Night Shadows- Chapter 9

by Tanyaneko

Disclaimer: If I owned it, this wouldn't just be fanfiction.

A/N: As always, I'd like to thank the wonderful people who reviewed: m-chan, ?????, Candy, Yumi, mrchezzysnickers, Saiyan Serpent, OmegaNY, Bunny, AngelQT520, Someone, 32, Yuri, V-chan, Lady of Flame, Flea Son, alannapurple, Sheylan, Ria, Jami-chan, mbjade, and trunkslover1.

Also, I am very sorry about the delay in posting and the length of this chapter. I really was going to make it a super long chapter because of how short the last one was and how long it's taken me to get this one out. But I've been dealing with time constraints recently, so all I had time to write was the first half of what was supposed to be the really long chapter. (Don't worry though, it can stand by itself.) I just know how you all really don't like waiting, and I had to put up something, so here it is.

And, as a last note, mrchezzysnickers asked to be notified when the chaps come up. If anybody else wants to get e-mail from me when I update, leave your e-mail address in a review or e-mail me at Tanyaneko@aol.com.

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Marron blinked coal black eyes as she turned to Ubuu, concerned. "It's been a while, and they're not back yet. What do you think is going on?" She bit her lip and scanned the sky, looking for anything that might be Trunks or Pan, while waiting for some sort of reassurance from Ubuu. He was sweet like that, and he always seemed to know what to say to make everything all right again. So why isn't he saying anything?

She turned toward him again, preparing to give him one of her rare full-fledged glares. But she saw that he, too, was scanning the skies. His eyes were narrowed, his features tensed, and Marron started to worry. "Ubuu? Ubuu? What's wrong?"

He continued to frown and his hands clenched at his sides. "Pan's ki. It just went up. Way up." Trunks… I may not be in love with Pan, but I'm still her friend, and if you did anything…Ubuu growled and said, slowly, "Marron… maybe sending Trunks after her wasn't the best choice after all."

Marron nodded quietly and held him closer, embracing him and burying her head against his chest for comfort, so close she could hear the thrumming of his heart. "Oh, Ubuu," she whispered in an anguished, broken voice, "what if we messed everything up? We were only trying to help… Ubuu, we were only trying to help…"

"Shh…" he murmured softly to her, rubbing her back with one hand and running the other through her silky, sunny blond hair.

"No…" When she looked up at him again, her eyes were clouded with the same tears that were coursing down her cheeks. "What if this ruins everything? What if we broke them up by sending him after her?" She let out a quiet whimper, crying and scared as a cat staring at the ground from a high-up tree branch.

"Marron," he soothed, his voice deep and warm and wonderfully gentle. "Don't cry. I like it better when you're happy. You have such a pretty smile."

"But Ubuu… if we accidentally broke them up, they might stop loving each other… they might start liking us for real!" she wailed. "I don't love Trunks like that!" Sure, Trunks was strong, rich, and sexy. But he couldn't even let himself love the girl he was so obviously meant to be with. "I mean, he's nice and all, but the boy has issues."

"Oh, and there aren't any other reasons you can't love Trunks?" Ubuu teased. He was smiling, and Marron realized it was because she wasn't even crying anymore. How sweet of him to care that much about me.

"Because," he continued, smiling gently down at her, "you're the one and only reason I can't love Pan. Or any other woman, for that matter."

"Oh, Ubuu." She couldn't help but smile back, and as he leaned down to kiss her, just for the moment, they forgot about Trunks and Pan.

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"Pan, please stop!" Trunks's tone was plaintive, almost whining. He was beginning to tire of this chase, and honestly, she was starting to annoy him.

"No." Her answer was short, simple, and exactly the same one she'd been him for what seemed like the past hour. Damn her and her stubborn streak, he thought angrily. Of course he didn't mean in, her strong will was part of what made her Pan. And he loved her for it. No! Stop that train of thought. I don't love Pan. I don't love Pan. Dontlovepan, dontlovepan, dontlovepan, dontlovepan, dontlovepan. I DON'T LOVE PAN!

Liar, liar, pants on fire, the annoying little voice in his head whispered. "Shut up!" he yelled.

Pan stopped and turned around, giving him a half questioning, half worried look.

He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh… heh… heh…"

Pan hadn't moved, and was still floating there, staring at him oddly.

"Um… well, I got you to stop," he observed meekly. Yeah, I got her to stop and I save face… heh… heh… I'm an idiot… heh… heh…

"So, you got me to stop. How do you know I won't fly away again?" She was still looking at him a bit weirdly, but the smirk she'd acquired from spending so much time training with Vegeta was threatening to dance across her features.

"Because." He moved quickly and was behind her, pinning her arms to her sides almost before she knew he was gone.

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Ooh. What's Trunks going to do, now that he's got Pan to stay still? What's going on with Ubuu and Marron? Will OOC Dende ever return? Find out all this and more on the next exciting… OMG what am I doing? Never mind… I did not just sound like the narrator…

Anyway, reviews and comments are always appreciated! ^.^

~Tanyaneko