Chapter 6: Getting Some Answers
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Lunch was not the disaster that Pan had originally envisioned it would be. For the most part, no one said much about Akira joining them except Vegeta, who expressed his annoyance at the presence of another "pathetically weak human." Akira just smiled pleasantly and chuckled as Bulma and Bra told the Saiyan prince off. Pan did notice several winks and smiles were passing between her mother, grandmother and Bulma; but she did her best to ignore them and gave thanks to Kame that Akira seemed oblivious to it all.
Akira finished before most of the others and politely excused himself saying that he wanted to get checked into his hotel room and that he would see them all tomorrow. Pan realized that unlike their first lunch together, today Akira had eaten very little, even by human standards.
She followed him out the door with her eyes, lost in thought. A few moments later, Pan realized that the table had grown quiet. She turned her attention back to the table and found most of her friends watching her with bemused expressions on their faces; naturally Vegeta, who was busily ripping meat from a large chicken leg, showed no sign of interest in her love life.
Krillin was clearly doing his best to keep from bursting into laughter; Videl and Chi-chi appeared to be envisioning the wedding already; Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and Tien all seemed to be confused by the whole situation; and everyone else was trying to be polite, but still seemed curious.
"So..." Krillin said, breaking the silence, "when's the wedding?" Only the quick reflexes of a natural fighter saved him from his wife's backhand, they did not, however, save him from Pan's uppercut and he was sent flying out of his seat.
"Look, he's not my boyfriend! I barely know the guy, we're hardly even friends," Pan explained; though no one seemed to care. She offered up a few more denials, then excused herself and fled from the table. Just as she was walking through the doors she heard Chi-chi begin telling everyone that she and Goku had only known each other for a few hours when they were engaged. Pan shook her head and laughed, she'd been expecting to hear that story ever since Akira had stopped by her house.
After escaping from her family, Pan went to check into the hotel; making sure that Akira was nowhere to be seen first. If any of her friends or family saw the two of them together the rest of the day, she doubted that she'd ever hear the end of it. Once she had her key, she went into her room and stayed there until the next morning.
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Pan awoke very early Saturday morning feeling refreshed and ready for the start of the tournament. After she had showered and dressed, she headed down to the cafeteria for breakfast.
The cafeteria was practically empty, but the wonderful smells of bacon, eggs, and other breakfast foods filled the air. Pan sat down at a booth near the back and was soon handed a menu by a waitress who looked much too cheery for such an early hour.
"Another early riser, eh?" said the waitress as she took Pan's order. Pan looked up from the menu and the woman nodded toward the far corner of the room.
There sat Akira, hungrily munching on what appeared to be his forth plate of pancakes, he also had several empty cereal bowls stacked next to him. He looked up and smiled as Pan walked over to the table.
"Mind if I join you?" she asked.
"Nope, in fact, I was hoping you would. Meals are always that much better when you have a friend to enjoy them with."
"Is that what we are? Friends?"
"Do you want to be something more?" Akira asked with a mischievous grin. "Your mother would be happy to hear it, but I don't think your father would be quite as excited, he strikes me as the protective type."
"I think I have to know you better before there's anything more. For instance, knowing where you live and who you really are."
"Well, a man has to have some mystery about him, it keeps him interesting," the young man replied sagely as he stabbed a large chunk of pancake and crammed it into his mouth.
"You're not that interesting," Pan retorted with a hint of irritation in her voice.
"Apparently you think otherwise, you came to see me, remember? By the way, I noticed that you didn't rule out becoming something more. I guess I should have expected it, what with me being such a charming, good-looking fellow and all." Akira said playfully and then finished off the last of his pancakes.
"I didn't rule it in either," Pan was becoming annoyed by his arrogance.
"Touché," he said with a smile.
She stared hard at him for a moment, then Akira began to laugh and Pan soon joined in. After they had calmed down, their conversation wandered easily from one topic to the next, as they became more and more comfortable with each other. Pan's food arrived eventually and she began to greedily wolf it down.
Akira watched her eat with a thoughtful expression on his face. Finally he asked, "How do you deal with being different from everyone around you?"
"What do you mean?" she asked between mouthfuls.
"Well, I take it not everyone knows that you warm up in 10G and do your training in 100G or that you can fly."
"Oh that, well, I don't really know how I deal with it. I mean, it's almost like I just have to forget about all of the things that make me different when I'm with people who wouldn't understand. If I'm thinking about our differences, I just can't be comfortable around other people and I know that if they knew about the things I can do they wouldn't be comfortable around me. Sometimes for the sake of acceptance we have to give up some of the things that make us special, I guess." She stared down at her food for a moment and then a thought struck her, "How did you know I could fly?"
Akira, who had been listening intently, winked at her, but otherwise ignored the question. There was an uncomfortable silence as Pan waited for an answer and her friend refused to give it to her. Finally, he asked, "Do you ever wish you could tell...you know, other people, about who you really are? Get everything into the open even if some of them can't handle it?"
A childish sense of evening the score had the young Saiyan considering not answering until Akira answered her question, but the conversation was heading in a direction that she kind of liked, so she said, "Every once in a while. But at the same time, I don't mind not being stared at and known as 'that flying girl.' Plus this way I can tell who my friends really are, I don't have to worry about whether or not they're just hanging around me because of what I can do... I deal with that enough being the granddaughter of 'The Great Hurcule.'" She smiled and then probingly asked, "What about you, do you ever feel like letting someone know your secrets?"
Akira sat quietly for a moment, considering his reply, and then said, "Sometimes."
"Well, you could tell me... "
Akira thought for a while before carefully asking, "What do you want to know?"
Pan, caught completely off guard, nearly choked on her waffles. "Just like that? You're just going to tell me anything I ask?"
"Well, not anything. After all, I'd hate for you to get bored of me."
"Maybe I already think you're boring."
"I doubt that, but still, all the more reason for me to hold onto as many mysteries as possible then."
"Okay, let's start with this: where do you really live?" Pan was getting excited now that she was finally going to start unwrapping the mystery that was Akira.
"Well, lately I've been staying in the woods on the eastern outskirts of town."
"You live in the woods? Why? Where are your parents?"
"I like it out there, it's peaceful sleeping out under the stars and waking up to the sound of birds chirping. As for my parents...I don't have any."
"You mean they're dead? Oh, sorry, I didn't mean that to come out like that..." Pan said, feeling slightly mortified at her lack of manners. ''They're dead?' Could I possibly be a little more uncouth?' she asked herself.
"No, I mean I don't have any..." Akira looked a bit uncomfortable, "and, if you don't mind, let's just leave it at that for now."
Pan actually did mind; his comment about not having parents had perked her interest, but she nodded anyway and thought of another question. "How did you get to be so strong? I over heard some guys talking about you while you were in your last match. I know you weren't surprised to get through the elimination round," she paused and thought for a second, then added, "When we were in the gravity room, 10G wasn't hard on you at all, was it?" Another pause, "Just how strong are you anyway?"
"Wow, okay... I think my answers should go something like: 'I've always been this strong;' 'no, I wasn't surprised to get out of the elimination round;' I barely felt them;' and 'I have no idea, that's one of the reasons why I'm here.'"
Pan sat for a moment digesting his answers, finally she said, "Is there anything else that you want to tell me... perhaps something that actually makes some sense?"
Akira smiled and winked at her, Pan blushed all the way to her toes. Suddenly, his eyes glanced towards the door and he stiffened just slightly. With another smile he got up, walked around the table and whispered in her ear, "Maybe we'll talk some more later... by the way, you're cute when you blush." Though she didn't think it possible, Pan turned even redder; Akira headed for the door.
As Pan turned to watch him go, she noticed three familiar heads duck down behind their menus. 'Well, here it comes,' she thought as Bulma, Videl, and Chi-chi hurried to her table. Marron, Bra, and Valese, who had just walked in, joined them moments later. After many questions and much begging, Pan told them most of what she and Akira had said to each other, leaving out the last couple minutes of the conversation. It was immediately agreed upon by everyone (except Pan) that she and Akira were destined to be together.
After nearly thirty minutes of hell, Pan heard the announcement that the fighters needed to assemble in the arena for the opening ceremony. She said good-bye as everyone wished her luck, and then ran to the arena.
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Lunch was not the disaster that Pan had originally envisioned it would be. For the most part, no one said much about Akira joining them except Vegeta, who expressed his annoyance at the presence of another "pathetically weak human." Akira just smiled pleasantly and chuckled as Bulma and Bra told the Saiyan prince off. Pan did notice several winks and smiles were passing between her mother, grandmother and Bulma; but she did her best to ignore them and gave thanks to Kame that Akira seemed oblivious to it all.
Akira finished before most of the others and politely excused himself saying that he wanted to get checked into his hotel room and that he would see them all tomorrow. Pan realized that unlike their first lunch together, today Akira had eaten very little, even by human standards.
She followed him out the door with her eyes, lost in thought. A few moments later, Pan realized that the table had grown quiet. She turned her attention back to the table and found most of her friends watching her with bemused expressions on their faces; naturally Vegeta, who was busily ripping meat from a large chicken leg, showed no sign of interest in her love life.
Krillin was clearly doing his best to keep from bursting into laughter; Videl and Chi-chi appeared to be envisioning the wedding already; Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and Tien all seemed to be confused by the whole situation; and everyone else was trying to be polite, but still seemed curious.
"So..." Krillin said, breaking the silence, "when's the wedding?" Only the quick reflexes of a natural fighter saved him from his wife's backhand, they did not, however, save him from Pan's uppercut and he was sent flying out of his seat.
"Look, he's not my boyfriend! I barely know the guy, we're hardly even friends," Pan explained; though no one seemed to care. She offered up a few more denials, then excused herself and fled from the table. Just as she was walking through the doors she heard Chi-chi begin telling everyone that she and Goku had only known each other for a few hours when they were engaged. Pan shook her head and laughed, she'd been expecting to hear that story ever since Akira had stopped by her house.
After escaping from her family, Pan went to check into the hotel; making sure that Akira was nowhere to be seen first. If any of her friends or family saw the two of them together the rest of the day, she doubted that she'd ever hear the end of it. Once she had her key, she went into her room and stayed there until the next morning.
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Pan awoke very early Saturday morning feeling refreshed and ready for the start of the tournament. After she had showered and dressed, she headed down to the cafeteria for breakfast.
The cafeteria was practically empty, but the wonderful smells of bacon, eggs, and other breakfast foods filled the air. Pan sat down at a booth near the back and was soon handed a menu by a waitress who looked much too cheery for such an early hour.
"Another early riser, eh?" said the waitress as she took Pan's order. Pan looked up from the menu and the woman nodded toward the far corner of the room.
There sat Akira, hungrily munching on what appeared to be his forth plate of pancakes, he also had several empty cereal bowls stacked next to him. He looked up and smiled as Pan walked over to the table.
"Mind if I join you?" she asked.
"Nope, in fact, I was hoping you would. Meals are always that much better when you have a friend to enjoy them with."
"Is that what we are? Friends?"
"Do you want to be something more?" Akira asked with a mischievous grin. "Your mother would be happy to hear it, but I don't think your father would be quite as excited, he strikes me as the protective type."
"I think I have to know you better before there's anything more. For instance, knowing where you live and who you really are."
"Well, a man has to have some mystery about him, it keeps him interesting," the young man replied sagely as he stabbed a large chunk of pancake and crammed it into his mouth.
"You're not that interesting," Pan retorted with a hint of irritation in her voice.
"Apparently you think otherwise, you came to see me, remember? By the way, I noticed that you didn't rule out becoming something more. I guess I should have expected it, what with me being such a charming, good-looking fellow and all." Akira said playfully and then finished off the last of his pancakes.
"I didn't rule it in either," Pan was becoming annoyed by his arrogance.
"Touché," he said with a smile.
She stared hard at him for a moment, then Akira began to laugh and Pan soon joined in. After they had calmed down, their conversation wandered easily from one topic to the next, as they became more and more comfortable with each other. Pan's food arrived eventually and she began to greedily wolf it down.
Akira watched her eat with a thoughtful expression on his face. Finally he asked, "How do you deal with being different from everyone around you?"
"What do you mean?" she asked between mouthfuls.
"Well, I take it not everyone knows that you warm up in 10G and do your training in 100G or that you can fly."
"Oh that, well, I don't really know how I deal with it. I mean, it's almost like I just have to forget about all of the things that make me different when I'm with people who wouldn't understand. If I'm thinking about our differences, I just can't be comfortable around other people and I know that if they knew about the things I can do they wouldn't be comfortable around me. Sometimes for the sake of acceptance we have to give up some of the things that make us special, I guess." She stared down at her food for a moment and then a thought struck her, "How did you know I could fly?"
Akira, who had been listening intently, winked at her, but otherwise ignored the question. There was an uncomfortable silence as Pan waited for an answer and her friend refused to give it to her. Finally, he asked, "Do you ever wish you could tell...you know, other people, about who you really are? Get everything into the open even if some of them can't handle it?"
A childish sense of evening the score had the young Saiyan considering not answering until Akira answered her question, but the conversation was heading in a direction that she kind of liked, so she said, "Every once in a while. But at the same time, I don't mind not being stared at and known as 'that flying girl.' Plus this way I can tell who my friends really are, I don't have to worry about whether or not they're just hanging around me because of what I can do... I deal with that enough being the granddaughter of 'The Great Hurcule.'" She smiled and then probingly asked, "What about you, do you ever feel like letting someone know your secrets?"
Akira sat quietly for a moment, considering his reply, and then said, "Sometimes."
"Well, you could tell me... "
Akira thought for a while before carefully asking, "What do you want to know?"
Pan, caught completely off guard, nearly choked on her waffles. "Just like that? You're just going to tell me anything I ask?"
"Well, not anything. After all, I'd hate for you to get bored of me."
"Maybe I already think you're boring."
"I doubt that, but still, all the more reason for me to hold onto as many mysteries as possible then."
"Okay, let's start with this: where do you really live?" Pan was getting excited now that she was finally going to start unwrapping the mystery that was Akira.
"Well, lately I've been staying in the woods on the eastern outskirts of town."
"You live in the woods? Why? Where are your parents?"
"I like it out there, it's peaceful sleeping out under the stars and waking up to the sound of birds chirping. As for my parents...I don't have any."
"You mean they're dead? Oh, sorry, I didn't mean that to come out like that..." Pan said, feeling slightly mortified at her lack of manners. ''They're dead?' Could I possibly be a little more uncouth?' she asked herself.
"No, I mean I don't have any..." Akira looked a bit uncomfortable, "and, if you don't mind, let's just leave it at that for now."
Pan actually did mind; his comment about not having parents had perked her interest, but she nodded anyway and thought of another question. "How did you get to be so strong? I over heard some guys talking about you while you were in your last match. I know you weren't surprised to get through the elimination round," she paused and thought for a second, then added, "When we were in the gravity room, 10G wasn't hard on you at all, was it?" Another pause, "Just how strong are you anyway?"
"Wow, okay... I think my answers should go something like: 'I've always been this strong;' 'no, I wasn't surprised to get out of the elimination round;' I barely felt them;' and 'I have no idea, that's one of the reasons why I'm here.'"
Pan sat for a moment digesting his answers, finally she said, "Is there anything else that you want to tell me... perhaps something that actually makes some sense?"
Akira smiled and winked at her, Pan blushed all the way to her toes. Suddenly, his eyes glanced towards the door and he stiffened just slightly. With another smile he got up, walked around the table and whispered in her ear, "Maybe we'll talk some more later... by the way, you're cute when you blush." Though she didn't think it possible, Pan turned even redder; Akira headed for the door.
As Pan turned to watch him go, she noticed three familiar heads duck down behind their menus. 'Well, here it comes,' she thought as Bulma, Videl, and Chi-chi hurried to her table. Marron, Bra, and Valese, who had just walked in, joined them moments later. After many questions and much begging, Pan told them most of what she and Akira had said to each other, leaving out the last couple minutes of the conversation. It was immediately agreed upon by everyone (except Pan) that she and Akira were destined to be together.
After nearly thirty minutes of hell, Pan heard the announcement that the fighters needed to assemble in the arena for the opening ceremony. She said good-bye as everyone wished her luck, and then ran to the arena.
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