Gentlemen's agreement?"
He grinned. "Of course!"
---***---
Pan quietly entered the dark room, holding a tray of cake and a glass of juice. She placed it on the bedside table, then walked towards the perfectly still figure seated by the window.
"Papa, I brought you snacks," she began.
He didn't move, even to acknowledge her presence. She was used to this stagnant response of her father, but still, it hurt.
Deeply.
"I-It was from this welcome back party…Uncle Trunks came home already," she continued, keeping her tone even.
Still no reaction.
"U-Uncle Trunks told me that he would be taking me along in his journey to find the dragon balls. I think it would help Uncle Goten's health…and maybe, just maybe, we can bring Mama back." Her eyes glistened with tears. "T-Then maybe we can go back to those times when we were happy, eh?"
She saw his mouth move and form her mother's name.
And it was all she could do not to cry.
She walked towards him and took his palm. She smoothed it against her cheek, and at the same time, held it lovingly.
Yet she knew her love was not enough to take him back to the real world—the world that had been so harsh to him. The world that took the only woman he had loved with so much passion.
"Papa, goodnight…and goodbye." She shut her eyes, memorizing the touch of her father. She would keep this as a memory when she travels to outer space tomorrow.
Then something happened next that made her eyes widen. She felt his other hand run gently on her hair, smoothing it tenderly. She went still as a rock; not knowing if what was happening was real.
After so many years, was this the same person whom she fervently prayed for would show her at least a sign that he still recognized her?
She couldn't stop anymore the lone tear that fell down. Now more than ever, she wanted to find the dragon balls. She was determined to get her father back.
---***---
After bidding goodbye to Goten, he left the bedroom and headed for the front door.
The moment he twisted the doorknob, the other side of the knob rotated to the opposite direction.
A thief?
He let go of the knob and waited.
Funny, but the person on the other side seemed to have taken the same thinking as him. The knob remained undisturbed for a few seconds. Finally, unable to control his curiosity, he opened the door…
…and was met by the sudden weight of a person. They both fell down the floor.
"Ouch! Oh drat!" Trunks rubbed the back of his head and neck then looked down.
Pan was lying down, face buried against his chest.
"P-Pan?" he said, an incredulous look on his face.
---***---
Pan was stunned awhile ago when she felt the doorknob move when she was turning it to the reverse side. Thinking that somebody had broken into the house, she decided to take that robber by surprise by slamming the door open and tackling him.
She succeeded, but of course, it was not part of her plan to linger in his arms.
Sure, he smelled kind of nice. It was not the usual cologne that her Uncle Goten wears, or her father too, for that matter. The scent was sexier, something that could mesmerize and fill all her senses so easily.
And yeah, his arms were so strong…it could promise her immediately security. But it wasn't like her Uncle Goten's at all. He Uncle Goten's touch could pacify her; these arms were doing the exact OPPOSITE. They were startling her senses, even making her heartbeat race.
But…
Wait a minute! The arms holding her…the touch was strangely familiar to her. It could only mean that this was…
"P-Pan?"
Her name prompted her to look up. She gasped when she saw that it was, indeed, Trunks.
She immediately got up, annoyed. Well, mostly annoyed at herself for letting herself act stupidly for the last few minutes. "What are you doing here?" she asked angrily to mask her embarrassment. "I thought you brought Marron' nee-san home already?"
"I came back," he replied, shrugging. "I haven't really talked with your uncle yet."
"Oh really?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "So I'm sure Uncle knows already about your intention to find the dragon balls."
"He approves," he said simply. He then paused, gazing at her intently.
"What?" she asked, slightly rattled by his intense stare.
"You've grown up…wonderfully."
She looked away, refusing to show him how his words affected her. "You think flattery will make me look at you differently?"
"Pan, don't…don't you want to listen to me first?" he asked quietly. "I had my reasons why I didn't make it to the birthday party…"
"I don't really care."
"But I want to explain!"
"And I don't have the time to listen." She got up. "Anyway, it doesn't mean anything to me." She started to walk away.
"I don't want to say goodbye to my fiancée, that's why!" he called after her. "Because if she asks me to stay, I would do as she tells!"
She stopped walking.
"The travel was a very important one to make…for my company." He pocketed his hands into his jacket. "I'm looking for ideas that we can incorporate into the products and creations of Capsule Corp. As the president, I have to make the travel myself."
"Why are you telling me this?" She still refused to look at him. "You don't owe me these explanations. I don't need them."
"I…I thought you should know." He looked down. "I thought it would help ease the tension between us." He paused, then continued softly. "I missed my fiancée, you know. The sugar and spice angel who can bring grown men like me down to his knees."
At last, she threw him a glance. Brief, but he could see it was of pure ice. "Nothing you say will make things better. I hate you, and will always would." With that, she headed for Goten's room.
Trunks sighed deeply. Pan was proving to be more of a challenge than he initially thought.
---***---
The next day…
"Bye Pan! Bye Trunks! Take good care of yourselves!" said Goten, waving at them cheerfully.
Marron sighed. "Oh Pan, you ought you behave yourself up there. Please be careful!" She hugged the slightly amused girl tightly.
"I'll be fine, Marron' nee-san," she replied confidently, then lowered her voice. "Take good care of Uncle Goten. I entrust you my favorite uncle in the world."
The woman's cheeks turned bright pink. "Oh, not you too, Pan!" Trunks told her the exact thing last night when he walked her home.
Bra rolled her eyes. "You just came home, dear Bro. Why in a hurry to leave?"
Bulma waved at her son. "When you come back, we must already talked about grandchildren—"
"Mom!" he complained, sweatdropping.
Pan tore her eyes away from the scene and looked up at the window of their house, searching for her father's bedroom. She found it, and to her surprise, her father was standing there, as if watching them.
She smiled slowly, then saluted at him. She barely noticed Trunks gazing at her, then at her father.
Soon, the two took their seats already. The spaceship then blasted off.
---***---
"There. We're out of the earth's atmosphere already. We can now sit back and relax and—" Trunks sighed when he saw that Pan had fallen asleep already.
He smiled fondly at the girl in slumber. Any other normal person with no previous experience in space travel would have freaked out in their exit from Earth, but Pan had maintained her composure—had even slept on it, in fact.
Ah well, Pan had always been different from the girls he had seen. Even when she was still seven, Pan knew what she wanted already, and she would go for it no matter what odds she was against.
She didn't like Barbie Dolls; she liked training in martial arts under the scorching sun. She didn't like frilly dresses, to her mother and grandmother's dismay; in fact, he had even more clothes than she did, considering her gender and age!
And she hated boys and being teased with them. Ah, Pan had never been the giggly girl type anyway. She hated mush as if it was a mortal sin.
Speaking of mush…His mouth twitched when he remembered what happened on Pan's first day in elementary school…
---***---
Trunks was hurriedly finishing the paper lantern – one of Pan's whims this week—when his little fiancée rushed home, sniffling.
Now that alarmed him. Pan…CRYING?!
"What's the matter, sweetheart?" he asked gently.
The little girl shook her head, but her hiccups betrayed her.
Goten, hearing his niece' muffled cry, joined them. With the two men's coaxing, Pan finally spoke up.
"I'm pregnant."
He was…shocked, to put it mildly. Goten, on the other hand, rubbed his cheek. "Gee, how could that have happened?"
Marron then arrived, and she was informed of the latest happening in Pan's life. She was, of course, scandalized. Goten quickly pacified her as he asked Pan how come she knew she was pregnant.
"W-Well…you told me that if a boy kisses me…I would get pregnant."
Silence, then Goten and Marron sweatdropped.
He rubbed his head sheepishly. "My fault. I was the one who told her that."
"TRUNKS!!!"
"Sorry!!! I just wanted to protect her…"
Pan then went on to narrate.
"I-I was playing tag with my boy classmate but he kept on losing to me. He couldn't outrun me, s-so he went to me and told me that I was just a girl, and girls are lame. I punched his nose."
"And…?" the two males asked.
"He kissed you?" asked Marron breathlessly.
"He punched me back."
The three looked…stumped.
"So we fought, and I defeated him again."
"So he kissed you?" asked Goten.
"No…he went to his big brother, crying. His brother—from sixth grade, I think, came and saw me."
"He punched you?" asked Marron and Goten.
"N-No. He scolded his brother for being ungentlemanly. H-He then offered to play with me instead." She played with her shoelaces. "He kept on losing to me, but he didn't get mad. When we finished, he came to me and asked me if I had fun. I said yes. He then took my hand…and kissed it…" She started to sob all over again. "Mama will get mad if she knows about this!"
Marron hugged the girl. "Don't worry. We won't tell, would we, Goten?"
He nodded. "Boy scout's promise!"
"Where's that guy who did that?" asked Trunks suddenly, fists clenched. "What's his name?"
Pan gave him the name and his section. With that, Trunks took off.
Later that dinner, there was a new topic in the town dinners in the whole city—the President of the Capsule Corporation chased a sixth grader all over the city and threatened to sue him with acts of lasciviousness if he wouldn't go to Pan and apologize publicly.
So the next morning, after the flag ceremony, the poor boy went to the stage and publicly announced his apology for what he did, adding that Trunks told him that only HE had the RIGHT to kiss the girl, as his little fiancée.
Since then on, no boy went three meters near Pan again.
---***---
Trunks smiled at the memory. He silently wondered if Pan remembers little moments such as that one.
I doubt it, but still…I would like to hope.
He placed a blanket on her before going back to driving.
---***---
to be continued
