I WILL WAIT FOR YOU

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball or any of the characters. They belong to Akira Toriyama. I am stupid enough to do all this work for no money.

Gohan walked in the door and picked up the phone to dial the police. He'd held up his side of the bargain, it was now the afternoon and he still hadn't heard from his baby girl. He noted that he had a message waiting for him, but completely disregarded it. He had his priorities straight. As he was dialling the number Videl walked in. He nodded an acknowledgement to her while she removed her shoes. The phone rang about 15 times and still nobody answered and Gohan began to grow very agitated. Videl watched her husband in curiosity, still not quite sure who Gohan was ringing. She gently tapped him on the shoulder and he started to turn about to face her, but before he looked Videl in the eye someone finally answered the phone.

"Hello, I'd like to report a missing person." Gohan said without even allowing the officer to utter a greeting.

Videl lowered her head a little, realising this meant Gohan had not yet heard from Pan.

"Yes thank you." Gohan said after he was finally offered to be put through the missing persons department.

Videl stood silently listening to the one side of the conversation she could. When Gohan eventually hung up he looked at Videl with an unusual look of despair in his eyes. Videl opened her arms to him and he gratefully accepted the comfort. As Videl rested her chin on Gohans shoulder she noted that there was a message waiting on the answering machine. As quickly as she could without seeming rude she broke the embrace and wandered over to the machine, pressing the button.

"Hi Dad. It's Pan here..."

Gohan stared at the machine in silence. Videl looked at Gohan, trying to assess his reaction. Neither were happy that Pan had only left a message, but they had to admit it was comforting. While it was possible Pan had gone on a holiday to get away and had not felt like talking directly to either of her parents it was very unlikely and unusual. Videl watched the confusion on Gohan's face, knowing exactly what he was thinking because she was thinking the exact same thing, what if Pan had been made to make that call?

Neither were quite sure what to say so neither said anything.

Trunks was at work early for one of the first times in his life. He had gone there straight after seeing Pan. He had considered going home, but knew that if he did he would just end up wallowing in self-pity again making himself look even more suspicious. He was fully aware that Gohan wasn't going to accept Pan's message as the end of it. That meant he was going to have to lie again. His father had encouraged him to learn to lie and bluff with a straight face but an enraged Gohan tended to force all his eloquence and skills out the window. He sighed and realised that he'd been staring at the computer so long the screen saver had come on. Although he was at work early, today would not be productive. Reluctantly he leaned forward shaking the mouse backward and forward before continuing with his work.

Pan was already beginning to regret her decision not to stay with Trunks for a little longer. Her mind swiftly crushed the aching in her heart, but the waver in her concentration caused her to falter slightly in her morning regime. Glad there was nobody around to see her she managed to regain her balance. After several more failed attempts Pan resigned to the continually growing yearning and settled down for a break. Leaning back, she laced her fingers together and rested her head on her hands.

Staring out into the emptiness the isolation began to set in once more. She had promised herself that she wouldn't grow bitter if she could help it and that meant never really stopping to reflect on her solitude. However, Trunks's company hadn't lasted long though and she could already sense the image that was once so clearly set in her mind fading. "No, not fading." she whispered to herself, "Just clouded." The words seemed to relieve her guilt. She wasn't forgetting Trunks, there were just other things that had happened in her life. Memories, thoughts and conceptions had infringed upon a space inside of Pan that had once only been occupied by Trunks. It had been a single devotion, Pan had been lost in the love. Now she had begun to understand why the face brought so much comfort, but it was almost as if this understanding had taken the magic away from the feeling.

Pan thought hard, trying to remember a blissful moment with Trunks when they were oblivious to the world. The moments were rare due to their harsh judgement, but she could faintly recall a time when they had just sat together in silence staring into one another's eyes seeing complete beauty. Sure she saw physical beauty, but that seemed to originate from an innate beauty of the soul that had finally found expression. For the first time in the relationship Pan began to wonder if Trunks saw the same things she did. After all, true love didn't lie in staring in one another's eyes and seeing beauty. In involved staring in the same direction and seeing a future. The thoughts brought tears to Pan's eyes - she could be doing this for a person who didn't love her as she did him. Trunks wasn't exactly famous for his devotion to girlfriends. Pan could have wasted some of the best years of her entire life for a man who didn't love her. The thoughts were too much to bear and Pan shook her head trying to throw the ideas from her consciousness. They were too painful and exactly what she had been avoiding. "No," she whispered, then more forcefully,

"Trunks loves me." Then, almost afraid that someone would hear her in the nameless void, "Don't you?"

That wasn't really the question she wanted to ask though. What she wanted to know, but was too afraid to ask was, "Do I really love him?" Acknowledging such words would be far too painful though, Pan didn't want to hear them and she didn't want to know the answer. She knew all about lust and she knew that the most prominent thing about it was that it always seemed like love at the time until your heart had been burnt to ashes by cruel fiery words and actions of others. As much as she didn't want to believe it, she could be the one at fault, not really mature enough to understand love. Wasn't that what she was here for, to mature? If she had just wanted an older body she could have wished for it with the Dragonballs. That's not the aim though, she wanted to grow up. Maturity could not be feinted and here she was gaining it. The part that scared her the most was that with that maturity she seemed to be gaining an undeniable wisdom which shone a lot of light on her relationship with Trunks. Light which made her grateful for the dark they had hidden their feelings in before.

"Gohan, hi. It's Trunks here."

"Yes." Gohan said rather suspiciously, listening carefully for any edge or waver in Trunks's voice.

Trunks was thrown off by the curt reply. "Umm, I was just wondering if Pan had contacted you yet?" The phone call was more to convince Gohan of his ignorance than anything. Pan and Trunks had always been close friends and it would be unnatural for him not to worry. He had decided to ring Gohan rather than visit because the distance gave him a small sense of security.

"Well, she left a message on the answering machine."

"Uh huh. What did it say?" Just then a young man knocked on Trunks's open door and came into the office with several folders in his arms. Trunks silently cursed himself for not having shut the door. He felt like blasting the guy into the next dimension, but instead raised his eyebrows to acknowledge the young man who mouthed something incomprehensible. Trunks tried to hide his puzzled look, obviously failing because the guy proceeded to repeat this procedure. Trunks eventually raised a finger requesting the man wait and returned his attention to the conversation with Gohan. He had been briefly following Gohan's train of thought, but hadn't really said much.

Meanwhile Gohan was going on about how Pan had said she was on holiday, but that wasn't like her and he was still trying to get the police to investigate but they had refused on the grounds that she had contacted home and sounded fine. It wasn't too long before Gohan noticed Trunks's silence though and asked, "Trunks, you getting this."

"Yeah, thanks Gohan. Listen I'm going to have to talk to you about this later." The young man smiled in triumph.

"Alright. But if you hear from her you call me right away, OK?" Gohan reproached cautiously, growing more suspicious by the

minute. Trunks and Pan were really close and if Trunks thought it was slightly possible that Pan was in trouble then he would have stopped at nothing until he found her. Logic told him this could indicate Trunks was just certain Pan was on holiday, but his gut told him something deeper was at play.

"Sure thing Gohan. You know I would anyway." Trunks replied as quickly as possible.

"Bye Trunks."

"Yeah, bye." As Trunks had been speaking he had been lowering the phone to its cradle. When the reciever finally clicked back into place he looked at the young man who had been desperately trying to get his attention. "What is it?" he asked, fearing the worst.

"Mr Briefs, your mo-, er, Mrs Briefs is requesting you go and see her."

"What for?" Trunks was starting to get worried. What could his mother want him for that was so urgent?

The man shrugged slightly. "Something about taking a day off."

Trunks groaned. Some people had a way of making tiny things seem like life or death decisions.

Night came, although it wasn't really night. The blank reality never faded into darkness. Pan knew it was night though, everything in her told her it was night-time. Her aching muscles felt as if they had been bathed in fatigue, her mind was on the point of collapse from the intense concentration and something deep within her she felt that Trunks was resigning for the night. However, when she settled down for sleep she could not force her eyes shut. When she finally lay her head down she would sit up only minutes later. Usually she had been able to find sleep without hesitation and occasionally it had even struck in her short breaks, claiming her consciousness against her will. Tonight something else dominated her head, something far stronger than fatigue – fear. The demons of the day suddenly gained their full strength and Pan was unable to push the thoughts away. They swarmed her mind, breaking down every assurance she had ever held. The silent tears quickly changed to mournful cries and racking sobs. Remorse washed over her and penetrated every pore and rinsing all thoughts of Trunks away.

Morning came, although it wasn't really morning. A morning was a new beginning where there was always hope. Pan's cheeks were still stained red and her eyes were also leaning towards that tint. The small amount of sleep she had caught last night had been haunted by mocking figures dancing in the hallways of her mind. The ever denied inevitable was happening, Pan was maturing.

"No!" Pan screamed into the eternal white. "I love Trunks and he loves me." Strangely enough the words acted as a balm on her burning fears. The drug-like effects of a fresh morning were bringing everything back into perspective. "We are destined to be together." Pan carefully avoided the word fate because it seemed that fate was one of the cruel devices messing with her head. If she was with Trunks right now she would never have thought such things last night – she would have remembered her purpose and her promise. A promise to herself and to Trunks. She would wait for him and he would wait for her. After that they would be together and the world would be good. A smirk resembling Vegeta's pronounced itself on her lips and she started to get back into her training. However something caused her to stop. Staring back at the bed where she had been haunted by the demonic thoughts. "Not pulling that one on me again. Trunks loves me." she told the pillow, striking it with all her hatred for the night.

That was weird to write. I don't really know where all this came from to be honest. I guess its just something that's been bugging me for a while, I don't think you could spend all those years alone without ever developing doubts and fears. It all worked out though, didn't it? Will it reoccur? Well stay tuned for scenes from...no wait, that's not right. Just read the next chapter when it comes out.

Anyway, just to reiterate the catch-cry of FF.net – Please Review