09 – Truth & Honor
I endlessly circled the tree at the watering hole; the lone tree at the bank of the lake that has grown up with us. My mom planted it when I was born and so as my friendship list grew, their names were carved into the tree. I was avoiding one area of the tree; the couples area. When Bra was old enough her and Goten pledged their love to each other and so they carved their names in a heart on the tree. Even though they hearts aren't in the same place anymore the heart remains. The year Pan and I pledged our love; she carved our names in a heart under Goten and Bra's. She went further than that for she put the date, the time, and little caricatures of us in the heart. That was what I was avoiding; because every time I see our heart I break down and remember how I hurt her; physically and emotionally. The rage in me towards Goten got out of control and that never happens to me. I am a superb fighter and have been training since I was three. I know how to control my emotions! It still remains that I hurt the only woman I ever wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
The sun was frying my shirtless back and I was getting dizzy from walking around in circles so I sat down in front of the tree. I smiled, remembering the day we named the tree; The Oracle. Pan named it really. She said that The Oracle was the perfect name because the names on the friendship side of the tree were destined to remain friends forever and that the hearts that were carved into the tree was a symbol of the destiny that the couples shared to get married. Of course when Goten and Bra broke up The Oracle just became 'The Tree' again. My eyes betrayed my manhood and I started crying. No one had ever seen me cry; not even Pan. Like my father, I don't believe in crying, it serves no purpose except to belittle the man you should be. Right now I threw all of the stupid male-chauvinist things my father had ever taught me and mourned the beautiful fiancé I once had. I'll never get to kiss her again, hold her, touch her hands and face, or gaze into her intense brown eyes again. The tears grew more adamant and I just sat there wallowing in despair.
At least the anger and rage that was stacked against my best friend was gone. Surely Goten will believe that I was tricked. He'll help me get Pan back and fix this whole thing, I just know it! Stop crying you weak-hearted shit! Things will get better. I was mentally building up my ego when I sensed a familiar ki drawing near. He landed behind the tree and walked around to me and sat down. I felt guilty for attacking him and Pan so I couldn't bring myself to look at him.
"Pan is healed and she's doing fine. Bra came over to talk to her." Great Bra now knows and so now everyone will know, but really that didn't matter compared to Pan's health. I was relieved to know that she was better. I opened my mouth to tell Goten that I was sorry, but he held up his hand; signaling that he was here to talk and that I was to listen. Considering what I had done this morning I thought he was being very nice about things. I still couldn't look him in the eyes though. I felt ashamed and cowardly. How could I, his best friend, do that to him and Pan?
"You may seem to think that I accept your unspoken apology, but I have not. You are my best friend and I consider you my older brother, just like Gohan, but today you proved that I can not trust you. Before today I would have been honored to have my life in your hands and your's in mine. But you hurting Pan; no not me I don't care that you retaliated against me, it's Pan that I am thinking about, has opened my eyes to the true Saiyan inside. If you can so easily lose complete control and endanger the woman you claim to worship and love over such a trivial thing, then what will hold you back on much more pressing matters?"
He hung the question in the air and I knew that nothing I said would satisfy the answer he was looking for. His words made me feel so beneath him that I could not even muster the courage to look up at him as a slave would. I studied his demeanor; he was sitting with his knees brought to his chest and his arms around his legs, looking straight into the sun, or in the sky, face rigid with hurt and anger. The pink scar on his right cheek stood out on his tanned face along with the new bruises I had put there of course I also remembered the day he got the scar; no the day I gave him that scar.
***Flashback***
"Goten, please spar with me!" An impatient fifteen year old Pan said as I blocked another of her blasts and sending a very weak blast back at her. I knew she was a Saiyan just as I and just as Goten but the fact that she was a girl was the reason I would never completely fight her and she knew this. "Goten! Trunks is being a pussy again because I'm a girl!" Pan yelled again as Goten blocked a huge ki blast from Bra. I smiled to myself because I knew Pan was trying to rile me up by calling me a pussy, but I would never truly fight her. I had promised myself... and her dad.
"Ok, ok, Pan! I sure as hell don't want the pussy to break a nail!" My best friend added to Pan's abuse. I smiled at him and then glared at Pan, making her think that I had bought the bait. She smiled really big and stilled herself for the attack or blast that I would send her way. I made a show of powering up to the brink of a Super Saiyan and formed a ki blast in my hands, which grew and grew. What Pan didn't know was that the bigger the blast was the weaker the energy it would contain. I threw the blast at her and of course she easily dodged.
"There you go Panny! Now go play with Goten while I spar with a man!" I said mocking her and my sister at the same time. Apparently Goten was also a little pissed for Pan's sake. I was laughing though because Pan was throwing every dirty word she had ever heard in three languages at me.
"Trunks, that wasn't very nice! You know I don't care that you promised her father that you would be careful with her, you know what I made the same promise; but I am sure he didn't mean to sell her short! She is a Saiyan, just like you and me and just like Bra! Now if Bra can with hold the blasts I send at her than I know Pan can..."
"Goten, shut up! This has nothing to do with the way you treat them! As you well know dad never told me to be careful with Bra and I am not because one, dad doesn't care and wants her to be as tough as us and two, Bra isn't a female in my eyes; she's just another brother!" I yelled cutting Goten off, sometimes his rambling about being Pan's protector was such shit. The childhood game we use to play where Pan and Bra were princesses and I was the prince and Goten was the knight that protected the princess went way beyond the fairytale realm. I was about to fly towards Bra and finish sparing for the day when I took someone's blast to the back of the head. It knocked me to the ground and with a crater the size of the guest house at Capsule Corp Manor. Boy was I pissed now!
"Pan! What are you doing?!" I heard Goten say behind me as I dusted off my clothing. My head was splitting with the new headache that Pan so lovingly gave me. I turned around and saw that Goten and Bra was bodily holding Pan back.
"Let me go! I want to prove myself to him that I am not a little girl that needs to be pampered!" Pan screamed, I couldn't help but laugh. I think that's what set off Goten and Bra though.
"You know Goten, I think we should let Pan have her way, at least if Trunks fears for his life then maybe he would fight her with all he has!" Bra said but Goten seemed to have a different idea.
"Bra you hold Pan and keep her from interfering, I will honor her name by dueling him...with swords!" Goten said as he flew to the ground and rummaged through the sparing tools. He came back with two rusty swords that probably have seen better days, but I wasn't going to back down. I haven't fought with a sword in years and neither has Goten so this would probably be a challenge worth taking.
"If I win, I get to treat Pan anyway I want to! That means babying her and all!" I yell for all to hear. Goten nods and glances at Pan, who seems to realize that Goten was serious; she had a smile on her face but her eyes were huge.
"If I win than you have to spar with Pan as if you were sparing with me or Bra!" Goten threw back. I nodded curtly and turned to Pan, her eyes narrowed and I bowed in mock honor. If her hands had been free from Bra's then I would have received two very un-lady-like gestures. I chuckled to myself as I felt Goten's ki very close I turned and barely had time to block the rusty old sword that was aimed for my neck. Boy when Goten fought, he fought for the most vital parts of the body. Truth be told I missed having a sword to fight with, but since mine was broken I decided that I could do better without one. The parrying and parleying that was being thrown around would have amazed a fencing expert, not to mention that we were using out Saiyan speed to out maneuver each other. Every swings Goten sent my way I tried to send back but with more force; the problem was that he and I were somewhat equally matched. As the afternoon rolled around and our energy slowly drained I realized that Pan's honor meant more to Goten than I had expected. Eventually we started getting careless in our swordplay and things became more interesting.
"Goten, I didn't realize that you thought so highly of your immature niece!" I yelled trying to get Goten to make a serious mistake. He glared at me and I heard Pan start in on her perpetual cursing she so loved to do. I also noticed that Goten's swings and jabs were more accurate and to the point even though we were both exhausted. At one vital point Goten did make a mistake, it was when he turned his head to look at the spectators and lowered his defense. I took full advantage and swung for his midsection, he turned back just in time to block my sword to the left and sent my whole body flying around. I came back to face him with a vertical slash of my sword that caught his right cheek, which left a huge gash. I smiled triumphant until the look in his eyes directed my eyes to the point of his sword. Needless to say that he won the fight because either I would be dead or I would never father children.
"Goten!" Pan screamed as my smiling best friend fell to the ground pouring blood profusely.
***End Flashback***
Goten had been fine but the loss of blood plus the drain of energy from fighting with everything that we had had, is what had landed Goten in the bed for three days. Plus he refused the senzu bean, saying he wanted to keep the scar to show everyone that he had won Pan's honor. It was a symbol of their friendship he also said, but I wander now just what the scar really symbolizes for my best friend. I thought about all those times that I wasn't able to be there for Pan and realized that Goten had been; every time. Sometimes with Bra there too, but most of the time it was just Pan and Goten. Their relationship seldom resembled an uncle and niece relationship, more like a best friend thing; which makes sense because Goten is my best friend and Pan is *was* my fiancé, but even before Pan and I got together... Man my head was so cloudy that I couldn't even think straight.
"Trunks, what happened? I am curious you know. Pan didn't want to deal with it so soon and I understand why, but I want to know if you were under your own inhibitions when this happened." I was so relieved that Goten wanted to know what happened that I gave a huge sigh. Knowing that Goten was still my best friend and was going to listen to me even after the unpleasantness this morning lifted a weight from me; that I didn't even know I had. Still quite ashamed of my behavior though; I remained staring at the watering hole and avoiding Goten's face.
"Goten, first of all, you know I love Pan like there is no tomorrow. That I would happily give up my life to make her happy. That to say I love her just doesn't cut it anymore. She is my life, all my life, and will always be my life. Therefore you know that I did not do this willingly, intentionally, or happily because, man, I did not know I was doing it at all!" I said exasperated. I braved a look at Goten and could tell that he was mulling things over. His eyebrows were creased together like they always do when my best friend has a mental problem that needs solved. I cheered a little and continued.
"I remember, you coming over last night and we had a few beers, I remember telling you that I had a special surprise for Pan during the reception and then I remember coming to the door when my mom told me I had a visitor." I stopped; trying to see if I could remember anything that was even remotely significant other than what I had just said. Noting that I haven't left anything out about the night before I related what happened this morning. "When I woke up this morning, correction; when my mom woke me up this morning my room was in a battered state and she was screaming at me. I learned that Marron had come over last night, we had had sex and Pan had walked in on us in the act. Pan gave Marron her engagement ring and then left. Apparently Marron left as well because she wasn't there when I woke up. That's all I know and I swear that I would never betray Pan like that willingly." I left off and just let the silence engulf us for what seemed like an hour. It was getting dark when Goten finally spoke up.
"I loved your sister..." Goten said and then trailed off. I was wandering what that had to do with my current situation when he resumed. "as you have plainly spelt it out, she was my life, my love, and my friend...but, back then, I would not have taken away her freedom and happiness just to make myself happy." I stared at Goten and tried to figure out the meaning of this statement. Sometimes Goten goes into what I like to call "Bardock Moods;" from what I heard from Goku about his father, Bardock, was that he was some kind of prophet that spoke in riddles about the future. And sometimes Goten would do this, always confusing the hell out of me because I wasn't too good with riddles.
"Goten wh..."
"I loved Bra enough to let her be happy with whatever she chose to do or who ever she chose to be with, despite MY happiness." Goten said emphasizing the word 'my'.
"I know; you just let her go without a single fight. I wouldn't be ab..."
"Exactly!" Goten said cutting me off again. "I let her go and now she seems happy. What I'm trying to say is...maybe it's for the best that you and Pan aren't together. Besides she seems to have a few doubts any..."
"What the hell are you saying!" I yelled as I realized that my best friend was telling me to give up on Pan. I stood up and went into a slight defensive crouch as Goten stood up beside me with his eyes staring me down. "You fucking know that I will never live without Pan, and I had hoped that you would be able to talk some sense into her and help me get her back!"
"But what if she doesn't want to be back with you!" Goten yelled back at me. I know face had a stunned look because my mouth was hanging open. What was Goten hinting at? Did he know something that I did not? Was Pan or has she been cheating on me and this...this thing with Marron just gave her an opportunity to break things off cleanly?
"What do you know that I don't." I said with a deathly growl; my defensive position becoming more of a death stance. Goten's eyes darkened and I could tell he was struggling about what to say and what not to say; which made me even more angry.
"I just know that she's had doubts about you for a little while..." Goten trailed off, but his tone correctly matched mine; defensive. What did he have to be defensive about? He wasn't the one losing a potential wife, I was.
"All woman have cold feet. That's all it was and as soon as you talk to her about my situation, the sooner we can get back together and get married. Of course I realize that we won't get married tomorrow but at least it will be in our future." I said, calculating what expression would cross Goten's mouth and eyes. There seemed to be no change so I went on. "I still want you to be my best man, even though you aren't married." Goten's eyes narrowed even more, if that was at all possible, and a sneer marred his mouth.
"She's not marrying you." He said it as a whisper and I could practically see the death that hung to the words. How dare he! He was my best friend and she was his niece shouldn't he want us to be happy?
"She's not yours to decide that!" I screamed with as much fury as I had had this morning. My temper was coming back and this time there wasn't a little female here to make them back off. "Why can't you just let us be happy for us!"
"Because she doesn't love you!"
I endlessly circled the tree at the watering hole; the lone tree at the bank of the lake that has grown up with us. My mom planted it when I was born and so as my friendship list grew, their names were carved into the tree. I was avoiding one area of the tree; the couples area. When Bra was old enough her and Goten pledged their love to each other and so they carved their names in a heart on the tree. Even though they hearts aren't in the same place anymore the heart remains. The year Pan and I pledged our love; she carved our names in a heart under Goten and Bra's. She went further than that for she put the date, the time, and little caricatures of us in the heart. That was what I was avoiding; because every time I see our heart I break down and remember how I hurt her; physically and emotionally. The rage in me towards Goten got out of control and that never happens to me. I am a superb fighter and have been training since I was three. I know how to control my emotions! It still remains that I hurt the only woman I ever wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
The sun was frying my shirtless back and I was getting dizzy from walking around in circles so I sat down in front of the tree. I smiled, remembering the day we named the tree; The Oracle. Pan named it really. She said that The Oracle was the perfect name because the names on the friendship side of the tree were destined to remain friends forever and that the hearts that were carved into the tree was a symbol of the destiny that the couples shared to get married. Of course when Goten and Bra broke up The Oracle just became 'The Tree' again. My eyes betrayed my manhood and I started crying. No one had ever seen me cry; not even Pan. Like my father, I don't believe in crying, it serves no purpose except to belittle the man you should be. Right now I threw all of the stupid male-chauvinist things my father had ever taught me and mourned the beautiful fiancé I once had. I'll never get to kiss her again, hold her, touch her hands and face, or gaze into her intense brown eyes again. The tears grew more adamant and I just sat there wallowing in despair.
At least the anger and rage that was stacked against my best friend was gone. Surely Goten will believe that I was tricked. He'll help me get Pan back and fix this whole thing, I just know it! Stop crying you weak-hearted shit! Things will get better. I was mentally building up my ego when I sensed a familiar ki drawing near. He landed behind the tree and walked around to me and sat down. I felt guilty for attacking him and Pan so I couldn't bring myself to look at him.
"Pan is healed and she's doing fine. Bra came over to talk to her." Great Bra now knows and so now everyone will know, but really that didn't matter compared to Pan's health. I was relieved to know that she was better. I opened my mouth to tell Goten that I was sorry, but he held up his hand; signaling that he was here to talk and that I was to listen. Considering what I had done this morning I thought he was being very nice about things. I still couldn't look him in the eyes though. I felt ashamed and cowardly. How could I, his best friend, do that to him and Pan?
"You may seem to think that I accept your unspoken apology, but I have not. You are my best friend and I consider you my older brother, just like Gohan, but today you proved that I can not trust you. Before today I would have been honored to have my life in your hands and your's in mine. But you hurting Pan; no not me I don't care that you retaliated against me, it's Pan that I am thinking about, has opened my eyes to the true Saiyan inside. If you can so easily lose complete control and endanger the woman you claim to worship and love over such a trivial thing, then what will hold you back on much more pressing matters?"
He hung the question in the air and I knew that nothing I said would satisfy the answer he was looking for. His words made me feel so beneath him that I could not even muster the courage to look up at him as a slave would. I studied his demeanor; he was sitting with his knees brought to his chest and his arms around his legs, looking straight into the sun, or in the sky, face rigid with hurt and anger. The pink scar on his right cheek stood out on his tanned face along with the new bruises I had put there of course I also remembered the day he got the scar; no the day I gave him that scar.
***Flashback***
"Goten, please spar with me!" An impatient fifteen year old Pan said as I blocked another of her blasts and sending a very weak blast back at her. I knew she was a Saiyan just as I and just as Goten but the fact that she was a girl was the reason I would never completely fight her and she knew this. "Goten! Trunks is being a pussy again because I'm a girl!" Pan yelled again as Goten blocked a huge ki blast from Bra. I smiled to myself because I knew Pan was trying to rile me up by calling me a pussy, but I would never truly fight her. I had promised myself... and her dad.
"Ok, ok, Pan! I sure as hell don't want the pussy to break a nail!" My best friend added to Pan's abuse. I smiled at him and then glared at Pan, making her think that I had bought the bait. She smiled really big and stilled herself for the attack or blast that I would send her way. I made a show of powering up to the brink of a Super Saiyan and formed a ki blast in my hands, which grew and grew. What Pan didn't know was that the bigger the blast was the weaker the energy it would contain. I threw the blast at her and of course she easily dodged.
"There you go Panny! Now go play with Goten while I spar with a man!" I said mocking her and my sister at the same time. Apparently Goten was also a little pissed for Pan's sake. I was laughing though because Pan was throwing every dirty word she had ever heard in three languages at me.
"Trunks, that wasn't very nice! You know I don't care that you promised her father that you would be careful with her, you know what I made the same promise; but I am sure he didn't mean to sell her short! She is a Saiyan, just like you and me and just like Bra! Now if Bra can with hold the blasts I send at her than I know Pan can..."
"Goten, shut up! This has nothing to do with the way you treat them! As you well know dad never told me to be careful with Bra and I am not because one, dad doesn't care and wants her to be as tough as us and two, Bra isn't a female in my eyes; she's just another brother!" I yelled cutting Goten off, sometimes his rambling about being Pan's protector was such shit. The childhood game we use to play where Pan and Bra were princesses and I was the prince and Goten was the knight that protected the princess went way beyond the fairytale realm. I was about to fly towards Bra and finish sparing for the day when I took someone's blast to the back of the head. It knocked me to the ground and with a crater the size of the guest house at Capsule Corp Manor. Boy was I pissed now!
"Pan! What are you doing?!" I heard Goten say behind me as I dusted off my clothing. My head was splitting with the new headache that Pan so lovingly gave me. I turned around and saw that Goten and Bra was bodily holding Pan back.
"Let me go! I want to prove myself to him that I am not a little girl that needs to be pampered!" Pan screamed, I couldn't help but laugh. I think that's what set off Goten and Bra though.
"You know Goten, I think we should let Pan have her way, at least if Trunks fears for his life then maybe he would fight her with all he has!" Bra said but Goten seemed to have a different idea.
"Bra you hold Pan and keep her from interfering, I will honor her name by dueling him...with swords!" Goten said as he flew to the ground and rummaged through the sparing tools. He came back with two rusty swords that probably have seen better days, but I wasn't going to back down. I haven't fought with a sword in years and neither has Goten so this would probably be a challenge worth taking.
"If I win, I get to treat Pan anyway I want to! That means babying her and all!" I yell for all to hear. Goten nods and glances at Pan, who seems to realize that Goten was serious; she had a smile on her face but her eyes were huge.
"If I win than you have to spar with Pan as if you were sparing with me or Bra!" Goten threw back. I nodded curtly and turned to Pan, her eyes narrowed and I bowed in mock honor. If her hands had been free from Bra's then I would have received two very un-lady-like gestures. I chuckled to myself as I felt Goten's ki very close I turned and barely had time to block the rusty old sword that was aimed for my neck. Boy when Goten fought, he fought for the most vital parts of the body. Truth be told I missed having a sword to fight with, but since mine was broken I decided that I could do better without one. The parrying and parleying that was being thrown around would have amazed a fencing expert, not to mention that we were using out Saiyan speed to out maneuver each other. Every swings Goten sent my way I tried to send back but with more force; the problem was that he and I were somewhat equally matched. As the afternoon rolled around and our energy slowly drained I realized that Pan's honor meant more to Goten than I had expected. Eventually we started getting careless in our swordplay and things became more interesting.
"Goten, I didn't realize that you thought so highly of your immature niece!" I yelled trying to get Goten to make a serious mistake. He glared at me and I heard Pan start in on her perpetual cursing she so loved to do. I also noticed that Goten's swings and jabs were more accurate and to the point even though we were both exhausted. At one vital point Goten did make a mistake, it was when he turned his head to look at the spectators and lowered his defense. I took full advantage and swung for his midsection, he turned back just in time to block my sword to the left and sent my whole body flying around. I came back to face him with a vertical slash of my sword that caught his right cheek, which left a huge gash. I smiled triumphant until the look in his eyes directed my eyes to the point of his sword. Needless to say that he won the fight because either I would be dead or I would never father children.
"Goten!" Pan screamed as my smiling best friend fell to the ground pouring blood profusely.
***End Flashback***
Goten had been fine but the loss of blood plus the drain of energy from fighting with everything that we had had, is what had landed Goten in the bed for three days. Plus he refused the senzu bean, saying he wanted to keep the scar to show everyone that he had won Pan's honor. It was a symbol of their friendship he also said, but I wander now just what the scar really symbolizes for my best friend. I thought about all those times that I wasn't able to be there for Pan and realized that Goten had been; every time. Sometimes with Bra there too, but most of the time it was just Pan and Goten. Their relationship seldom resembled an uncle and niece relationship, more like a best friend thing; which makes sense because Goten is my best friend and Pan is *was* my fiancé, but even before Pan and I got together... Man my head was so cloudy that I couldn't even think straight.
"Trunks, what happened? I am curious you know. Pan didn't want to deal with it so soon and I understand why, but I want to know if you were under your own inhibitions when this happened." I was so relieved that Goten wanted to know what happened that I gave a huge sigh. Knowing that Goten was still my best friend and was going to listen to me even after the unpleasantness this morning lifted a weight from me; that I didn't even know I had. Still quite ashamed of my behavior though; I remained staring at the watering hole and avoiding Goten's face.
"Goten, first of all, you know I love Pan like there is no tomorrow. That I would happily give up my life to make her happy. That to say I love her just doesn't cut it anymore. She is my life, all my life, and will always be my life. Therefore you know that I did not do this willingly, intentionally, or happily because, man, I did not know I was doing it at all!" I said exasperated. I braved a look at Goten and could tell that he was mulling things over. His eyebrows were creased together like they always do when my best friend has a mental problem that needs solved. I cheered a little and continued.
"I remember, you coming over last night and we had a few beers, I remember telling you that I had a special surprise for Pan during the reception and then I remember coming to the door when my mom told me I had a visitor." I stopped; trying to see if I could remember anything that was even remotely significant other than what I had just said. Noting that I haven't left anything out about the night before I related what happened this morning. "When I woke up this morning, correction; when my mom woke me up this morning my room was in a battered state and she was screaming at me. I learned that Marron had come over last night, we had had sex and Pan had walked in on us in the act. Pan gave Marron her engagement ring and then left. Apparently Marron left as well because she wasn't there when I woke up. That's all I know and I swear that I would never betray Pan like that willingly." I left off and just let the silence engulf us for what seemed like an hour. It was getting dark when Goten finally spoke up.
"I loved your sister..." Goten said and then trailed off. I was wandering what that had to do with my current situation when he resumed. "as you have plainly spelt it out, she was my life, my love, and my friend...but, back then, I would not have taken away her freedom and happiness just to make myself happy." I stared at Goten and tried to figure out the meaning of this statement. Sometimes Goten goes into what I like to call "Bardock Moods;" from what I heard from Goku about his father, Bardock, was that he was some kind of prophet that spoke in riddles about the future. And sometimes Goten would do this, always confusing the hell out of me because I wasn't too good with riddles.
"Goten wh..."
"I loved Bra enough to let her be happy with whatever she chose to do or who ever she chose to be with, despite MY happiness." Goten said emphasizing the word 'my'.
"I know; you just let her go without a single fight. I wouldn't be ab..."
"Exactly!" Goten said cutting me off again. "I let her go and now she seems happy. What I'm trying to say is...maybe it's for the best that you and Pan aren't together. Besides she seems to have a few doubts any..."
"What the hell are you saying!" I yelled as I realized that my best friend was telling me to give up on Pan. I stood up and went into a slight defensive crouch as Goten stood up beside me with his eyes staring me down. "You fucking know that I will never live without Pan, and I had hoped that you would be able to talk some sense into her and help me get her back!"
"But what if she doesn't want to be back with you!" Goten yelled back at me. I know face had a stunned look because my mouth was hanging open. What was Goten hinting at? Did he know something that I did not? Was Pan or has she been cheating on me and this...this thing with Marron just gave her an opportunity to break things off cleanly?
"What do you know that I don't." I said with a deathly growl; my defensive position becoming more of a death stance. Goten's eyes darkened and I could tell he was struggling about what to say and what not to say; which made me even more angry.
"I just know that she's had doubts about you for a little while..." Goten trailed off, but his tone correctly matched mine; defensive. What did he have to be defensive about? He wasn't the one losing a potential wife, I was.
"All woman have cold feet. That's all it was and as soon as you talk to her about my situation, the sooner we can get back together and get married. Of course I realize that we won't get married tomorrow but at least it will be in our future." I said, calculating what expression would cross Goten's mouth and eyes. There seemed to be no change so I went on. "I still want you to be my best man, even though you aren't married." Goten's eyes narrowed even more, if that was at all possible, and a sneer marred his mouth.
"She's not marrying you." He said it as a whisper and I could practically see the death that hung to the words. How dare he! He was my best friend and she was his niece shouldn't he want us to be happy?
"She's not yours to decide that!" I screamed with as much fury as I had had this morning. My temper was coming back and this time there wasn't a little female here to make them back off. "Why can't you just let us be happy for us!"
"Because she doesn't love you!"