Night Shadows- Chapter 11 (A.k.a. 'Return of OOC Dende')

by Tanyaneko

Disclaimer: DBZ- I don't own it or the characters.

A/N: Oh, wow. *sniffle* 200 reviews. I love you people. Thanks to the wonderful: Saiyan Serpent, Angelness, alannapurple, mrchezzysnickers, pan-chan, Sets, m-chan, Bunny, Loaf of Pan, ills, heather, ?????, Dark*Princess*Pan, and Sheylan!

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The tears blurred her vision, everything running together in a sorry brown-green mass of splotchy color, but she could still see him. The only move he made was to stand up and carefully brush off his knees, the little grains of sand becoming one with the rest of the shore. His eyes were just smudges of blue now, but she knew they were still pleading, she could feel it. "Trunks, I said leave. Please."
He was silent- they were both silent, the only noise being the ever constant roar of the waves cresting and crashing. She walked away slowly, shaking her head. She turned back to look at him once, with pained, tear-filled eyes, and then jumped into the air to get away.
Once Pan was gone, he let the anguished sob escape his throat. Then Trunks, Son of Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyans, fell to the ground and wept. Now he knew what it felt like to be turned away. He knew the pain Pan had felt. And he never wanted to feel this way again. Just another reason he couldn't love her.
****weeks later****
Dodge. Fake. Punch. Block. Kick. Kick. Block. Punch. Kick. Punch. Fake. Block. Ka-me-ha-me- A sudden bright light, and Pan found herself on the ground. Or not.
"Why is it I can hardly ever land a hit on you, and I always end up all bruised and bloody?" She complained, wiping a bit of sweat mixed with blood from her forehead before dropping back into a fighting stance.
"Because I'm better than you," Vegeta explained, his larger-than-the-sun ego obviously having an effect on his comment.
Pan rolled her eyes and made a face as he added, "Besides, that's why I am the teacher and you are the student."
And here I was, thinking that learning would be over when I finished college. She rolled her eyes again, saying, "I'm your student because I'm the only person who can withstand the beatings who is also naïve enough to be your voluntary punching bag. And you only keep me around because I don't pop like normal punching bags, and I don't shatter like the metal ones Bulma makes for you.
"There are only a few people who can speak to me in such a manner," he warned dangerously, "and you are not-"
"Oh, yes I am and you know it," she chirped, interrupting in a gleeful way she knew would annoy him.
She grinned, knowing she was right when he said nothing else; he only grumbled about spawn of Kakarott who were too audacious for their own good.
They continued to spar and then a sadistic smirk crossed his face. She'd come to realize this was the Vegeta equivalent of a mischievous grin.
"So, third-class, how are things with you and my brat?" He taunted.
"She could tell he was baiting her, and not about to let him win, quipped, "Oh, Bra and I are still good friends. Why do you ask?"
He mistook her answer for stupidity and answered, "This is one of the times you resemble that idiot Kakarott. Besides, had I been talking about my princess, I would have said, 'my princess'. I said 'my brat', so how are things with you and my brat?"
Barely restraining herself from commenting on how totally wrapped Bra had him, she rolled her eyes and muttered, "My problems with the purple-haired pansy you have for a son are your fault, you know. Yours and Dende's." She titled her head skyward and yelled, "Hear that, Dende? I blame you for this!"
**Kami's lookout**
Dende turned greener than he already was and hoped to… well… himself, that Pan would not come up there. Then he started to laugh. "I blame you for this!" He mimicked. "Pan, you've been spending too much time with Vegeta."
Hmm… I wonder if Trunks would be jealous of his own father… Dende chuckled evilly and began to scheme.
**GR**
Stubborn as he was, Vegeta was smart enough to know that an angry Pan was not fun to deal with.
"That's enough training in the GR for today. It's time for tactical and strategical study."
In a mood change as quick as a hummingbird's wing, Pan skipped out of the room, delighted. "Yay! Video games!"
***
After beating Vegeta for the 53rd time, Pan yawned. I think it's time for me to go now. "Vegeta, I think I'm done for today."
"No, you're not!" he roared. "I demand a rematch!"
"You've said that 53 times. You haven't won a single round."
"I won the first one."
Pan made a face. "You unplugged my controller. That's cheating."
"That wasn't cheating. That was a creative strategic maneuver."
Just then, someone appeared in the doorway, his shadow slightly darkening the fluffy carpet. "What game is that?" Trunks asked. "Can I play?"
The screen abruptly went blank as Pan shut it off. "Actually, I was just leaving," she snapped, her words still icy towards him- always icy towards him, ever since the incident.
She stood up and pushed past Trunks to get out, but he grabbed her arm.
"Pan, we need to talk."
She ignored him and twisted out of his grip, continuing to the front door.
"I was jealous!" he yelled desperately, finally telling her the truth, a hint of a sob making his voice crack.
She stopped and turned around, waiting for his explanation.
"I was so jealous, Pan. It made me angry, irrational," he began, his tone sorrowfully begging. "You have to believe me. I didn't mean what I said. I'd never mean that, I swear. You know me, Pan. I'd never mean something like that about you. I was just really jealous, and it made me mad," he repeated, looking at her, scared, his blue eyes pleading. Somehow, he had the feeling that if he didn't get her forgiveness now, he never would.
She nodded and smiled at him, her expression radiant, like an angel of mercy, forgiving him. It was good enough this time. He wasn't just trying to protect his pride by saying it was all about Marron anymore. He admitted he was jealous. She was making progress.
"Trunks," she said slowly, "Why did you come after me? Tell me the truth."
"I came after you because I can't stand you mad at me. I can't live with you ignoring me. I think I've been going into withdrawal from not seeing your beautiful smile. For all those reasons, and because I love…"
Was he actually going to say that? Was he really-
"I love being your friend."
Pan laughed, and they were themselves again. Chicken. She wasn't too disappointed. She'd get him to admit he loved her soon enough.
Until then…
She walked over to him and whispered something in his ear before stepping out the door and into the sky.
"You love me and you know it."
AWWWWWWWWWWW!
Er… yeah. Anyway. That's it for this chapter! I wonder what's going to happen next?
Oh, and anybody who's not on the mailing list for updates that wants to be on the list, just leave a signed review (I can find your email that way) or just leave your email in a review. Or you can just email me. Any way works, as long as I somehow get your email address. Well, that's it for now!
Ja ne!
~Tany