Since none of you want to hear me whine or make excuses, I'll just skip that part and go straight to the story.
Disclaimer: If an author in a forest says she doesn't own DBZ and nobody's there to hear her, did she make a sound?
Gathering the Players
It took Turles a moment to understand exactly what Bardock was asking, and then another moment passed as he recalled the details of his encounter with Son Pan. Scowling at the memory, the slightly older of the twins immediately started hedging. "And if I do? What of it?"
An annoyed look flashed across Bardock's face. "I don't have time for your stupid games, Turles! The King himself ordered me to track down that female and bring her to him immediately! Just tell me what I want to know, or I'll tell him that you refused to cooperate with his commands. Do I make myself clear?"
Turles growled, but he couldn't see any way to get out of answering his brother's questions, not with the Royal authority he'd just invoked. While it was one think to admit to the prince what that little vixen Son Pan had done to him, it was something else entirely to tell this same tale to his brother! He'd never live it down if Bardock found out that a female, weakling or not, had actually managed to land two blows on him. And considering that Turles was one of the strongest Saiyans on the planet, it would be even more humiliating if he revealed that those blows had actually bruised him! However, strong as he was, Vegeta was both his King and his superior in strength, skill, and experience. Disobeying his orders simply was not an option, not unless you count torture and, almost certainly, a rather painful death to be an option. "Fine! Ask your damn questions, ototo-chan!" he bit off each word angrily.
Finally. Now we might actually get somewhere! Bardock relaxed slightly now that he had won the major victory in this confrontation in getting his brother to cooperate completely. It was rather nice to have the threat of the King's displeasure backing your words... Shaking that thought off, the scarred Saiyan got down to business. "It was reported that a single, non-classed onna took out at least forty first-class Saiyans in one of the training facilities and that you and my son, Radditz, were the last people to have contact with her. I want to know what happened."
Grumbling under his breath, the elder twin resigned himself to the inevitable ridicule. "I didn't notice her when she first came in, but she sat down and started insulting the other soldiers who were sparring. It wasn't long before some of the others took her up on her challenge and attacked her, but she took them all out with ease. My own sparring partner got distracted, so I knocked him out and decided to go see what all the fuss was about. I watched as she quickly took down the rest of the warriors, and I have to admit, she was pretty good for an onna. Let me tell you, brother, there's nothing sexier than a woman who can kick some serious ass." The lecherous smirk on his face revealed quite clearly what Turles was thinking about. "And then there was her smell! Kami, Bardock, I've never smelled anything as good as that little onna did! It was enough to make me want to-"
"I get the point, Turles!" Bardock interrupted irritably. He did not want to listen to his brother's sexual fantasies about the female he was trying to locate. Not now, not ever! "She smelled good, you wanted to bed her, then what?"
Sighing at the missed opportunity to annoy his brother, Turles continued, "Well, I had every intention of taking her, but to do that I'd have to make her a little more... docile." He smirked. "So I challenged her myself." This was the part Turles dreaded, the part that would do the most damage to the promiscuous Saiyan's ego. Hn... There's really no need for ototo to hear all of the details... "We didn't get very far in the fight before your meddling son Radditz interfered, yipping something about having orders from the Queen herself to escort Son Pan back to her room. Naturally I-"
"Son? Son Pan?" Bardock demanded, suddenly tense and on edge. It can't be. It's got to be coincidence! She's been causing trouble since before the diplomats arrived, and there haven't been any other ships from Chikyuu-sei in years now! Besides, all ships to and from planet Earth are thoroughly inspected to detect stowaways or contraband of any kind!
Giving his brother an odd look, the weaker Saiyan nodded his head. "That's what Radditz said her name was. Son Pan." A slight frown creased his features, remembering that Radditz had made him promise not to speak of what he'd learned next. But the King had ordered this! This wasn't exactly the kind of thing that ought to be concealed from King Vegeta, especially considering the nature of the information. "He told me that she was a halfbreed, Bardock. A human-Saiyan hybrid."
A sharp intake of breath was the only sign Bardock gave of the importance of this information. It would make sense. Saiyan and human hybrids are actually stronger than either parent race normally produces. That would explain why she was strong enough to take down so many first class warriors. But just how strong is she? "Turles, how would you assess this onna's strength? Weaker than you? Stronger than you? Obviously she's at least first class in strength, but I'd like to have a clearer idea in case it comes down to a fight."
"What does it matter, ototo?" snapped the older man. "You're the third strongest Saiyan on this planet, remember? It's not like any onna could stand up to you, no matter how strong she is!" The matter of Bardock's strength was a sore spot for Turles, but not as sore as admitting that Pan had injured him during their short spar, that there was a possibility that a female was stronger than him.
"It matters because I want to know what I'm up against!" shouted Bardock. "Now answer the damn question!"
Bristling under the power and authority his brother had over him, Turles silently plotted to find some way to get even for the humiliation he was about to endure. Maybe I could arrange to have Leeka visit him again... he thought, a sly smirk tugging at his lips. Only this time without any clothes on. The image of what Sereri would do to her mate after a naked woman showed up asking for him was enough to bolster Turles's spirits to where he could answer honestly. "I don't know if she's stronger than me. Like I said, we didn't fight long. Only long enough for her to give me this." He pointed at the bruise on his jaw. "And this." Lifting his shirt, he revealed a similar bruise purpling his ribs.
Bardock's eyes scanned the bruises thoroughly before a slow smirk spread across his tanned face. This is it, Turles thought sourly. This is the beginning of my indefinite humiliation. Damn you, Bardock. To his surprise, though, Bardock's next words were not words of ridicule.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Turles." The words were heavily laced with irony, without any hint of mockery. But that smile... that smile on Bardock's face promised beyond any doubt that this was not the last Turles would hear of this conversation. Somehow, Turles knew that his brother would find the worst possible moment to bring up such an embarrassing subject, probably in front of a large audience with highly important people in attendance. Just great.
"Is there anything else you wanted to ask me, brother dear?" Turles asked stiffly. All he wanted to do was get away from Bardock and get to work on setting his plan of revenge in motion. Kami knew Bardock more than deserved it, or would sometime in the near future. He also needed to start looking for the woman he might have gotten a child on, but at the moment that was of less importance to him than arranging something with Leeka.
The smile left Bardock's face as the younger man suddenly became serious. "Do you know where this Son Pan is now?"
Turles shook his head. "The Prince showed up, saying that he would escort the onna back to her room, but she'd somehow escaped when we weren't looking. As far as I know, no one knows where she is."
Hn... thought Bardock. Just because Turles has no idea where she is doesn't mean Radditz doesn't either. Just how much does Radditz know about this situation anyway? And why hasn't he said anything about it to anyone? "This isn't good. If she's that strong, then there aren't many men on this planet who could stop her. Not on their own anyway. I'll need to talk to the Captain of the Guard and have him organize his men into larger groups. Shit! That means I probably won't have time to talk to Radditz before I need to be at the banquet hall."
"Banquet hall?" Turles lifted an eyebrow in surprise. His brother didn't often dine with the royalty, and even then the banquet hall was rarely used except for large official functions. Wait a minute... "Damn, I nearly forgot!" he cursed out loud. "That dinner with the diplomats is in an hour, and I'm supposed to be there!"
"I guess that means you'll actually have to take a bath then," Bardock laughed. "A sweet smelling Turles, what a thought!"
Turles glared. "Shut the hell up, ototo! You know damn well I bathe regularly!" Smirking broadly, he added, "It makes it a lot easier to get into an onna's bed, you know."
"Yeah, you would know." Rolling his eyes, the younger twin headed for the door of the training facility. "As much as I've enjoyed this conversation, I have other things to do. I'll see you again at the banquet." Under his breath, Bardock added, "Unfortunately." And with that, he was gone.
~*~
The hot wind of the desert blew into the purple haired prince's face almost as though it was determined to plunge into his abnormal blue eyes and sere them black. Trunks didn't care. He let the burning sun beat down upon his skin, ignored the sand that the wind pelted against him, even when it got into his clothing, and allowed his thoughts to drift. No, drift wasn't the right word for it, for always his thoughts would return to the memory of black silk hair and pale satin skin.
"Son Pan..." he whispered, closing his eyes so he could see the memory more clearly. The memory of her lips against his while their bodies molded against each other caused a fire to stir within his loins hotter than anything the desert could offer, a fire that quickly spread to inflame his heart. I don't need to dream of womanly perfection anymore, he thought with a smile. For I have found it in Son Pan. Now all I need to do is make her mine. First, though, he had to find her.
Opening his eyes again, the hybrid prince stared moodily out across the city to where the barren desert shimmered with illusory heat waves. From this distance it was a beautiful sight indeed, but Trunks knew that if he flew out there he would find only dry, pitted dirt and drifting dunes of sand. Like Ruuka... he mused silently. Seen from a distance, Ruuka, too, was a beautiful creature. But like the distant desert, this was also an illusion. He had seen her up close, knew every flaw of her body as well as he knew his own hand. On top of that, he knew her, knew exactly how ugly she was on the inside, and he couldn't help but wonder why he had bothered to keep her around for so long. Even before he had met Pan, he knew it was time to find someone else. The problem was that there were very few women who had both strength and beauty, women who could fulfill his special needs in bed without breaking.
Pan, though... Pan had beauty and strength beyond even his expectations. Trunks raised a hand to touch his cheek where the raven haired goddess had struck him. Somehow, he knew that she hadn't been using all of her strength, and it had still hurt him. Granted, he had had his guard down since he wasn't expecting the object of his interest to resist him, but it was still quite an accomplishment to be able to injure him. The hand touching his cheek throbbed with the pain of being bitten by Pan, but he ignored it. Welcomed it, in fact. It was tangible proof that the lovely siren that haunted his dreams was no dream, but was a real flesh and blood creature that he could touch, could hold, could have. And he would have her.
"I always get what I want, little onna," he murmured softly. "You can't run forever, you know."
"Brat! Stop drifting like a brain dead fool! Get your butt off the roof of the castle and start preparing for the dinner with the diplomats before I make Bra the heir to the throne and send your sorry ass packing!" The harsh voice of his father cut into Trunks's thoughts, bringing him back to reality rather against his will.
Trunks scowled. He had forgotten about the dinner with the diplomats from Earth. Unfortunately, he was the Saiyajin no Ouji, so he didn't exactly have much choice in the matter of attendance. His father would skin him alive if he tried to skip out on this, even though both his mother and his sister would also be there. It was times like this that Trunks really hated his human genes. It made it almost mandatory for him to show up whenever high ranking Earth officials were around. At least he'd gotten out of having to greet the diplomats when they first arrived.
"I'm coming, otousan," he shouted down at the balcony where he knew his father was standing. Sighing, the lavender haired demi-Saiyan floated down from his perch on the roof. His search for Pan would have to wait until after he ate.
~*~
Pan sat back in her chair, stunned. "Son?" she squeaked, hardly noticing the way her voice sounded. "My grandpa is your son?!" Her eyes widened as the full implications of this revelation hit her. "That means you're my great grandmother!" Whipping her head around, she looked at Radditz almost accusingly. "And you're my great uncle!"
"And I tell you this is absurd!" Radditz glared at the young girl in front of him, then turned to face Sereri. "Mother, you can't possibly believe this girl! If what she says is true, that would mean that Kakarot managed to live through his childhood on a planet with a full moon every month and yet has managed to remain unnoticed for all these years! He would have gone oozaru many times over by now, which would most certainly have attracted a lot of attention! On top of all that, there's been the increased security on Earth preventing rogue Saiyans from trying to live there. He would have been caught! Him or whatever child he had that produced Son Pan! Besides which, wouldn't he have tried to contact us at least once?! His ship was programmed to teach him his mission, our language and culture, and provide him instructions for how to notify us when his job was done. Face it, mother, Kakarot is dead, and this is all either an elaborate lie or a huge coincidence!"
"My son does have a point," admitted Sereri, keeping her gaze directed at Pan. Her words were still calm and even, neither believing nor disbelieving. Neutral. "Kakarot was sent out as an infant during the Planet Trade era. I was told only that he had been assigned to a low level planet. Which one, I don't know. That information was classified at the time, and later the records were lost completely. We never heard from him, and no one ever found him, so we assumed he was dead."
Completely forgetting that she was in another timeline, that there was a possibility that things had turned out differently in this time than in hers, Pan answered truthfully and defiantly. "I was told that my grandpa hit his head when he was young and forgot everything about who he was. He was raised as a human, so of course he didn't try to contact you! He didn't know how, or that he was even supposed to! As for turning into a giant monkey, he couldn't for most of his life because his tail was cut off, bakayaro!" She aimed that last shot at Radditz, who merely snorted in response.
"So," Sereri said, forestalling any nasty comebacks her son might have. "It could be possible. If Kakarot has been living on Earth since before our race officially came into contact with the planet, then he would have been there before the restrictions were set in place. He would already be considered a citizen of Earth, and who's to say otherwise unless he got his blood tested? So long as he didn't attract attention to himself, it is very likely that he could remain "human" for the rest of his life." She frowned. "Or until people started to notice he was living an unnaturally long time. Humans have much shorter life spans than do Saiyans. Still, that wouldn't happen for a while..."
"Especially since my Grandpa Goku lives pretty far from any major cities," Pan added helpfully. "He doesn't have much contact with people other than his family and close friends." As the shock of the discovery wore off, excitement soon took its place. These people were her family! Not even her grandfather could remember his real family, and now here Pan was with her great grandmother and great uncle. Goku had once confided in her that he sometimes wondered what his parents were like. If she ever had the opportunity to see her grandfather again, it would be wonderful to have stories of his Saiyan family to tell him!
Pan could see a similar gleam of excitement in Sereri's eyes as the older woman rounded on her son. "Radditz, I want you to perform a comparison test on Pan's blood. There's only one way to be certain if she's telling the truth, and that's by comparing her blood to ours."
Now Radditz almost seemed to be uneasy. What was going on in his head right now? Maybe he just doesn't like the idea of being related to me, Pan mused silently. She couldn't really blame him. Ever since they'd first met, neither of them had really made any effort to be civil to each other. In fact, his tail was probably still throbbing where she had bit it. Pan smirked at the memory.
"I don't think I can do that just yet, mother," the wild maned Saiyan said, shifting his stance and glancing at a clock agitatedly.
Sereri's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why not?"
"It's just that I have orders," he hastily explained, wary of his mother's ire. "Queen Bulma told me to bring Pan back to her quarters. She said something about needing to talk to her."
"So have her blood tested on the way back to her room. A simple test like that won't take much time."
"You don't understand. I... er... well, I'm probably in enough trouble as it is. What with all that's been going on, I still haven't reported in to the king about this yet, and the orders I got from the queen were given yesterday. If I don't get Pan back to her room now, someone's likely to order my tail served on a platter!"
Lifting an eyebrow in surprise, the older of the two women asked, "Why haven't you reported to the king yet? I thought you were supposed to report disturbances immediately, Radditz."
The slight tone of disapproval in his mother's voice made Radditz flinch. "It's not my fault! I couldn't very well notify the king until I knew what it was I had found! I had to run the blood tests and arrange for the pieces of her ship to be sent to the science lab first. Then when I got back to my room, the damn onna broke the regen tank!" That, in and of itself, was rather upsetting. Regen tanks were usually reserved for the elites due to their expensiveness and difficulty in producing. It would cost a lot of money to fix that tank, money which would probably come out of Radditz's pocket. "Ever since then I've been playing a game of tag with her, chasing her all over the palace so that I could report in! If I'd reported in to say that I'd lost her, I'd be in even more trouble!"
"Good point," Sereri said, frowning pensively. "You're right, of course. You need to get Pan back to her room, then report to the king at once. If you tell him what you just told me, maybe he'll be lenient. We can only hope." Firming up with this resolve, she folded her arms and glared at the two of them authoritatively. "Well? What are you waiting for?! Get going! The longer you take, the angrier King Vegeta will be when you finally do report in!"
"Hey, wait a minute!" Pan protested. "Don't I get any say in this?"
"No!" mother and son shouted in unison.
"Pan," Sereri added sternly. "Allow my son to escort you to your room. This isn't a joking matter. If Vegeta-ou gets angry enough, it could mean someone's life. I do not want to lose my son because of your foolish stubbornness!"
Pan opened her mouth to argue, but couldn't find anything to say. The thought of being taken back to her room like a naughty little girl rankled her. I'm not a fucking child! she ranted silently, glaring at Radditz and Serer sullenly. However, she didn't want to put someone's life in danger just because she didn't feel like going back to her room. Even if it was Radditz's life they were talking about. Or maybe especially because it was Radditz. After all, he was her great uncle. Family counted for a lot in Pan's mind.
"Fine! I'll do it!" she grumbled irritably, grabbing her spiky haired uncle by the arm. Dragging him towards the front door, she called back to her great grandmother, "Maybe we can talk again sometime, grandma!"
Hmph. Grandma... I never thought I'd hear someone call me that, Sereri thought with amusement. Waving to her and Radditz, who was yelping a protest about being dragged out of the room by the same woman he'd been trying to track down for the past day, she raised her voice so that she could be heard. "Goodbye! And try not to get yourselves killed!"
~*~
"Radditz! There you are!" Romei jogged up to the pair as they traveled down the hall, panting lightly when he came to a halt in front of them. "Do you know how long I've been trying to find you?!" Running his eyes up and down Pan, taking note of the night gown she was still in, he smirked. "Oooh... I see what you've been doing."
A scarlet flush streaked across Radditz's cheeks. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Romei! I didn't do anything like that with Pan!" Indeed, the very thought made him shudder now. Pan wasn't just any onna now - she was his niece!
Pan, too, was blushing furiously at the comment. "Bakayaro! Do you want me to kick your ass?!"
"Mmm... ass..." Romei's eyes had a slightly glazed look to them, the reason for which became quite apparent when he inhaled deeply. His tail fluffed in a clear indication of where his thoughts were wandering, accompanied by a goofy smile. "Yeah, I want some of that..."
Eyes widening in outrage, the raven haired demi-Saiyan glared so heatedly at Romei it was a wonder he wasn't burned to a crisp on the spot. She stomped up to the other man, fists clenched at her sides and looking ready to tear his limps off, and growled.
However, before Pan could say or do anything to him, Radditz grabbed her by the arm and hauled her back. "Baka onna, if you don't want comments like that then you shouldn't stand so close to a male when you're in season!" Ignoring the embarrassed flush that lit up his niece's face, he turned to face Romei. "Why were you looking for me, Romei?"
"Hmm? What?" Romei shook his head, still slightly dazed by the effects of Pan's scent. "Oh. Oh yeah. Queen Bulma sent me to find you. Change of orders. After you find Son Pan - which you've obviously already done - she wants to talk to her. She didn't say what it was about."
"I see. Do you know where the Queen is?" the taller male asked.
"I think she's in the banquet hall." Eyeing Pan's clothing once again, Romei added, "You might want to get her dressed in something more decent. Much as I like what she's wearing right now, it's not exactly appropriate for talking with the Queen."
The banquet hall? Radditz was surprised. Why would Queen Bulma be in the banquet hall? Shrugging the question away as temporarily unanswerable, the wild haired man nodded. "Thank you for telling me, Romei. I'll take Pan back to her room so she can change. In the mean time, I want you to go to the engineering department and request repairs for the regen tank Pan broke. Tell them to take the expenses out of my account."
Romei's face showed disappointment. He had probably wanted to stay with him, or, more specifically, with Pan, but he nodded reluctantly anyway. "Okay, Radditz," he said before turning around and heading in the direction of Radditz's quarters.
"Let's get going," Radditz sighed. He had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last either of them saw of Romei.
~*~
A short time later, Pan and Radditz were briskly walking down yet another hall, this time heading for the banquet hall where Romei said the Queen was waiting. Pan was dressed in clinging blue spandex, despite Radditz's protests. She was not about to wear a dress, and the other garments in the wardrobe in her room didn't appeal to her. Besides which, the spandex was comfortable and allowed a free range of motion. No wonder Vegeta in her timeline preferred it over normal human clothing.
Coming to a stop in front of a pair of ornately carved doors, Radditz took a moment to compose himself. "Well, we're here," he murmured to his companion. Not waiting for a response, he stepped forward and pushed the doors open.
~*~
Whew, what a long chapter! But I had a specific number of things I needed to accomplish in this chapter, so I couldn't cut it off until I did them all. Oh well, not like any of you are complaining. *grins* And now that the stage has been set and the players have gathered, it is time for me to take my bow and leave you until next time. *bows*
If you asked to be on the mailing list and I didn't e-mail you, I'm really sorry! I think I got everyone, but I might have missed someone by accident.
Once again, thank you all for your patience. Updates will still probably be slow, but there shouldn't be another six month wait. See you all next time!