"MOTHER! MOTHER!! MOTHER!!!!!!!" screamed Trunks as he ran in the
building still holding Pan in his arms. "MOTHER! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!
COME QUICKLY!"
"Trunks! What's wrong? Why are you home so late? Did you get...OH MY GOD! Trunks! Why didn't you tell me to hurry? Bring her into the workshop and let me get a look at her." Bulma was all business when she needed to be. Time had been kind to Bulma, and she looked like she was just turning thirty instead of actually turning 55 in a few months. Her blue hair was worn long, but pulled back into a tight ponytail at the top of her head. It looked rather redicioulous on a woman of her age, but she wore it nonetheless. Her strong blue eyes shone with intelligence that had not been weighted down with everything she had had to endure over the last few years. "Bring her here and I will examine her. What happened?"
"Well, she came and accused me of killing Gohan. Said something about being his daughter, went SUPER SAIYAN, and attacked me. When I defended myself, I figured she was as strong as I was, so I hit her full force. She went flying through a tree, and ended up like this. Is she going to be okay?" Trunks ran a hand through his hair, trying to consider what would happen if she died.
"You're extremelly lucky this girl is one-fourth Saiyan, or she would be dead by now. You should know better than to attack people with your full strength! Come on, son, I know that Gohan taught you better than that. And what did she say about being his son?" Bulma was searching through her bag of tools for her medicine, and, finding it, wrapped up her head and made her drink a potion that would help clean out her bloody lungs. She then focused on the three broken ribs.
"She said that her father was Gohan, and that her mother, who I think she said her name was Videl, died from a broken heart when she found out that Gohan wasn't coming home to her." Trunks was relieved the girl wasn't going to die, but still wondering about her parenting.
"Videl?!? You're sure she said Videl?!?" Bulma whirled around to look her son in the face, looking for any hesitation.
"I'm positive that was it. Why? Have you ever heard of her?"
"Videl was Gohan's high school sweetheart! They never got married, then again, neither did your father and I. It's very possible that this really could be the child of those two. In those uncertain times, it was not unheard of at all to have children without marraige." Bulma turned back to her patient and continued to treat what looked like a fractured hip bone.
"So it really is possible...What should we do?"
"We'll let her stay here. When she wakes up in a couple weeks, we'll talk to her about this then."
"Oh, if she's going to stay here, can we implant the language translator into her head? When I talked to her earlier, she had the worst accent I had ever heard, and she was butchering the language. I think it would a lot easier if she could just speak our language fluently."
"Oh, sure Trunks. That's good thinking," Bulma said. She reached over and pulled out the language translator, and stuck it in her ear. "Well, since you are the reason she's like this, you will have the honor of guarding her. Until she wakes up, you will not leave her side. If you need anything, use the intercom to contact me. I'll bring you water and food at regular intervals. Consider this your punishment for doing all this damage to a poor defenseless girl."
"But Mom!" Trunks shouted as the sliding door slid shut, locking from the outside as Bulma walked away. "Great, I'm stuck in here with a girl who wants to kill me, and I can't even escape to train! I'm guess I'll just have to train in here.."
Trunks went at it, and tried to take his mind off the sleeping form of the young girl sleeping on a cot next to the wall.
~*****************************~
".Where am I?" said Pan, waking from her rest.
"Oh! You're awake! Um.. You're at my home, Capsule Corp. My mom, Bulma, took care of you until you woke up," said the purple-haired man leaning over her.
"Who are you? I've never seen you before. Where's Trunks Briefs? I still have to kill him! And what kind of strange language am I speaking? What did you do to me, you pompous asshole???" Pan started to power up, ready to kick the crap out of the man if necessary. "You had better let me out to go find Trunks or I'll kill you slowly!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down. First of all, I am Trunks Briefs. The last time you saw me I was in a disguising device designed by my mother, the famous inventor Bulma Briefs, that hid my true identity from the general populace. Since you obviously aren't the general populace, you could tell it was me, you just couldn't see the real me through the glamour. You don't have to kill me. I didn't kill your mother or your father, as I stated, but now since you can't attack me, you have to listen. Your father was my mentor, and the only father I have ever known. I loved him dearly. I loved him so much that when I found out that the androids had robbed him of what I thought was all of his family, I went in all my youthly confidence to 'beat them down.' I of course was no match, and when Gohan sensed the power struggle, he came and tried to rescue me. In the process, he was killed and I escaped. Now I realize that you might consider that my fault, but it's not really. I'm sorry your mother died because your father never came home, but that's also not my fault. Do you understand all that I just said to you?"
Pan looked stunned for a few minutes, and then simply nodded, her hair falling in her face.
"To answer your other question, you are now imbeded with a little piece of technology that my mother and I call language translator. It makes you immediately fluent in Japanese so you can speak it and understand it. With it in your ear, you can understand anything that anyone says to you in Japanese and be all set. The only thing it can't do is teach you to read Japanese. For that, you'll have to start going to school around here."
"What? I don't plan to stay here. Why should I stay here? Even if you didn't kill my mother and father, what am I supposed to do know? Killing you was my whole purpose in life, and know I don't know where to go, parent-killer!" Pan started sobbing, crying over her lost cause. ~Now I have no purpose in life!~ thought Pan. ~My only escape would be to kill myself. Okay, that's what I'll do. I'll go join Mom and Dad! But to do that, I'll have to stay here for a while. I think I can handle that.~
Trunks pulled Pan off of her cot and into his arms, thinking that she needed comfort. She cried in his arms for a while, and then drifted off into sleep. Only then did Trunks notice how petite she really was. Pan was only about 5 foot 2, and Trunks was a full 6 foot 5. She was also extremelly skinny, like she hadn't eaten in a few months. ~Wow...She really does need our help,~ thought Trunks, lying her softly down on her cot. He stood observing her labored breathing for a few moments, then walked over to the intercom next to the door. "Mother, Pan has awoken," he said quietly, trying not to wake her up.
"REALLY??!?!?!?" screamed Bulma, thrusting Pan awake. "She shouldn't have woken up for a few more days! She really must be Gohan's child. Wow."
"Huh?" asked Pan, coming to stand behind Trunks. "Who is that woman, parent-killer? How can I talk to her through the wall?"
"Oh, you're awake. Hang on just a second, and I'll come let you and Trunks out of my workshop. I've been missing it the last few days anyways," said Bulma, as she vanished from the screen.
"That was my mother, Bulma, and she's coming to let us out. Also, as I stated before, I DID NOT KILL YOUR PARENTS! I'm not a parent-killer, so please stop calling that," Trunks pleaded, looking hurt that she still didn't trust him.
"Fine, parent-...I mean, Trunks." Pan was afraid that if she let him too close to her heart, she would just be hurt again by the fact that he would leave her in the end. ~No, just smarter to be cold and protected than to let my denfenses down.~
~***************************~
"Here's your room, dear," said Bulma, walking into a gorgeous room. The walls were a light blue, with a flower border around the top. The four canister bed had a princess covering, and was almost three feet taller than Pan. There was a desk to one corner, and a TV sitting on the floor in front of the bed. A dresser and a vanity lined the other wall, with a full length mirror hanging behind the door. "You can stay with us as long as you like. There is a bathroom through here, and a walk-in closet is on the other side of the bathroom. Do you have any other clothes to change into?"
"Um...No...I have never had any new clothes. Is that a problem?" Pan asked warily, wondering if Bulma wouldn't let her stay here now. ~Wouldn't that just figure? A rich, well known business woman like Bulma Briefs not letting me stay here because I had only one set of clothes?~
"Oh, no dear. We'll just have to have Trunks take you shopping at one of the new shopping malls around here. You'll have to have some new clothes now, so you can borrow some of mine. Also, if you need any feminine products, just let me know and I'll get some to you."
"OH, uh, thanks, I guess," said Pan, unwilling to believe that someone could be so nice. The black-haired petite woman had never experienced hospitality before, so this was an entirely new thing.
"No problem, dear. When you get out of the shower, or a bath if you prefer, there will be a set of my clothing for you to put on, and then you and Trunks will go shopping. Oh, but honey, may I ask you something?"
"Yes, ma'am." Pan decided it would be best to be polite since this woman was doing so much for her.
"First of all, don't call me Ma'am. If you are uncomfortable calling me Mom, just call me Bulma. Second of all, I'd like to know where you got the idea that my son killed your parents."
To Bulma's amazement, tears filled Pan's huge brown eyes. "My mom had told me that Gohan had gone to teach Trunks Briefs how to fight so that they could save the world. When Dad never came home, Mom said that it was Trunks' fault and that I should train as hard as I possibly could to be able to defeat him one day. So I did, and when she died, it only fueled the flame of hatred I had for Trunks.. It only made sense to me, that if I became strong enough, I could defeat my worst enemy, the one that had taken my family away. Of course, it didn't work out that way, and when I met Trunks, he seemed sincere enough, but Mom was still in my head, leading me to attack. And so I did, and got hurt, but you have been so nice to me since then that I guess I have come to trust you..." ~Yeah right. Feed what they want to hear, Pan. That's good,~ thought Pan, knowing she was lying through her teeth.
"Oh, I'm so glad to hear it! Pan, I want to make you a part of this family. Gohan, and your grandfather Goku, were just like a son and a brother to me, and I hope you can become a daughter. Anyways, I'll leave you to your bath, and make sure to get you some fresh clothes."
~Finally, she's gone. Maybe now I can finally get to thinking about what I'm going to do.~ Pan pulled off her dirty shirt and jeans and stuffed them down what Bulma called "the laundry shoot." She turned on the water in the shower, since she didn't know how to take a bath, and stepped in. The water felt so good against her filthy skin that she sighed and just stood there for a while. When she could think once again, she reached for a bottle of shampoo and started washing her hair. ~To get the full deal out of this, I'll have to stay and put up with this woman and man for a while. If I want to have new clothes and a place to stay, I'll just have to have a bit of patience for this hopeless women and her jackass son." Pan finished rinsing all the soap out of her hair and switched off the shower. When she had dryed herself off, she wrapped the towel around her and went out into her room to find her new clothes.
When she had made it into the room, she stopped dead. There was her most hated enemy, Trunks Briefs, putting some clothes on her bed. She stood in the doorway, frozen, until Trunks looked up and saw her.
"OH MY GOD!" yelled Trunks, covering his eyes. "I'm so sorry Pan!" With that, he turned and ran, thinking as he did ~I'm so embarrassed! But still, I have to admit that those are some nice legs she has there...No wait! I can't think that! That girl was trying to kill me a few days ago! I can't just suddenly like her! No, no way.~
Back in her room, Pan was steaming. ~How dare that BOY come into my room without my permission! Why didn't Bulma just send a servant? I know they have them. I'm so embarrassed! I better get dressed before he comes back to peep at me again!~
Pan rushed to get the dress that Bulma had left on her. ~It's too big in the bust, and it hugs around my hips, but it would do until Bulma, no wait! Bulma said Trunks was taking me shopping! Oh great! That's definetely just what I need, to have that guy go shopping with me!~ Pan decided there and then to have a talk with Bulma about her peeping tom son.
~*******************************~
"But MOM! I know she's not going to want to see my face for a long time after what I did! It was an accident, but I don't think she'll see it that way," Trunks pleaded with his mother. She had just asked him, no more like ordered him, to take their newest guest shopping for some new clothes. "Wouldn't she have more fun with another woman anyways?"
"But Trunks, you're going to be chauffering her around, and you'll be spending a lot of time with her anyways. I think you two need to get a chance to get to know each other, since you'll be living in such close quarters."
"It wasn't my idea to put her in the room that connects to mine," Trunks grumbled, thinking that it would have been easier if this girl had never arrived. He voiced that opinion. As he did so, he turned to storm out of the room, but he found a certain petite Saiyan in an overly large sundress blocking the way.
"I'm sorry I'm such a bother to you, but you must remember, parent- killer, that you are the reason I'm here. If you think I'm such a bother I'll just go now. Thank you Bulma for your hospitality, and I'll be going now," said Pan, and turned and ran away. As soon as she was out of the house, she flew. She could feel a power source coming up behind her, and suddenly she felt Trunks' arms go around her waist. She flipped over on her back so she could see his face. He saw that she had been crying, and he stopped flying, just holding her to his chest. She fought him, and managed to get away several times, but it always ended the same. The last time she just gave up and let herself be flown back to the place that she had first met Trunks a few weeks ago at. She had a feeling this would be a very long talk.
"Trunks! What's wrong? Why are you home so late? Did you get...OH MY GOD! Trunks! Why didn't you tell me to hurry? Bring her into the workshop and let me get a look at her." Bulma was all business when she needed to be. Time had been kind to Bulma, and she looked like she was just turning thirty instead of actually turning 55 in a few months. Her blue hair was worn long, but pulled back into a tight ponytail at the top of her head. It looked rather redicioulous on a woman of her age, but she wore it nonetheless. Her strong blue eyes shone with intelligence that had not been weighted down with everything she had had to endure over the last few years. "Bring her here and I will examine her. What happened?"
"Well, she came and accused me of killing Gohan. Said something about being his daughter, went SUPER SAIYAN, and attacked me. When I defended myself, I figured she was as strong as I was, so I hit her full force. She went flying through a tree, and ended up like this. Is she going to be okay?" Trunks ran a hand through his hair, trying to consider what would happen if she died.
"You're extremelly lucky this girl is one-fourth Saiyan, or she would be dead by now. You should know better than to attack people with your full strength! Come on, son, I know that Gohan taught you better than that. And what did she say about being his son?" Bulma was searching through her bag of tools for her medicine, and, finding it, wrapped up her head and made her drink a potion that would help clean out her bloody lungs. She then focused on the three broken ribs.
"She said that her father was Gohan, and that her mother, who I think she said her name was Videl, died from a broken heart when she found out that Gohan wasn't coming home to her." Trunks was relieved the girl wasn't going to die, but still wondering about her parenting.
"Videl?!? You're sure she said Videl?!?" Bulma whirled around to look her son in the face, looking for any hesitation.
"I'm positive that was it. Why? Have you ever heard of her?"
"Videl was Gohan's high school sweetheart! They never got married, then again, neither did your father and I. It's very possible that this really could be the child of those two. In those uncertain times, it was not unheard of at all to have children without marraige." Bulma turned back to her patient and continued to treat what looked like a fractured hip bone.
"So it really is possible...What should we do?"
"We'll let her stay here. When she wakes up in a couple weeks, we'll talk to her about this then."
"Oh, if she's going to stay here, can we implant the language translator into her head? When I talked to her earlier, she had the worst accent I had ever heard, and she was butchering the language. I think it would a lot easier if she could just speak our language fluently."
"Oh, sure Trunks. That's good thinking," Bulma said. She reached over and pulled out the language translator, and stuck it in her ear. "Well, since you are the reason she's like this, you will have the honor of guarding her. Until she wakes up, you will not leave her side. If you need anything, use the intercom to contact me. I'll bring you water and food at regular intervals. Consider this your punishment for doing all this damage to a poor defenseless girl."
"But Mom!" Trunks shouted as the sliding door slid shut, locking from the outside as Bulma walked away. "Great, I'm stuck in here with a girl who wants to kill me, and I can't even escape to train! I'm guess I'll just have to train in here.."
Trunks went at it, and tried to take his mind off the sleeping form of the young girl sleeping on a cot next to the wall.
~*****************************~
".Where am I?" said Pan, waking from her rest.
"Oh! You're awake! Um.. You're at my home, Capsule Corp. My mom, Bulma, took care of you until you woke up," said the purple-haired man leaning over her.
"Who are you? I've never seen you before. Where's Trunks Briefs? I still have to kill him! And what kind of strange language am I speaking? What did you do to me, you pompous asshole???" Pan started to power up, ready to kick the crap out of the man if necessary. "You had better let me out to go find Trunks or I'll kill you slowly!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down. First of all, I am Trunks Briefs. The last time you saw me I was in a disguising device designed by my mother, the famous inventor Bulma Briefs, that hid my true identity from the general populace. Since you obviously aren't the general populace, you could tell it was me, you just couldn't see the real me through the glamour. You don't have to kill me. I didn't kill your mother or your father, as I stated, but now since you can't attack me, you have to listen. Your father was my mentor, and the only father I have ever known. I loved him dearly. I loved him so much that when I found out that the androids had robbed him of what I thought was all of his family, I went in all my youthly confidence to 'beat them down.' I of course was no match, and when Gohan sensed the power struggle, he came and tried to rescue me. In the process, he was killed and I escaped. Now I realize that you might consider that my fault, but it's not really. I'm sorry your mother died because your father never came home, but that's also not my fault. Do you understand all that I just said to you?"
Pan looked stunned for a few minutes, and then simply nodded, her hair falling in her face.
"To answer your other question, you are now imbeded with a little piece of technology that my mother and I call language translator. It makes you immediately fluent in Japanese so you can speak it and understand it. With it in your ear, you can understand anything that anyone says to you in Japanese and be all set. The only thing it can't do is teach you to read Japanese. For that, you'll have to start going to school around here."
"What? I don't plan to stay here. Why should I stay here? Even if you didn't kill my mother and father, what am I supposed to do know? Killing you was my whole purpose in life, and know I don't know where to go, parent-killer!" Pan started sobbing, crying over her lost cause. ~Now I have no purpose in life!~ thought Pan. ~My only escape would be to kill myself. Okay, that's what I'll do. I'll go join Mom and Dad! But to do that, I'll have to stay here for a while. I think I can handle that.~
Trunks pulled Pan off of her cot and into his arms, thinking that she needed comfort. She cried in his arms for a while, and then drifted off into sleep. Only then did Trunks notice how petite she really was. Pan was only about 5 foot 2, and Trunks was a full 6 foot 5. She was also extremelly skinny, like she hadn't eaten in a few months. ~Wow...She really does need our help,~ thought Trunks, lying her softly down on her cot. He stood observing her labored breathing for a few moments, then walked over to the intercom next to the door. "Mother, Pan has awoken," he said quietly, trying not to wake her up.
"REALLY??!?!?!?" screamed Bulma, thrusting Pan awake. "She shouldn't have woken up for a few more days! She really must be Gohan's child. Wow."
"Huh?" asked Pan, coming to stand behind Trunks. "Who is that woman, parent-killer? How can I talk to her through the wall?"
"Oh, you're awake. Hang on just a second, and I'll come let you and Trunks out of my workshop. I've been missing it the last few days anyways," said Bulma, as she vanished from the screen.
"That was my mother, Bulma, and she's coming to let us out. Also, as I stated before, I DID NOT KILL YOUR PARENTS! I'm not a parent-killer, so please stop calling that," Trunks pleaded, looking hurt that she still didn't trust him.
"Fine, parent-...I mean, Trunks." Pan was afraid that if she let him too close to her heart, she would just be hurt again by the fact that he would leave her in the end. ~No, just smarter to be cold and protected than to let my denfenses down.~
~***************************~
"Here's your room, dear," said Bulma, walking into a gorgeous room. The walls were a light blue, with a flower border around the top. The four canister bed had a princess covering, and was almost three feet taller than Pan. There was a desk to one corner, and a TV sitting on the floor in front of the bed. A dresser and a vanity lined the other wall, with a full length mirror hanging behind the door. "You can stay with us as long as you like. There is a bathroom through here, and a walk-in closet is on the other side of the bathroom. Do you have any other clothes to change into?"
"Um...No...I have never had any new clothes. Is that a problem?" Pan asked warily, wondering if Bulma wouldn't let her stay here now. ~Wouldn't that just figure? A rich, well known business woman like Bulma Briefs not letting me stay here because I had only one set of clothes?~
"Oh, no dear. We'll just have to have Trunks take you shopping at one of the new shopping malls around here. You'll have to have some new clothes now, so you can borrow some of mine. Also, if you need any feminine products, just let me know and I'll get some to you."
"OH, uh, thanks, I guess," said Pan, unwilling to believe that someone could be so nice. The black-haired petite woman had never experienced hospitality before, so this was an entirely new thing.
"No problem, dear. When you get out of the shower, or a bath if you prefer, there will be a set of my clothing for you to put on, and then you and Trunks will go shopping. Oh, but honey, may I ask you something?"
"Yes, ma'am." Pan decided it would be best to be polite since this woman was doing so much for her.
"First of all, don't call me Ma'am. If you are uncomfortable calling me Mom, just call me Bulma. Second of all, I'd like to know where you got the idea that my son killed your parents."
To Bulma's amazement, tears filled Pan's huge brown eyes. "My mom had told me that Gohan had gone to teach Trunks Briefs how to fight so that they could save the world. When Dad never came home, Mom said that it was Trunks' fault and that I should train as hard as I possibly could to be able to defeat him one day. So I did, and when she died, it only fueled the flame of hatred I had for Trunks.. It only made sense to me, that if I became strong enough, I could defeat my worst enemy, the one that had taken my family away. Of course, it didn't work out that way, and when I met Trunks, he seemed sincere enough, but Mom was still in my head, leading me to attack. And so I did, and got hurt, but you have been so nice to me since then that I guess I have come to trust you..." ~Yeah right. Feed what they want to hear, Pan. That's good,~ thought Pan, knowing she was lying through her teeth.
"Oh, I'm so glad to hear it! Pan, I want to make you a part of this family. Gohan, and your grandfather Goku, were just like a son and a brother to me, and I hope you can become a daughter. Anyways, I'll leave you to your bath, and make sure to get you some fresh clothes."
~Finally, she's gone. Maybe now I can finally get to thinking about what I'm going to do.~ Pan pulled off her dirty shirt and jeans and stuffed them down what Bulma called "the laundry shoot." She turned on the water in the shower, since she didn't know how to take a bath, and stepped in. The water felt so good against her filthy skin that she sighed and just stood there for a while. When she could think once again, she reached for a bottle of shampoo and started washing her hair. ~To get the full deal out of this, I'll have to stay and put up with this woman and man for a while. If I want to have new clothes and a place to stay, I'll just have to have a bit of patience for this hopeless women and her jackass son." Pan finished rinsing all the soap out of her hair and switched off the shower. When she had dryed herself off, she wrapped the towel around her and went out into her room to find her new clothes.
When she had made it into the room, she stopped dead. There was her most hated enemy, Trunks Briefs, putting some clothes on her bed. She stood in the doorway, frozen, until Trunks looked up and saw her.
"OH MY GOD!" yelled Trunks, covering his eyes. "I'm so sorry Pan!" With that, he turned and ran, thinking as he did ~I'm so embarrassed! But still, I have to admit that those are some nice legs she has there...No wait! I can't think that! That girl was trying to kill me a few days ago! I can't just suddenly like her! No, no way.~
Back in her room, Pan was steaming. ~How dare that BOY come into my room without my permission! Why didn't Bulma just send a servant? I know they have them. I'm so embarrassed! I better get dressed before he comes back to peep at me again!~
Pan rushed to get the dress that Bulma had left on her. ~It's too big in the bust, and it hugs around my hips, but it would do until Bulma, no wait! Bulma said Trunks was taking me shopping! Oh great! That's definetely just what I need, to have that guy go shopping with me!~ Pan decided there and then to have a talk with Bulma about her peeping tom son.
~*******************************~
"But MOM! I know she's not going to want to see my face for a long time after what I did! It was an accident, but I don't think she'll see it that way," Trunks pleaded with his mother. She had just asked him, no more like ordered him, to take their newest guest shopping for some new clothes. "Wouldn't she have more fun with another woman anyways?"
"But Trunks, you're going to be chauffering her around, and you'll be spending a lot of time with her anyways. I think you two need to get a chance to get to know each other, since you'll be living in such close quarters."
"It wasn't my idea to put her in the room that connects to mine," Trunks grumbled, thinking that it would have been easier if this girl had never arrived. He voiced that opinion. As he did so, he turned to storm out of the room, but he found a certain petite Saiyan in an overly large sundress blocking the way.
"I'm sorry I'm such a bother to you, but you must remember, parent- killer, that you are the reason I'm here. If you think I'm such a bother I'll just go now. Thank you Bulma for your hospitality, and I'll be going now," said Pan, and turned and ran away. As soon as she was out of the house, she flew. She could feel a power source coming up behind her, and suddenly she felt Trunks' arms go around her waist. She flipped over on her back so she could see his face. He saw that she had been crying, and he stopped flying, just holding her to his chest. She fought him, and managed to get away several times, but it always ended the same. The last time she just gave up and let herself be flown back to the place that she had first met Trunks a few weeks ago at. She had a feeling this would be a very long talk.