Okay, smut queen. You get your wish ^.^() Here's the next chapter.

PS: Seriously. Thanks for reminding me, otherwise, I would have forgotten to. ^___^V

La Primera de la Noche

Chapter 6: The Dating Game

Pan awoke the very next morning to the feeling of a rough pink tongue licking her face along with the horrible taste of her mouth, which needed a toothbrush badly. Slowly, she opened her tired, crusty eyes to see her father's kitten looming over her like some psychotic killer. With a groan of exhaust, she tried to shove the animal off of her, but its little nails dug painfully through her tank top and into her chest; so, defeated, Pan pulled her pillow over her face and closed her eyes tightly.

She wondered briefly if she was tired enough to go back to sleep and came to the conclusion that she could not. Work at Satan City Elementary school would begin for her in less than an hour, and she knew she couldn't leave her Kindergarten class waiting. With a heavy sigh, she swung her legs out from under the covers, noted that they needed to be shaved in a big way, and raised her arms into the air to stretch.

She had no idea why she had been so tired the previous evening. Images of Trunks filled her head and reminded her that she was going to visit him that night, but for the first time in a while, Pan didn't cringe at the thought of meeting with him. It was strange to her how quickly seeing Trunks again made her change her feelings. Things were so close to back to normal that it was almost eerie to her, but that didn't matter. Why worry yourself with what isn't wrong? Even though their conversations had been far from 'ordinary', Pan had too many Son family mannerisms to be that concerned about it. Now that she'd had a good night sleep to think on it, it seemed almost like they'd kicked sand in each others eyes, pouted for a while, then made up and decided to go play in the sandbox again.

Slowly, Pan made her way into the bathroom, stood over the sink, loaded her toothbrush up with nice clean toothpaste, and went to work brushing vigorously. A thought hit her.

'If we're going back to the sandbox, we'll just kick again and again.'

Pan spit out the toothpaste, wiped her mouth off with her hand, and then looked up at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was tousled and her eyeliner had smudged overnight, leaving her with some pretty horrendous raccoon eyes. 'And when we kick again and again, how long will it take until something goes wrong?' She sighed, frustrated with her own confusing way of thinking, and leaned her forehead forward onto the mirror.

"This is stupid." She muttered. She slammed down her toothbrush and walked up to her room to change.

Trunks was alone and wide awake in his study, pouring into a large physics text book, but he couldn't concentrate. 'At this rate, I'll never get my masters degree.' He though bitterly and set the book down on the desk adjacent to him. Trunks then examined his watch, which read Monday, June 14th, 8:45 AM. He gave a halfhearted smile and did some quick math in his head. According to the date, he had only one week left before his vacation ended and he had to go back home. This did not say much, however, for his permanent residence was only on the other side of town. It was just nice every now and then to spend some time back at his birth home with his mother and father. It was even nicer when he didn't have to work, but soon she would return to his office, his busywork, his two other masters degrees, and his typical old boring lifestyle.

His mind had been on Pan, and he laughed in mockery of himself and thought. 'Thinking of her... That's the story of your life, isn't it?' He reclined in his computer chair and scratched his ribs. But it wasn't the story of his life...Not his entire life. 'Ever since that night...and that damn storm. If only I hadn't gotten lost." Trunks grimaced and stood up. 'But it isn't all that bad is it?'

On his mother's desk there was an array of old photos standing in neat little frames all in a row, and he scanned them slowly. The first picture was of his grandfather and grandmother when they had been a lot younger. They were standing in front of a small shop that sported a wooden sign reading 'Capsule Company' holding each other excitedly, happy with their new growing business. Next to that frame was a picture of his mother at a very young age, accompanied by youthful versions of Goku, Yamcha, Krillian, Puar, and Oolong. They were holding all seven dragonballs with them and they appeared so alive; a trait so rare for Bulma these days. The next photo was of His mother and father in front of Capsule Corp. Bulma was slung over Vegeta's right shoulder, but she was smiling at the camera anyway. Vegeta was smirking over his free shoulder, which was about as close as he ever got to a smile. Trunks supposed that this rare form of a grin caught on film was why she'd chosen to keep it where she could see it everyday. The next picture was of Trunks and his sister, Bra, playing on a tire swing in a park somewhere, and then the final picture at the far corner of the desk, almost hidden behind the reading lamp, was a picture of Trunks and Pan.

His heart thumped and he picked it up to examine it. The two of them, no more than six-years-old, were curled up on a couch, covered with popcorn. Trunks' head had rested on Pan's flat little chest, and both were sound asleep, lit by the glow of the television. Trunks smiled, though he didn't remember such an occurrence. His heart filled as he stared, running his finger along the smooth wooden frame. Pan had grown so much since then, he thought. 'So have I.'

This girl who had been his best friend; who had fought with him over sports matches and who got the last cookie; who had been with him through all of his problems; who had trusted him with all of her secrets; who had been entrusted with all of Trunks' secrets; had now become so much more in what seemed like such a short time. Again and again he had wondered if he hadn't just made an idiot mistake, or if he'd been delusional, and every time he came up with the same confusing result; No.

The night of the hurricane hadn't been a mistake for him. He'd kissed her for what felt like absolutely no reason in particular, but now he knew why. It was because he loved her. He always had. He loved everything about her, from her toes to her the way she drank soda, and hadn't even realized it. For years, there was an amazing girl right in front of his face, and he hadn't realized it. Because of this, everything that night had snapped and he vented this emotion through just one kiss.

Trunks sighed. But that had all lead to a very long period of hiatus and discomfort, making him wonder why he had been so blind not to see it coming. Everything that had happened made him feel like it was his fault... But Pan had kissed him back. She had made the kiss longer than it would have normally been. Shouldn't that make it her fault, too? Did that mean that she loved him, too?

He groaned and walked up to his room to change. 'Why am I worrying so much about all of this?' he asked himself haphazardly. 'I have her back now, at least as a friend, and I should be grateful.' Trunks' dresser drawer was full nice clean smelling clothes, and he picked out a tight-fitting, blue, Kill Hannah t-shirt; a pair of tight and faded blue jeans; and his favorite pair of Birkenstocks.

'I think I'll make pancakes for dinner...'

Pan had finished teaching, writing in some grades, and meeting with a few parents at around 6:00. 'You'd better bust your ass over to Trunks', girl.' She thought to herself. The clothes she had picked out that, a tight purple Hollister t-shirt, light blue jeans, and her favorite studded belt, were laid out for her by her desk. She changed at the school, pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and reapplied another layer of black mascara and eyeliner before setting out for Capsule Corp. manor.

She arrived no more than fifteen minutes later, parked her car in the long, winding driveway, and walked briskly to the front door. She had stopped earlier and picked up a couple of movies from blockbuster, and grabbed the bag with her teeth to free up a hand to ring the doorbell. Movement could be heard from inside.

'God...It's amazing how.. weird.. I feel.' She thought. The broad oak doors were so familiar to her from the million times she'd rang the doorbell before. The smell of the freshly cut hedges and the rose bushes growing nearby brought back fonder memories of her youth. Everything that made Capsule Corp. what it was told her that everything would be okay, and she wanted so badly to believed it.

The broad doors opened and Trunks greeted her warmly. "Hey, Pan-Chan." He said with a smile, grabbing her school bag and setting it on the table next to the door. "Hiya, Trunks-kun." She replied softly and gave him a hug, but quickly pulled away as a sensational aroma filled her nose. Trunks stared at her uneasily. 'Did I do something wrong?' he thought. 'Oh please don't tell me I'm not allowed to hug you anymore, Pan.'

"Good God. What is that smell?" Pan asked. She turned her nose into the air and spun around, meandering away about two meters. Confusedly, Trunks raised one of his arms and sniffed himself, confusedly. 'Not me...' "Oh my... Is that what I think it is...?" she asked as she walked up the corridor and into the kitchen. Before Trunks could reply, there was a loud, piercing scream followed by an exclamation. "Pancakes!!"

Trunks, slightly ruffled, ambled cautiously to the kitchen and stopped in the doorway to peer in. Pan was standing over one of the many shiny aluminum stove burners, gleefully watching the simmering cakes frying golden brown. "Uhhmm..." He began. "Dinner's served?" Pan grinned and stuck her tongue out at him. "You are so completely awesome for making these! Remember how we'd always make them before going clubbing?" Trunks grabbed a couple of plates from the cabinet and chuckled. "And that time you didn't cook them well enough and ate them, then got sick after dancing, then threw up all over that guy who was hitting on you?"

Pan laughed as she rummaged around for the syrup. "Ohh, yeah. Good times. I'll never forget that night." She frowned. "Then when we went home, you made me ride in the bed of your truck so I wouldn't throw up all over your new seats." Trunks sighed exasperatedly. "Well, come on. That was really nice leather. Besides, it wasn't cold out there, and you did throw up all over that guy's windshield." Pan loaded her plate full of pancakes and snickered, then followed Trunks out of the kitchen. "I sure did."

~~Several hours later....~~

"GOD, Trunks, get off of me!!" Pan growled in frustration. Trunks laughed wickedly and shot her a smirk. "Well, don't get all upset at me if you're no good at it." Pan slammed her controller down onto the coffee table and frowned at him. "I'm SO not going to keep playing video games with you if you keep backing my player up into the corner and kicking him!" Trunks frowned and shut the super Nintendo off. "You're the skeleton, Pan. Aren't you able to teleport away or something?"

"I can't because I don't know the buttons for it." She said scathingly as she pulled a pillow into her lap and wrapped her arms around it, obviously miffed. "Let's play Monopoly." She suggested.

"You always win in Monopoly, Pan." Said Trunks with a raised eyebrow. "And you're always pulling up that little pass to boardwalk card every time you get a chance."

"Just what are you suggesting?" Pan asked edgily, suddenly trying to hide a grin.

There was a brief moment of silence before Trunks whispered.

"I think you cheat."

"WHAT!?" Pan asked loudly. "How DARE you suggest such a thing, Mr. Briefs. Why, I've never in my life cheated in that game!...Except maybe once...Or twice...Rarely. Really!" She tried to hide her smile behind the pillow in her lap.

Trunks sat next to her, fully poised and staring forward, trying not to smile. He then said lowly and monotonously, "Cheaters are punished in this household."

Pan shrieked and jumped up to run away, but He snaked his arms around her middle and pulled her into his lap. He then began a barrage of ruthless, unrelenting tickling. The room was instantly full of kicking, laughing, screaming, and the sound of furniture being shoved around. Pan jumped up and ran around the living room, followed closely by Trunks who was howling like an idiot. Then, with a loud thud that surely woke up some neighbors, He tackled her to the ground and pinned her underneath him. Hot tears of laughter were creeping down the sides of Pan's face, which were rosy red from lack of oxygen. As she tried in vain to pull him off, a few hollow words escaped from her mouth.

"What's that?" asked Trunks. "Are you trying to tell me something?" He continued his tickling torture on her.

Pan gasped hungrily for air that wouldn't come, and tried to speak. "MERCY!"

Satisfied, Trunks chuckled heartily and rolled off of his friend before she could swing a fist. With a few coughs to regain her breath, Pan scrambled to her feet and jumped behind a nearby couch, far out of Trunks' reach.

"That was... Terrible!" She seethed between deep breaths, a look a sheer rage glittering through her livid eyes. These statements caused Trunks to smirk in a way that would make his father proud.

"I seem to remember you putting up a better fight in the past, Pan-chan." She growled in annoyance. "I seem to remember being half your size, Trunks- chan." Pan stood up slightly from her half-hidden shelter behind the sofa. "I also seem to remember not being attacked off guard. If I had seen it coming, you'd be out colder than a snowman." Trunks chuckled darkly. "That's what you say..." He trailed off, and Pan eventually crept over and sat next to him again. For a few moments, content silence engulfed the two of them as the watched the snowy static on the television mill away.

"Are you still living with your mom and dad?" Trunks asked suddenly, catching his friend in a dazed stupor.

"Hm? Oh... Yeah, I am. I tried moving out into my old apartment again, but, well... You know me, I can't take..." She shuddered inwardly. "I just can't take it..." Trunks frowned. "What is there that you can't take?" A look of extreme discomfort glazed over Pans face and she began to nervously twist the corner of the pillow she was holding.

"Well, I... God, you know! I mean, I know it's kind of a hassle for my parents to still have to keep up with me all the time...I mean, they don't have to, but when I'm living with them, they feel like they do, so they do anyway...I don't know... I really want to move back out on my own, but I just..." She trailed off, unwilling to look anywhere besides her own hands. Trunks interjected softly. "...Just that you don't want to be alone?" She sighed and flung her pillow down. "It's not that I don't want to, it's just... I can't! It's too much for me to handle. God only knows my therapist doesn't know what to do about it. I can't explain why I break down every time I go back out on my own."

Trunks nodded placidly as he listened, drinking in her words. He had known that Pan had experience emotional trauma when she had first moved away from her parents permanently. About four days after she moved out, she had gone mildly insane, locked herself into her apartment, and almost set the building on fire. Luckily, her uncle Goten had come by to visit and found her curled up into a ball stark naked in her closet, flicking a cigarette lighter on and off. After this, Pan moved back in with her parents and since then, she had tried moving back out on her own again on three different occasions, none of which worked. Though Trunks was aware of all of this, nothing could have prepared him for what he said next.

"Well, maybe you just need someone to stay with you. How about you move in with me?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End chapter!! MUAHAHAHAHAH!!!! Sorry that took me so long ^___^() I've been deliciously busy with everything under the sun, including breaking up with my boyfriend whom I will not discuss. I will say he was hot as hell...But that's all. And apparently, I'm not over it because I mentioned him here, but ANYWAY!! I'll try and get the next chapter up PDQ.... Even though I have NO idea what's going on anymore. Bluhh.