Epilogue
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As the large group of warriors dropped out of the sky and landed in a courtyard outside of the living quarters at Capsule Corp, the doors to the large dome burst open and their friends and loved ones rushed out to greet them.
"You're alright! We were so worried...and then the ground started shaking...Master Roshi said Pan was...but you guys all made it..." Bulma was too relieved to even form whole sentences as she wrapped her arms around her husband and held him close.
"Calm yourself woman, everyone is just fine; even Goten managed to live through the battle," Vegeta said with a smirk.
The aqua haired woman looked at the unconscious form in her son's arms and smiled with delight. "Valese is in the living room Trunks, you might want to stop by there before you get him into a rejuvenation tank."
Trunks nodded, kissed his mother on the cheek, messed up his sisters hair, and then headed inside.
He found Valese sitting on one of the many couches, starring off into space through tear-reddened eyes.
"Hey there," he said quietly when he spotted her.
Valese spun around and looked at him in slight confusion and then her eyes moved to the still form that was slung over the lavender-haired Saiyan's shoulder. "Goten?"
"You didn't really think a whole hoard of evil aliens bent on world domination would be enough to finish him off, did you?" Trunks asked with a happy smile.
The brunette wasted no time hopping off the couch and rushing to her unconscious husband. When she got a look at how bruised and bloody he was she let out a small gasp.
"Don't worry; he'll be good as new after a few hours in the rejuvenation tank."
She nodded and the two of them headed towards the medical room.
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While the Z-Fighters were being surrounded by their happy friends and family, Akira had slowly made his way to a near by large oak tree and sat down. With no family to greet him, he felt he had no reason to be standing there with the rest, so he quietly sat under the big tree and watched.
'That must be nice,' the young man thought as Pan was lifted off the ground and squeezed tightly by her grandmother, who was beginning to cry. He tried to think of what it would be like to have a family, a mom or dad to hug him, ruffle his hair, and tell him they were proud of him, but the images were strange and foreign. He didn't have a family and never would. Not that that bothered him greatly, he'd gotten along pretty well by himself so far, but as he watched the happy reunions, he couldn't help but feel just the slightest twinge of jealousy.
As his mind continued to play with these thoughts, he began to notice that there were several dark spots in his vision that were slowly, but steadily growing larger. He shook his head slightly, but that only seemed to make things worse. A part of him thought that maybe he should let someone know what was happening, but he couldn't seem to summon the strength to open his mouth; all he wanted to do was close his eyes and rest.
And then a cool hand was gently touching his shoulder; he managed to maneuver his head into the right position to look up and found Pan smiling down at him.
"Mom and grandma want you to come join us."
Akira tried to say that he was too tired, but his mouth couldn't form the words. The black spots were rushing towards each other now; he blinked and then couldn't get his eyes to open again. He struggled with it for a second, but then relaxed and let the sweet oblivion take him.
Pan's smile faded as her friend fell backwards and didn't move. At first she thought he was joking with her, but after calling out his name and shaking him slightly, she knew it was no joke. She scooped the unconscious Saiyan up into her arms and rushed inside without giving an explanation to anyone.
She had just reached the door to the medical room when she felt a familiar presence behind her.
"You don't need to worry about that Pan, I'll take care of him," a polite voice said.
Pan turned and looked at the man standing behind her, "Kabitoshin!"
He smiled and then said, "Please, set him down and I'll have him healed in no time."
Pan quickly did as she was told and then waited patiently as a green light surrounded the Supreme Kai's hands and then enveloped Akira's body. The large wounds that seemed to be covering the young man began to knit themselves back together, dried blood faded and bruises slowly vanished. It all took just a little over a minute and then Akira looked as good as new.
The young man's eyes slowly opened and he looked around in confusion. "Why am I on the floor?" he asked.
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After the Supreme Kai had finished administering to Akira, he was taken to Goten and quickly revived the fallen warrior. The reunion between the Saiyan and his wife had been touching and tearful. She had told him of his child and he had hugged her tightly and swung her around in excitement. Gohan, Chichi, and Videl had entered the room shortly there after and there were many more tears and hugs all around.
Then, as things began to settle down, the Supreme Kai cleared his throat and said, "If you will all please excuse me, apparently there is some sort of disturbance in the East Quadrant that demands my attention." He let out a soft sigh and then muttered, "A kai's work is never done..."
"Before you go Kabitoshin, I was wondering if you could take a look at something for me," Gohan said quickly.
"Absolutely Gohan, what do you need?"
"Well," the Saiyan looked slightly nervously at his wife and mother and then said, "When we were fighting Ammit, Pan got stabbed by his sword. I gave her a senzu bean, but the wound didn't completely heal."
There were two quiet gasps from the two dark haired women, but the Supreme Kai ignored them. "I was under the impression that those beans could heal any injury," Kabitoshin said in confusion.
"Well, that's the problem, they're supposed to."
"Hmmm, how odd...Pan, would you mind coming here for a moment?" The young Saiyan stepped in front of the Supreme Kai and waited patiently while he examined the thin, pink scar. "Does this go all the way through," he asked after a few minutes.
"Uh, yeah..." two more gasps came from the corner of the room were Videl and Chichi were hugging each other; Pan forced her eyes to stay on the white haired kai.
The kai moved behind her to look at an identical line on her back. "How very interesting...does it hurt at all?" The young woman shook her head as the kai gently poked her back.
"Do you know what happened?" Gohan asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Not for sure, but I think I might have an idea. Keep in mind that I have never seen Ammit, he was fought and sealed away before my time and with the destruction of the kais at the hands of Majin Buu, I never really got the whole story on him. However, I believe that the reason this wound did not heal was most likely linked to the power of the sword that the Dark Lord wielded. When the sword went into Pan, the energy that the blade gives off would have been burning her from the inside causing extensive damage, which seems to have all been healed; however, the energy given off by the sword is not just physical in nature, it was also magical and wounds caused by magic do not heal as normal wounds do."
He placed his hands on Pan's back and stomach and the familiar glow flowed around her. A moment later he removed his hands and looked at her back again. "Yes, it is as I thought. These two scars will be with Pan for the rest of her life. Internally she seems fine, though you may want Bulma to check her out with one of her machines, but the entrance and exit wounds will leave their marks."
Gohan nodded, but then asked, "What about the other wounds she received from the sword? They all seemed to heal, as did Akira's injuries."
"That I cannot say for sure, in the case of the other cuts from the blade, it might be due to the severity of the wound or the energy output of the sword at the time of the injury; as for Akira being blasted, I think that his wounds healed because he was not hit with the blade, just the power from it, it was more like an intense ki blast than anything else. But again, I'm only speculating. The important thing is that both of them seem to be fine other than Pan's scars, so I wouldn't worry about it too much." Kabitoshin smiled again, "I really must be going now my friends, thank you for your brave actions today, the universe once again owes you a debt of gratitude." And without another word he was gone.
Akira didn't really hear the Supreme Kai's attempt at explaining the scars, nor did he see the purple skinned deity disappear or Gohan, Goten, Valese, and Trunks leave the room. All of his attention was on the thin, two inch long, red line near the center of Pan's stomach. He raged inside, furious with himself for having allowed such a thing to happen; for a moment he even half wished that Ammit as still alive, just so he could go back to turning the evil alien's face into paste. The young man's eyes unfocussed and for a second he was back on the battlefield, pounding away at his enemy as an evil grin slowly spread over his face.
"Akira? You okay?" Pan's voice broke through his daydream.
"What? Oh, um...yeah."
Her eyes glanced down at his hand and then back up to his face, "Are you sure?"
He looked down and noticed that his right hand was holding a large chunk of the metal table that he'd been leaning against, "Uh...oops, I guess I don't know my own strength," he said with a laugh as he scratched his head with his free hand as he set the chunk down on the table.
Pan didn't look convinced, but didn't press the issue further. "Well, come on then," she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door. "I think Bulma and Grandma are making dinner."
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Servants were busily setting up a large table on the lawn when the two Saiyan's stepped outside. A young woman, who had been putting plates on the table, noticed Akira's chisled, bare chest and accidentally dropped one of the plates.
"Don't worry about it dear," Bulma said as she filled several cups with lemonade, "it happens all the time. Just go get a new one from the cabinet." The scarlet faced girl hurried to do as she was told. "She's new," Bulma explained to Akira and Pan, "so she hasn't gotten used to seeing half-naked Saiyans running around. Speaking of which, why don't you two go put on something a little less... ruined. There's a few changing rooms upstairs with a decent selection, Gohan, Goten, and Trunks are already up there and it might be a little while before the food is ready." She glanced at her husband and Yamcha who were having a heated argument over who knew more about barbecuing.
The teenage Saiyans thanked her and headed inside as the two men continued to shout at each other.
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With the wonderful aroma of food hurrying them along, the Z Fighters quickly changed and headed back outside. Several minutes and a few choice words from Vegeta (who had ended up doing the barbecuing) to Yamcha (who said the food looked a little overcooked) later, everyone was seated and hungrily devouring their meal.
"So Akira, tell me about yourself," Bulma said as the young man busily stuffed his mouth. "None of us really got the chance to talk at the tournament and afterwards..." her voice trailed off as she hit upon a slightly uncomfortable subject.
Akira swallowed his large mouthful of food and shrugged, "There really isn't that much to say. Hey Pan, could you pass me another hamburger?"
"Well for starters, where do you live?" the aqua haired woman probed, never one to give up easily once her curiosity had been piqued. Many of the other guests grew quiet and leaned in to hear a little better as they noticed the budding conversation.
Akira looked around nervously, swallowed half of his hamburger and then said, "I used to live on the outskirts of town..."
"Do your parents have a nice house?"
Never mind the house," Bulma interrupted before Akira could answer, "What are your parents like? Are they strong fighters too? When did they get to earth?"
The young man looked very uncomfortable, "Um...I, uh...don't really have...parents."
There was a moment of slice as everyone digested the information, Akira took the time to stuff a heaping spoonful of spaghetti in his mouth and look pleadingly at Pan.
Bulma, Chichi, and Videl all looked like they had about a million questions they wanted to ask, but before they could renew their interrogation, Vegeta said, "Leave the boy alone woman, a Saiyan warrior should not be bothered while he's eating."
The resulting shouting match that broke out between the couple distracted everyone enough to allow Akira to slip away from the table after mouthing a quick 'thank you' in the Saiyan Prince's direction. Pan waited for a few minutes before excusing herself and following him.
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Pan found Akira lying on top of the large white dome, staring up at the sky as small, white clouds floated by.
"You do realize that you're going to have to tell them something, don't you?" she asked as she sat down next to him.
The young man's eyes shifted form the clouds to a small forest a short distance away, he was quiet for a moment and then said, "Maybe it would be better if I just left."
Pan looked startled, she opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.
"I mean, this whole thing between me and your grandpa, how do I explain that? I mean, does it make me your grandma's husband, or your dad's dad? I don't know if that's something I want to put them all through..."
There was a moment of silence as neither teen seemed to know what to say, and then someone cleared his throat behind them. The two young Saiyans spun around and found Vegeta and Gohan standing a short distance away.
"And what, pray tell, exactly is there between you and Kakkorot?" the Saiyan Prince asked with a slight smirk.
"Uh, there's not any—" Akira started to say.
"No. No more games Akira," Gohan interrupted with surprising force, "the truth this time. What do you have to do with my father?"
The young man looked around helplessly, as if seeking some sort of divine intervention, but none came. Finally he bowed his head in resignation and told them the whole story from waking up on the island to hearing the surprising news from the Supreme Kai.
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"I don't know if Akira is a good match for Pan anymore," Chichi said as she sipped her coffee. She, Bulma, Videl, and Valese where sitting at the picnic table relaxing while the rest of the group dozed in the late afternoon sun or went inside to watch Trunks and Goten renew their 'Goldeneye' rivalry.
"What makes you say that?" Videl asked.
"Well, I don't think he'd be a very good influence on her. If he's been an orphan living on the street all his life he probably has some pretty serious psychological issues. Not to mention the fact that he doesn't have a house or any money, what kind of life can he offer her?"
Bulma, who had been listening quietly up until this point, spoke up when she heard this, "Actually, Akira's a fairly wealthy guy."
"What do you mean?" the other three women asked simultaneously.
"He won the Tenkaichi Budoukia, so the prize money is his. When he died we couldn't give it to anyone else since no family members stepped forward, and now that he's back, I guess we have to give it to him; though I don't know how I'll explain that he was resurrected from the dead, but I'll think of something. As for not having a house, he could probably buy one with all of his winnings, or..." her voice trailed off as an idea hit her.
The other women waited for her to continue, but when she didn't they began discussing the turn of events; Akira's stock had once again risen in Chichi's eyes.
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Gohan's eyes had a far off look in them as Akira finished telling his story; the young man braced himself for what he imagined would be a very unpleasant conversation.
"Wow, that actually explains a lot," the scholar said after several minutes of silence.
"Huh?" Akira asked in confusion.
"Well, to be honest, I probably should have figured it out a lot earlier. I mean, there are a lot of weird similarities between you and my dad."
The young man still wasn't sure what was happening. He'd pictured this conversation hundreds of times in his head since he found out he was being wished back to life, but never in his wildest imagination had it gone like this.
"So, what happens now? Do we have to tell Chichi?" the young man wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.
Gohan smiled, "I think she's going to want to hear something, but I'll be the one that explains it." His smile slowly faded and he put his hand on the Akira's shoulder, looking the younger Saiyan in the eyes, "Akira, you don't need to worry, you aren't my dad or mom's husband. This is a pretty unique situation and it I know it has to be weird for you, but just remember that you are your own person, with your own destiny. You don't have to try to live my dad's life for him."
Akira smiled in relief and then chuckled, "You sounded a lot like Piccolo for a moment there."
Gohan grinned and said, "Good." Then he turned and headed back to the party while the two teens turned their attention to Vegeta who had been very quiet since Akira started telling his story.
The Saiyan Prince smirked and then said, "You aren't Kakkorot, so beating you won't be nearly as satisfying, however, I wouldn't mind having a rematch of our fight from the tournament sometime."
Akira smiled and nodded, "I'd like that."
Vegeta grunted and then he also headed back to the ground while the two young Saiyans let out sighs of relief.
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"Woman, we need to talk!" Vegeta called out the moment he landed.
Bulma looked up at her husband and scowled, "Have you come to apologize for your behavior at lunch? Because if you aren't then I don't think we have anything to talk about."
The Saiyan Prince was in no mood to play games, so rather than argue he simply lifted her out of her chair, threw her over his shoulder and carried her kicking and screaming to a secluded part of the grounds. When they were a safe distance from the others he dropped her rather unceremoniously on her butt.
"Oof, you jerk, what was that for?"
Vegeta looked around to make sure that no one had followed them and then said, "I have a request; do not press the boy about his past. There are things in it that he doesn't fully grasp yet and complications that he may never be able to get over."
"You know, don't you?" the Saiyan nodded. "So he'll tell you, but not me? Is this just another one of you Saiyans' boys only clubs? How typical."
"Bulma, please leave him alone about this." Bulma nearly fell over, she could barely remember the last time he'd called her by her actual name and was pretty sure he'd never said please unless she forced it on him. "Akira may come to you when and if he feels more comfortable around you, but for the time being, do not hound him for answers. This is something that he needs to come to terms with on his own."
Bulma nodded slowly; still floored by his use of her first name and the word please, "Yeah, okay. If it's that important then I won't ask him about it, but there was something else that I wanted to talk to you about..."
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Pan and Akira had stayed away from the party for over an hour, mostly just staring at the sky and not talking; both wanted to make sure that Gohan had plenty of time to discuss the topic with Chichi. When they finally did return, Akira noticed that neither Chichi nor Videl looked him in the eye, but they didn't seem too upset, so he guessed that Gohan had done a good job in explaining things.
There was an uncomfortable silence as no one seemed to know what to say, until finally Bulma spoke up from behind the young man.
"Um, Akira?"
He turned and cringed, fearing another interrogation. "Uh, hi...sorry I kind of ran off on..."
"No, no, don't worry about it. I don't want to ask you about that stuff right now. Actually I have something of a proposition for you," she smiled reassuringly at him, "I discussed it with Vegeta and seeing as how you don't have a house or anything to go home to, I was wondering if you would like to stay here with me and my family."
Akira couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Really?"
"Yeah, I mean, if you want to. I think Vegeta only agreed to it so he could get you into the gravity room with him, but if you'd like, this could be your home."
"I...I don't know what to say...thank you Bulma."
The rest of the day passed by pleasantly; the families all had dinner together and most of them decided to spend the night when the invitation was extended; only Krillin and 18 went home early, but Maron stayed at Capsule Corp, Pan suspected the short warrior was going to get a special reward for his hand in the death of Ammit.
As night began to fall, most of the guest retired to their rooms to get some much deserved rest. Pan was about to go in, when she noticed Akira sitting on top of the Capsule Corp dome once again. She immediately floated up and joined him.
"Hi," she said as she sat down and scooted closer to the young man.
"Hey, nice night, huh?"
"It sure is," Pan got the impression that he wanted to say something else, but was having trouble working up the nerve to say it, she waited patiently.
After several minutes, he took a deep breath and said, "About what happened out there...against Ammit. I just wanted to...tell you how sorry I am for what I said. I...I wasn't..."
"Shush," she placed a finger on his lips to quiet him. "You don't need to worry about it; I know it wasn't really you that said those things, so I forgive you."
"There was something else that I wanted to talk to you about. After the fight when we...uh, you know...kissed. I mean, I know we never really discussed how my past effects our...relationship, and I know that emotions where kind of crazy during and after the battle...so, I'll understand if things are...I mean, if you just want to be friends, I'll understand," the last couple of words came rushing out of his mouth and then Akira quickly looked down, feeling quite stupid.
Pan smiled and gently forced him to look at her, "You really are dense sometimes." Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
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The next few days passed by in a blur for Akira. He spent much of his time with Bulma who took him shopping for a wardrobe (and picked up a few things for herself), gave him the rules of the house (which mostly consisted of not staying in the gravity room all night and not bugging her when she was in the lab), and got him registered for school at West Capital High School since he couldn't return to Orange Star after his much publicized death. Akira found that as he attended school, he rather enjoyed the studying and learning. He would never become the brain that Gohan or Bra were, but for the most part his grades were surprisingly good (much to the delight of Bulma, Chichi, and Videl). He even took to helping Bulma with some of her experiments, though he rarely could follow what she was trying to accomplish he was always intrigued by her work.
Vegeta managed to get him into the gravity room for training at least once a day, but for the first few weeks, Akira seemed hesitant to spar with him. The final battle with Ammit seemed to have soured the thrill of battle for the young man, but Vegeta knew that in time the Saiyan instincts would take over and the boy would regain his love for fighting.
Akira and Pan saw each other quite regularly claiming, of course, to just be good friends, though no one was fooled. The two teenage Saiyans didn't mind that their relationship was hardly a secret; they just didn't want it to be the only topic of conversation whenever they spent time at the other's house and for the most part their friends and families honored that.
Almost nine months later, the Z Fighters and their families received a phone call at three in the morning announcing the newest arrival to the Son clan. Valese had given birth to a healthy baby boy whom she and Goten named Kumo. The baby's hair spiked in crazy directions like his grandfather's had, but was brown like his mothers; the doctors had scratched their heads over the tail, but Goten told them he didn't want it removed.
And so, the Z Fighters once again enjoyed a time of peace, while the world avoided another disaster without even realizing it. Whether or not the peace would last was a question that only time would tell.
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A/N: First of all, let me apologize to everyone for how bad (and long) this epilogue was. This was by far the hardest part of the story for me to write. I would sit down get half way through it and then delete it all because it was crap. I think this was probably the best of the three times I wrote it, but I'm still not particularly pleased with it. Still, it wraps up all or at least most of my loose ends, so I suppose it accomplished what I wanted it to. Again, if you hated it, I'm sorry, I don't like it too much myself.
A/N: I want to say a big thank you to all of my reviewers. Whether you reviewed once or 55 times, your input and encouragement was vital to the completion of this story. So thank you all. If you happened to like it (which hopefully you did if you read this far) and are interested in a sequel, I'm posting a pseudo-preview in the next "chapter." I was going to just put it at the end of the epilogue, but it just seemed to work better by itself. It isn't very long (only about 600 words), and is kind of a cliffhanger. If I do decide to do another installment of this, it won't be for a while because I need a break. So if you do read the preview, understand that it might be a while before it comes along (if it ever does). Anyway, thanks again. You all are amazing.
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As the large group of warriors dropped out of the sky and landed in a courtyard outside of the living quarters at Capsule Corp, the doors to the large dome burst open and their friends and loved ones rushed out to greet them.
"You're alright! We were so worried...and then the ground started shaking...Master Roshi said Pan was...but you guys all made it..." Bulma was too relieved to even form whole sentences as she wrapped her arms around her husband and held him close.
"Calm yourself woman, everyone is just fine; even Goten managed to live through the battle," Vegeta said with a smirk.
The aqua haired woman looked at the unconscious form in her son's arms and smiled with delight. "Valese is in the living room Trunks, you might want to stop by there before you get him into a rejuvenation tank."
Trunks nodded, kissed his mother on the cheek, messed up his sisters hair, and then headed inside.
He found Valese sitting on one of the many couches, starring off into space through tear-reddened eyes.
"Hey there," he said quietly when he spotted her.
Valese spun around and looked at him in slight confusion and then her eyes moved to the still form that was slung over the lavender-haired Saiyan's shoulder. "Goten?"
"You didn't really think a whole hoard of evil aliens bent on world domination would be enough to finish him off, did you?" Trunks asked with a happy smile.
The brunette wasted no time hopping off the couch and rushing to her unconscious husband. When she got a look at how bruised and bloody he was she let out a small gasp.
"Don't worry; he'll be good as new after a few hours in the rejuvenation tank."
She nodded and the two of them headed towards the medical room.
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While the Z-Fighters were being surrounded by their happy friends and family, Akira had slowly made his way to a near by large oak tree and sat down. With no family to greet him, he felt he had no reason to be standing there with the rest, so he quietly sat under the big tree and watched.
'That must be nice,' the young man thought as Pan was lifted off the ground and squeezed tightly by her grandmother, who was beginning to cry. He tried to think of what it would be like to have a family, a mom or dad to hug him, ruffle his hair, and tell him they were proud of him, but the images were strange and foreign. He didn't have a family and never would. Not that that bothered him greatly, he'd gotten along pretty well by himself so far, but as he watched the happy reunions, he couldn't help but feel just the slightest twinge of jealousy.
As his mind continued to play with these thoughts, he began to notice that there were several dark spots in his vision that were slowly, but steadily growing larger. He shook his head slightly, but that only seemed to make things worse. A part of him thought that maybe he should let someone know what was happening, but he couldn't seem to summon the strength to open his mouth; all he wanted to do was close his eyes and rest.
And then a cool hand was gently touching his shoulder; he managed to maneuver his head into the right position to look up and found Pan smiling down at him.
"Mom and grandma want you to come join us."
Akira tried to say that he was too tired, but his mouth couldn't form the words. The black spots were rushing towards each other now; he blinked and then couldn't get his eyes to open again. He struggled with it for a second, but then relaxed and let the sweet oblivion take him.
Pan's smile faded as her friend fell backwards and didn't move. At first she thought he was joking with her, but after calling out his name and shaking him slightly, she knew it was no joke. She scooped the unconscious Saiyan up into her arms and rushed inside without giving an explanation to anyone.
She had just reached the door to the medical room when she felt a familiar presence behind her.
"You don't need to worry about that Pan, I'll take care of him," a polite voice said.
Pan turned and looked at the man standing behind her, "Kabitoshin!"
He smiled and then said, "Please, set him down and I'll have him healed in no time."
Pan quickly did as she was told and then waited patiently as a green light surrounded the Supreme Kai's hands and then enveloped Akira's body. The large wounds that seemed to be covering the young man began to knit themselves back together, dried blood faded and bruises slowly vanished. It all took just a little over a minute and then Akira looked as good as new.
The young man's eyes slowly opened and he looked around in confusion. "Why am I on the floor?" he asked.
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After the Supreme Kai had finished administering to Akira, he was taken to Goten and quickly revived the fallen warrior. The reunion between the Saiyan and his wife had been touching and tearful. She had told him of his child and he had hugged her tightly and swung her around in excitement. Gohan, Chichi, and Videl had entered the room shortly there after and there were many more tears and hugs all around.
Then, as things began to settle down, the Supreme Kai cleared his throat and said, "If you will all please excuse me, apparently there is some sort of disturbance in the East Quadrant that demands my attention." He let out a soft sigh and then muttered, "A kai's work is never done..."
"Before you go Kabitoshin, I was wondering if you could take a look at something for me," Gohan said quickly.
"Absolutely Gohan, what do you need?"
"Well," the Saiyan looked slightly nervously at his wife and mother and then said, "When we were fighting Ammit, Pan got stabbed by his sword. I gave her a senzu bean, but the wound didn't completely heal."
There were two quiet gasps from the two dark haired women, but the Supreme Kai ignored them. "I was under the impression that those beans could heal any injury," Kabitoshin said in confusion.
"Well, that's the problem, they're supposed to."
"Hmmm, how odd...Pan, would you mind coming here for a moment?" The young Saiyan stepped in front of the Supreme Kai and waited patiently while he examined the thin, pink scar. "Does this go all the way through," he asked after a few minutes.
"Uh, yeah..." two more gasps came from the corner of the room were Videl and Chichi were hugging each other; Pan forced her eyes to stay on the white haired kai.
The kai moved behind her to look at an identical line on her back. "How very interesting...does it hurt at all?" The young woman shook her head as the kai gently poked her back.
"Do you know what happened?" Gohan asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Not for sure, but I think I might have an idea. Keep in mind that I have never seen Ammit, he was fought and sealed away before my time and with the destruction of the kais at the hands of Majin Buu, I never really got the whole story on him. However, I believe that the reason this wound did not heal was most likely linked to the power of the sword that the Dark Lord wielded. When the sword went into Pan, the energy that the blade gives off would have been burning her from the inside causing extensive damage, which seems to have all been healed; however, the energy given off by the sword is not just physical in nature, it was also magical and wounds caused by magic do not heal as normal wounds do."
He placed his hands on Pan's back and stomach and the familiar glow flowed around her. A moment later he removed his hands and looked at her back again. "Yes, it is as I thought. These two scars will be with Pan for the rest of her life. Internally she seems fine, though you may want Bulma to check her out with one of her machines, but the entrance and exit wounds will leave their marks."
Gohan nodded, but then asked, "What about the other wounds she received from the sword? They all seemed to heal, as did Akira's injuries."
"That I cannot say for sure, in the case of the other cuts from the blade, it might be due to the severity of the wound or the energy output of the sword at the time of the injury; as for Akira being blasted, I think that his wounds healed because he was not hit with the blade, just the power from it, it was more like an intense ki blast than anything else. But again, I'm only speculating. The important thing is that both of them seem to be fine other than Pan's scars, so I wouldn't worry about it too much." Kabitoshin smiled again, "I really must be going now my friends, thank you for your brave actions today, the universe once again owes you a debt of gratitude." And without another word he was gone.
Akira didn't really hear the Supreme Kai's attempt at explaining the scars, nor did he see the purple skinned deity disappear or Gohan, Goten, Valese, and Trunks leave the room. All of his attention was on the thin, two inch long, red line near the center of Pan's stomach. He raged inside, furious with himself for having allowed such a thing to happen; for a moment he even half wished that Ammit as still alive, just so he could go back to turning the evil alien's face into paste. The young man's eyes unfocussed and for a second he was back on the battlefield, pounding away at his enemy as an evil grin slowly spread over his face.
"Akira? You okay?" Pan's voice broke through his daydream.
"What? Oh, um...yeah."
Her eyes glanced down at his hand and then back up to his face, "Are you sure?"
He looked down and noticed that his right hand was holding a large chunk of the metal table that he'd been leaning against, "Uh...oops, I guess I don't know my own strength," he said with a laugh as he scratched his head with his free hand as he set the chunk down on the table.
Pan didn't look convinced, but didn't press the issue further. "Well, come on then," she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door. "I think Bulma and Grandma are making dinner."
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Servants were busily setting up a large table on the lawn when the two Saiyan's stepped outside. A young woman, who had been putting plates on the table, noticed Akira's chisled, bare chest and accidentally dropped one of the plates.
"Don't worry about it dear," Bulma said as she filled several cups with lemonade, "it happens all the time. Just go get a new one from the cabinet." The scarlet faced girl hurried to do as she was told. "She's new," Bulma explained to Akira and Pan, "so she hasn't gotten used to seeing half-naked Saiyans running around. Speaking of which, why don't you two go put on something a little less... ruined. There's a few changing rooms upstairs with a decent selection, Gohan, Goten, and Trunks are already up there and it might be a little while before the food is ready." She glanced at her husband and Yamcha who were having a heated argument over who knew more about barbecuing.
The teenage Saiyans thanked her and headed inside as the two men continued to shout at each other.
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With the wonderful aroma of food hurrying them along, the Z Fighters quickly changed and headed back outside. Several minutes and a few choice words from Vegeta (who had ended up doing the barbecuing) to Yamcha (who said the food looked a little overcooked) later, everyone was seated and hungrily devouring their meal.
"So Akira, tell me about yourself," Bulma said as the young man busily stuffed his mouth. "None of us really got the chance to talk at the tournament and afterwards..." her voice trailed off as she hit upon a slightly uncomfortable subject.
Akira swallowed his large mouthful of food and shrugged, "There really isn't that much to say. Hey Pan, could you pass me another hamburger?"
"Well for starters, where do you live?" the aqua haired woman probed, never one to give up easily once her curiosity had been piqued. Many of the other guests grew quiet and leaned in to hear a little better as they noticed the budding conversation.
Akira looked around nervously, swallowed half of his hamburger and then said, "I used to live on the outskirts of town..."
"Do your parents have a nice house?"
Never mind the house," Bulma interrupted before Akira could answer, "What are your parents like? Are they strong fighters too? When did they get to earth?"
The young man looked very uncomfortable, "Um...I, uh...don't really have...parents."
There was a moment of slice as everyone digested the information, Akira took the time to stuff a heaping spoonful of spaghetti in his mouth and look pleadingly at Pan.
Bulma, Chichi, and Videl all looked like they had about a million questions they wanted to ask, but before they could renew their interrogation, Vegeta said, "Leave the boy alone woman, a Saiyan warrior should not be bothered while he's eating."
The resulting shouting match that broke out between the couple distracted everyone enough to allow Akira to slip away from the table after mouthing a quick 'thank you' in the Saiyan Prince's direction. Pan waited for a few minutes before excusing herself and following him.
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Pan found Akira lying on top of the large white dome, staring up at the sky as small, white clouds floated by.
"You do realize that you're going to have to tell them something, don't you?" she asked as she sat down next to him.
The young man's eyes shifted form the clouds to a small forest a short distance away, he was quiet for a moment and then said, "Maybe it would be better if I just left."
Pan looked startled, she opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.
"I mean, this whole thing between me and your grandpa, how do I explain that? I mean, does it make me your grandma's husband, or your dad's dad? I don't know if that's something I want to put them all through..."
There was a moment of silence as neither teen seemed to know what to say, and then someone cleared his throat behind them. The two young Saiyans spun around and found Vegeta and Gohan standing a short distance away.
"And what, pray tell, exactly is there between you and Kakkorot?" the Saiyan Prince asked with a slight smirk.
"Uh, there's not any—" Akira started to say.
"No. No more games Akira," Gohan interrupted with surprising force, "the truth this time. What do you have to do with my father?"
The young man looked around helplessly, as if seeking some sort of divine intervention, but none came. Finally he bowed his head in resignation and told them the whole story from waking up on the island to hearing the surprising news from the Supreme Kai.
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"I don't know if Akira is a good match for Pan anymore," Chichi said as she sipped her coffee. She, Bulma, Videl, and Valese where sitting at the picnic table relaxing while the rest of the group dozed in the late afternoon sun or went inside to watch Trunks and Goten renew their 'Goldeneye' rivalry.
"What makes you say that?" Videl asked.
"Well, I don't think he'd be a very good influence on her. If he's been an orphan living on the street all his life he probably has some pretty serious psychological issues. Not to mention the fact that he doesn't have a house or any money, what kind of life can he offer her?"
Bulma, who had been listening quietly up until this point, spoke up when she heard this, "Actually, Akira's a fairly wealthy guy."
"What do you mean?" the other three women asked simultaneously.
"He won the Tenkaichi Budoukia, so the prize money is his. When he died we couldn't give it to anyone else since no family members stepped forward, and now that he's back, I guess we have to give it to him; though I don't know how I'll explain that he was resurrected from the dead, but I'll think of something. As for not having a house, he could probably buy one with all of his winnings, or..." her voice trailed off as an idea hit her.
The other women waited for her to continue, but when she didn't they began discussing the turn of events; Akira's stock had once again risen in Chichi's eyes.
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Gohan's eyes had a far off look in them as Akira finished telling his story; the young man braced himself for what he imagined would be a very unpleasant conversation.
"Wow, that actually explains a lot," the scholar said after several minutes of silence.
"Huh?" Akira asked in confusion.
"Well, to be honest, I probably should have figured it out a lot earlier. I mean, there are a lot of weird similarities between you and my dad."
The young man still wasn't sure what was happening. He'd pictured this conversation hundreds of times in his head since he found out he was being wished back to life, but never in his wildest imagination had it gone like this.
"So, what happens now? Do we have to tell Chichi?" the young man wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.
Gohan smiled, "I think she's going to want to hear something, but I'll be the one that explains it." His smile slowly faded and he put his hand on the Akira's shoulder, looking the younger Saiyan in the eyes, "Akira, you don't need to worry, you aren't my dad or mom's husband. This is a pretty unique situation and it I know it has to be weird for you, but just remember that you are your own person, with your own destiny. You don't have to try to live my dad's life for him."
Akira smiled in relief and then chuckled, "You sounded a lot like Piccolo for a moment there."
Gohan grinned and said, "Good." Then he turned and headed back to the party while the two teens turned their attention to Vegeta who had been very quiet since Akira started telling his story.
The Saiyan Prince smirked and then said, "You aren't Kakkorot, so beating you won't be nearly as satisfying, however, I wouldn't mind having a rematch of our fight from the tournament sometime."
Akira smiled and nodded, "I'd like that."
Vegeta grunted and then he also headed back to the ground while the two young Saiyans let out sighs of relief.
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"Woman, we need to talk!" Vegeta called out the moment he landed.
Bulma looked up at her husband and scowled, "Have you come to apologize for your behavior at lunch? Because if you aren't then I don't think we have anything to talk about."
The Saiyan Prince was in no mood to play games, so rather than argue he simply lifted her out of her chair, threw her over his shoulder and carried her kicking and screaming to a secluded part of the grounds. When they were a safe distance from the others he dropped her rather unceremoniously on her butt.
"Oof, you jerk, what was that for?"
Vegeta looked around to make sure that no one had followed them and then said, "I have a request; do not press the boy about his past. There are things in it that he doesn't fully grasp yet and complications that he may never be able to get over."
"You know, don't you?" the Saiyan nodded. "So he'll tell you, but not me? Is this just another one of you Saiyans' boys only clubs? How typical."
"Bulma, please leave him alone about this." Bulma nearly fell over, she could barely remember the last time he'd called her by her actual name and was pretty sure he'd never said please unless she forced it on him. "Akira may come to you when and if he feels more comfortable around you, but for the time being, do not hound him for answers. This is something that he needs to come to terms with on his own."
Bulma nodded slowly; still floored by his use of her first name and the word please, "Yeah, okay. If it's that important then I won't ask him about it, but there was something else that I wanted to talk to you about..."
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Pan and Akira had stayed away from the party for over an hour, mostly just staring at the sky and not talking; both wanted to make sure that Gohan had plenty of time to discuss the topic with Chichi. When they finally did return, Akira noticed that neither Chichi nor Videl looked him in the eye, but they didn't seem too upset, so he guessed that Gohan had done a good job in explaining things.
There was an uncomfortable silence as no one seemed to know what to say, until finally Bulma spoke up from behind the young man.
"Um, Akira?"
He turned and cringed, fearing another interrogation. "Uh, hi...sorry I kind of ran off on..."
"No, no, don't worry about it. I don't want to ask you about that stuff right now. Actually I have something of a proposition for you," she smiled reassuringly at him, "I discussed it with Vegeta and seeing as how you don't have a house or anything to go home to, I was wondering if you would like to stay here with me and my family."
Akira couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Really?"
"Yeah, I mean, if you want to. I think Vegeta only agreed to it so he could get you into the gravity room with him, but if you'd like, this could be your home."
"I...I don't know what to say...thank you Bulma."
The rest of the day passed by pleasantly; the families all had dinner together and most of them decided to spend the night when the invitation was extended; only Krillin and 18 went home early, but Maron stayed at Capsule Corp, Pan suspected the short warrior was going to get a special reward for his hand in the death of Ammit.
As night began to fall, most of the guest retired to their rooms to get some much deserved rest. Pan was about to go in, when she noticed Akira sitting on top of the Capsule Corp dome once again. She immediately floated up and joined him.
"Hi," she said as she sat down and scooted closer to the young man.
"Hey, nice night, huh?"
"It sure is," Pan got the impression that he wanted to say something else, but was having trouble working up the nerve to say it, she waited patiently.
After several minutes, he took a deep breath and said, "About what happened out there...against Ammit. I just wanted to...tell you how sorry I am for what I said. I...I wasn't..."
"Shush," she placed a finger on his lips to quiet him. "You don't need to worry about it; I know it wasn't really you that said those things, so I forgive you."
"There was something else that I wanted to talk to you about. After the fight when we...uh, you know...kissed. I mean, I know we never really discussed how my past effects our...relationship, and I know that emotions where kind of crazy during and after the battle...so, I'll understand if things are...I mean, if you just want to be friends, I'll understand," the last couple of words came rushing out of his mouth and then Akira quickly looked down, feeling quite stupid.
Pan smiled and gently forced him to look at her, "You really are dense sometimes." Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.
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The next few days passed by in a blur for Akira. He spent much of his time with Bulma who took him shopping for a wardrobe (and picked up a few things for herself), gave him the rules of the house (which mostly consisted of not staying in the gravity room all night and not bugging her when she was in the lab), and got him registered for school at West Capital High School since he couldn't return to Orange Star after his much publicized death. Akira found that as he attended school, he rather enjoyed the studying and learning. He would never become the brain that Gohan or Bra were, but for the most part his grades were surprisingly good (much to the delight of Bulma, Chichi, and Videl). He even took to helping Bulma with some of her experiments, though he rarely could follow what she was trying to accomplish he was always intrigued by her work.
Vegeta managed to get him into the gravity room for training at least once a day, but for the first few weeks, Akira seemed hesitant to spar with him. The final battle with Ammit seemed to have soured the thrill of battle for the young man, but Vegeta knew that in time the Saiyan instincts would take over and the boy would regain his love for fighting.
Akira and Pan saw each other quite regularly claiming, of course, to just be good friends, though no one was fooled. The two teenage Saiyans didn't mind that their relationship was hardly a secret; they just didn't want it to be the only topic of conversation whenever they spent time at the other's house and for the most part their friends and families honored that.
Almost nine months later, the Z Fighters and their families received a phone call at three in the morning announcing the newest arrival to the Son clan. Valese had given birth to a healthy baby boy whom she and Goten named Kumo. The baby's hair spiked in crazy directions like his grandfather's had, but was brown like his mothers; the doctors had scratched their heads over the tail, but Goten told them he didn't want it removed.
And so, the Z Fighters once again enjoyed a time of peace, while the world avoided another disaster without even realizing it. Whether or not the peace would last was a question that only time would tell.
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A/N: First of all, let me apologize to everyone for how bad (and long) this epilogue was. This was by far the hardest part of the story for me to write. I would sit down get half way through it and then delete it all because it was crap. I think this was probably the best of the three times I wrote it, but I'm still not particularly pleased with it. Still, it wraps up all or at least most of my loose ends, so I suppose it accomplished what I wanted it to. Again, if you hated it, I'm sorry, I don't like it too much myself.
A/N: I want to say a big thank you to all of my reviewers. Whether you reviewed once or 55 times, your input and encouragement was vital to the completion of this story. So thank you all. If you happened to like it (which hopefully you did if you read this far) and are interested in a sequel, I'm posting a pseudo-preview in the next "chapter." I was going to just put it at the end of the epilogue, but it just seemed to work better by itself. It isn't very long (only about 600 words), and is kind of a cliffhanger. If I do decide to do another installment of this, it won't be for a while because I need a break. So if you do read the preview, understand that it might be a while before it comes along (if it ever does). Anyway, thanks again. You all are amazing.