I know I promised to have already had this chapter up, I'm sorry. With the new year and everything, its been a bit hectic. But here you go, hopefully I'll have the next one up soon. Thanks for reviewing, you have no idea how much it means.

Chapter 3 - Forgiveness

The early morning sunlight was what woke Pan from her slumber. The beams of warmth entered through a window on the far side of her room. The heat felt good on her skin, almost so good that she nearly forgot about her injuries. However, she remembered quickly when she tried to rise from bed.

'OUCH! Almost forgot that hand is useless. Well, it looks like I'll have to get use to using my left hand now. Check it, left arm. Cause my shoulder still hurts like a bitch too,' Pan thought as she griped to herself. She slowly sat up, putting all her weight on her left side. Evidently Pan had taken most of the impact on her now battered right side. 'I wonder how I use this thing,' Pan thought as she looked over the buzzer that Bulma had left her, 'Ah.' "Bzzzzzzzzzz!" screeched the buzzer as Pan finally learned how to use it. A few moments later one of the many household maids entered the room, "How may I help you Miss Pan?" "Who are you?" "I work here as a maid. Bulma left me in charge of your care when she is away," replied the elderly woman. "Where is Bulma? Where did she go?" "She had a meeting with some of the Capsule Corporation board members. She will be back shortly. Was there anything that you needed specifically?" Pan sat there for a moment as if she was lost in thought, "I almost forgot what I had called you in here for, but now I remember. I'm hungry. How do I get some food around here." "The kitchen is just at the end of the hall, they will prepare anything that you ask for." "Okay, but how am I suppose to get to the kitchen." "There is a wheelchair set up next to your bed." At this Pan looked off the side of her bed to see the wheelchair that Bulma had gotten for her yesterday. "If you would like miss, I can help you in the wheelchair, or I can bring you some food," said the maid politely. "No thank you. I feel a little more daring today. Besides at some point I would have to start getting in the wheelchair by myself, why not start today." The elderly maid simply nodded her head and said, "Well that be all then miss?" "I guess so. Sorry for bothering you on something so trivial," said Pan apologetically. "That's okay miss, anytime," the maid said with a smile, then exited the room.

'Okay, time for the tricky part. How to climb into the wheelchair without using my right arm or my right foot.' Pan slowly moved out of the oversized bed, and planted her left leg firmly on the floor. Using the bed as balance, she lowered herself into the wheelchair. 'Well, that wasn't as difficult as I first thought it would be.' Now that she was in the wheelchair, she slowly wheeled her way to the door. Opening it with her left hand, she then maneuvered her way out of her temporary residence.

Pan glanced down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen and announced, "Time for some grub." Pan made her way, slowly at first, down the hall toward the kitchen. As she neared the kitchen the smell of food increased her appetite and the speed of her wheelchair oddly enough.

She pushed open the large double doors of the kitchen to be greeted by a familiar back. "Trunks?" The startled young man almost went through the ceiling when he heard Pan's voice. He slowly looked back hoping that it wasn't who he thought it was. But it was.

"Oh hey Pan. You aren't still mad at me are you?" asked a worried Trunks. "No, I guess not. Your mother and I had a talk and she convinced me that you weren't a bad guy. Besides you were protecting your home. Even if it was a little pre-emptive. So no, I'm not." Trunks just sighed with a bit of relief. An awkward silence followed. Then Trunks finally spoke up, "Would you like to have some breakfast with me. I'm having bacon and eggs." "Bacon and eggs! Hell ya I would," was Pan's reply. Her enthusiasm made Trunks do something he hadn't done in a long time, smile.

The two sat at an oversized table, Pan in her wheelchair, eating and conversing about everything that they could think of. "So Pan, where did you learn Master Roshi's kamehameha technique?" Trunks asked with curiosity. Pan was a little stunned that he knew her old Master's name. She thought that he hadn't had any students before, or at least none that he mentioned. Maybe she was wrong though. "From Master Roshi of course. But how did you know of him? He's a hermit that lives on a island out in the middle of the ocean." "Well that's a pretty long story." Pan looked down at her wheelchair, "Well one thing is for sure, I'm not going anywhere. So?" "I'll make you a deal, if you tell me how you meet Roshi, then I'll tell you how I did. Sound good?" was Trunks' reply. "Mine's a pretty long story too. Are you sure?" Pan asked hesitantly. "Like you said," Trunks began as he looked in the direction of her wheelchair, "you're not going anywhere."

"Okay you made your point, or mine, whatever, here goes. After the death of my parents at the hands of the Androids, I made an oath that I would one day defeat them. So naturally I wanted to learn to fight. Well one day, I happened to stumble upon a tortoise. He told me of a great martial artist that lived on the island that he was from. So, I took him to the coast, and then rode him to the island he mentioned before hand. At first, I just thought that Master Roshi was a depressed old man that was living out in the middle of nowhere to escape the Androids. Over the four years that I stayed with Master Roshi, I finally discovered my Master's real reason for depression. Evidently a great many of his friends were killed in a great battle with the Androids soon after they appeared. Master Roshi felt guilty that so many died, and yet he himself lived. I asked him why he never went to avenge those he loved, and he said that it was because throwing away his life would not avenge the death of his friends, nor honor their death. He decided the best way to honor them was to live, defy the Androids. However, every day that he lives, he still feels guilt and remorse for his fallen comrades. I'm not actually sure why he decided to train me, to tell you the truth. At first he seemed to be extremely hesitant, but I finally think he gave-in in the hopes that I would grow out of my revenge. Much like he did. Well, I trained with him for over four years, by which point, I had surpassed my master in strength. I thanked him and the left for the mainland, against his wishes I might add. Well, that's my tale on how I know Master Roshi. I do believe it is you tour turn now."

"Well, I don't know your Master Roshi. The Roshi that I met was from the past. He is completely different from the man you just described for me. The one I know was a perverted skirt chaser. Yet even with these flaws, he was still a great man. Even though I only knew him for a short time, I was extremely impressed by the respect that he received from Goku and the other Z fighters." "Z fighters! Those were the people that Master Roshi mentioned that had died. He said that they were the most powerful warriors in the Universe. And you've met them." "Yes, when I traveled back in time, I met all of them. Including my father, who was one of them. I also was able to see my Master again," Trunks said this last bit with a tear creeping its way down his face. "Oh, I didn't mean to upset you." "It wasn't you Pan. I shouldn't be sad, Gohan wouldn't want me to be sad." "Gohan, was that the name of your master?" "Yes, he was my master, my mentor, and most importantly, he was my friend. I grew up without a father, Gohan was the closest thing I ever had to one growing up. The night that the Androids took Gohan's life, I made an oath similar to the one you made Pan. He tried so hard to teach me how to be a super saiyan, I hate it that it took his death to teach me to master it," Trunks seemed to be spilling his heart. He wasn't sure why, but for some odd reason he felt like he could trust Pan. Maybe because there pasts were so similar, Trunks wasn't really sure. He just knew what he felt.

Pan sat there, letting Trunks regroup before asking, "what is this super saiyan thing you mentioned." "Super Saiyan? You know what it is, I used it during our fight." "Umm…..yeah, I'm still lost." "It's where my hair turned blonde and I had the gold aura." "Oh, yeah, Its hard to remember cause I only got to see it for a second before you nearly sent me to an early grave." "Yeah, sorry about that. I forget how much of a strength increase that it causes sometimes." "When I heal, can you train me and teach me how to do the super saiyan thing," Pan asked. "Well, that's the difficult part. First, I don't know if I'm qualified to train anyone. And second, you have to be part saiyan." "Be part saiyan? What is that like some special family name or something?" "No, it's an alien race. And before you freak out, I know that sounds weird, but you have to believe on that one. My father and a man named Goku, were both saiyans from a planet called Vegeta. They were the last of their kind. And that is a whole other story I will tell you some other time. But I am one half saiyan, and my master Gohan was one half saiyan." Pan sat there in complete shock, "Aliens. You're an alien." "In a sense yes. You can ask my mother about it if you want. And no I don't have three arms or anything, saiyans look exactly like humans. Well, except for the fact that they are born with a tail." "YOU HAVE A TAIL?" "No, not any more. It was removed when I was still an infant." "Oh," Pan said a little disappointedly. She kind of wanted to see his tail if he had one.

There was another silence, this one however didn't seem to be awkward at all. In fact, neither one of them even noticed the silence. They were both to busy lost in their own thoughts. Trunks thinking about Gohan and Pan still fascinated by the whole Trunks being an alien thing. "Okay, so let me see if I completely understand this," Pan began, "Since you are part…saiyan, you have the ability to become incredibly strong?" "I guess you could say that." "Well that's not fair! You had an unfair advantage in our fight!" "What! Just because I have the ability to transform into a super saiyan doesn't automatically mean I'm going to be stronger than my opponent. The Androids tossed me around quite a bit until I learned to become stronger as a super saiyan. It wasn't until I learned to do that that I was able to defeat them." Pan sat there in silence for a moment before saying, "I still don't think its fair. That's all." Trunks just shook his head, he didn't know what to say.

"Trunks," Pan said in a now serious tone, "Can you do a favor for me?" "I'll try." "Can you train me. Please." "I don't know about that Pan, I really don't know how fit I am to train someone." "Please. You are obviously incredibly strong. You were able to defeat the Androids. So why not?" "I may be strong enough, but I don't know if have the capability to teach someone." "Well you'll never know until you train me." "You're going to win this argument aren't you?" Trunks said with a half smile. "What do you think," Pan said playing right back. "Okay, I'll train you as soon as you start to heal." "Yippie!" cried Pan. Trunks just sat there shaking his head. 'Why did I even try to resist?' Trunks thought as he saw the jubilation sparkle in Pan's eyes.

"So when do you think I will be able to start training?" asked Pan. "Well that depends on two things. Yourself and how your body is feeling, and second….my mother. Cause I'm not going to train you until she gives me the okay. Cause she will really let me have it if I don't ask her first. You're her patient, and she will get a bit upset if you get hurt again." "That I can believe." The two giggled at Pan's comment. That is until Bulma walked through the door.

"So it looks like you two kids have decided to make friends after all," Bulma said with her typical smile. "Yeah I guess so. I mean, I am going to have to live in the same house as him for the next few weeks. I had to do something, and since I can't beat him into submission, I might as well try to make friends with him," Pan replied. Bulma just laughed as she began fixing herself a plate. "You two are more alike than you know. So Pan have you decided if you are going to stay with us after you heal," asked Bulma as she bit into a slice of bacon. "Yeah, I think I will. Trunks is going to train me. Isn't that right," Pan said as she attempted to mimic one of Bulma's glares. "If that's okay with you mom," Trunks said as if he were a little boy who had done something wrong and gotten caught.

Bulma looked silently back and forth from Trunks and Pan, deciding whether she was going to allow this or not. "Well, I guess I can't see why not. If it will give you a reason to stay with us Pan, and not go back to the streets, I guess so," said Bulma even though that wasn't her real reason. Bulma hadn't seen Trunks this happy since Gohan died. Something about fighting always seemed to put saiyans in a good mood. And now that Trunks would have a sparring partner, he might grow out of this depression that he had been sinking into.

"Great. So when do you think I will be able to start," asked Pan abruptly. Bulma sat there for a moment thinking, then said, "Given the severity of your injuries, probably not for quite some time. I would say at least a month. And then it could only be light, physical therapy type stuff. Your right wrist was severely damaged Pan, you won't be able to use that for probably a few months. Trunks put quite the beating on you." Pan glared down Trunks, "Yes, so I've noticed," said Pan slowly lifting her right hand before grimacing from her shoulder. "And that reminds me, the shoulder, yeah, that's going to take some time as well. So before you get ready to do all of your training and fighting, you might want to heal first," Bulma said. "Yeah, I guess your right Bulma. I just wished it didn't have to take so long for me to heal." "That goes with the territory honey. In fact, I remember one time when I found Trunks after he had lost in a fight with the Androids, he was in about the same shape that you're in now." "Really," Pan said, finding it hard to believe that Trunks had actually lost a fight. She had never meet someone so powerful before. If Pan had to be honest, she had never been so intrigued with an individual in her entire life.

"Yeah, well I don't want to talk about it," said Trunks, crossing his arms and looking off to nowhere in particular. "But I do! Bulma tell me more," Pan said excitedly. She wanted to hear about the invincible Trunks' defeat. "Maybe some other time, you need to be getting back to bed. You need the rest," was Bulma's reply. "That's not fair!" cried Pan, "I feel just fine." "I don't want to hear it. You are going back to bed. I'll tell you about it some other time, I promise." Pan just sat there with a dejected look on her face as Bulma began to wheel her back to her room.