Night Shadows- Chapter 6

by Tanyaneko

Disclaimer: *starts to sing the "I don't own anything, please don't sue me" song*

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but you all know how Christmas is, and I was working to meet the deadline for Break. Anyway, thank you to Tom, amcm74, Someone, Bunny, Saiyan Serpent, V-chan, TrunkxChic, Jackie, Lorraine, AngelQT520, fluffy, pd, Kawai Fox, Lady Dark Tiger's Eye, and Summer Black. There's a little Bulma/Veggie moment in here. I don't know how well I wrote them… we'll see.

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One night, Bulma poked her husband.

"What is the matter with you, woman? Can't you see I'm sleeping?" the Saiya-jin prince growled.

"Aww, my poor cranky Veggie. You don't need to take it out on me."

Vegeta growled again in frustration and turned around to face his (slightly annoying) wife. "You wake me up while I am asleep, you call me cranky, and 'Veggie' besides, and you expect me not to take it out on you?"

"Well, aren't we argumentative tonight?" she muttered.

"Just tell me what's wrong already and then stop pestering me!" he snapped back. There was no way he could make her desist- he'd learned that by then- but she could at least say it quickly to get it over with.

"It's Trunks. He's trying so hard to make his relationship with Marron work, when it's so obvious he doesn't love her, and Pan's doing the same thing with Ubuu. It's been going on for a month, Vegeta! I just want my little boy to be happy!" she whined, her voice taking on that extremely aggravating note that he somehow found sexy as well.

He snorted. "Is that it, woman? Why did you bother me? You could have just yapped to that shrewish mate of Kakarott's like you always do."

"But Vegeta, this is our son's happiness we're talking about!"

"And this is my sleep you're interrupting," he grumbled. "Anyway, he's just being stubborn. He'll go to her soon enough. He's actually dealing with it fairly well." The brat was his son, after all. He would have been surprised if the boy just gave up control of his life without a struggle. At least Trunks wasn't letting an evil wizard control his mind. Yes, the brat was dealing with it fairly well.

Comforted by his confidence more than his words, Bulma was about to go to sleep when she saw that look in his eye. A slow smile lighted on her face. "I thought you were sleepy?"

He smirked. "You woke me up. I'm not going to just go back to sleep."

The blue-haired woman giggled and playfully pulled the covers over them both.

The next morning, Trunks ate his breakfast even more rapidly than usual.

"What's the rush, Brother?" Bra asked, on speaking terms with her lavender-haired sibling again.

"I'm going over to Goten's with Marron."

Vegeta's trademark smirk played across his features. "I know for a fact that Goten is here at Capsule-" he paused to look pointedly at his daughter, who just gave an innocent shrug, but was looking everywhere except him. "And besides," he continued, "Kakarott's grandbrat is coming over here with Ubuu. You can't make her jealous if she's not there."

Trunks' face turned as purple as his hair and he started to choke. "Who said I was trying to make Pan jealous?" he asked when he regained the ability to breathe properly again. It didn't matter how much he denied it- it was true. He was going out with Marron, to make himself forget his feelings for Pan, but he didn't see anything wrong with making her feel a little jealous while he was at it. Especially when she's making me so envious of Ubuu I want to kill him.

"Does this mean I can come out now?" Goten peeked from behind the counter, drooling slightly. "I'm really hungry."

Even Vegeta had to laugh.

Then the bong of chimes filled the house. "The doorbell. That should be Pan and Ubuu," Bra announced, using that as an excuse to get away from her father's pointed look. Her chair made a squeaking noise against the floor as she stood, placing her perfectly manicured hands on the table to push herself up before strolling to the door to greet her friends.

"Where's your other half?" Pan teased Trunks, referring to Marron, as she ran into the kitchen, audaciously snatched a piece of toast off of Vegeta's plate, and slid deftly into a seat on the side of the table opposite the Prince.

Vegeta smirked. He didn't mind Pan, even if she was spawn of Kakarott. At least she's Saiya-jin. And she can fight. And she has…What was that word they'd all used to describe her mother when she was younger? Oh yes. She has… spunk. Which wasn't a bad thing at all.

"She's not my other half," Trunks stated defensively. That annoying and blatantly honest voice in the back of his head added, You are, Pan. He immediately forced the voice to shut up. "I just enjoy her company, that's all."

The raven-haired girl laughed mockingly at him. "Really? One would think you were Siamese twins, you're so close all the time. You're as attached to her as… as…" she paused to think of the right analogy, "as a Saiya-jin is to food." Her teasing was the only indication that their relationship bothered her before she called, "Ubuu, honey, come and eat breakfast," her voice dripping with affection.

The darkly tanned man sauntered in, a friendly smile on his face. He sat down next to Pan, placing a slightly possessive arm around her. She moved so she was straddling his lap and started to feed him, their mushy together-ness bothering Trunks.

"Oh, please. You're acting like newlyweds," he grumbled. "Get a room."

She smirked. "Maybe we will. Can we use yours?" she queried nastily, knowing exactly what kind of images that would provoke in Trunks' mind.

The idea of Pan and Ubuu, on his bed, doing… he growled before he caught himself, and then pointlessly tried to pretend it didn't matter to him in the slightest. Over a month and I'm still not over her. What is wrong with me?