Ciara knocked on the door of Bra's house and saw that Trunks opened it. They blinked at each other before Ciara finally broke the two second silence.
"Uh, is Bra here? We're suppose to be shopping,"Ciara said as she smiled.
Trunks blinked out of his trance and smiled,"Oh yeah, wait one second she should be here," he turned to the stairs and called out, "Bra, Ci-ci's here!" Bra answered back with her reply and Trunks shrugged his shoulders, "What am I, her messenger?" He looked back at Ciara on the door mat and moved out of the way, "You can come in if you want."
Ciara smiled and nodded and walked into the living room where she saw a table full of books and papers and then saw Pan sitting on the love seat with a notebook on her lap. Ciara smiled at Pan,"Hey Pan, what are you doing here?"
"Trunks is helping me with some reports I need done for school. I heard that you and Bra were going shopping. Sorry I can't come," she said the last bit sarcastically. Ciara and Trunks both laughed. Bra came down, twirling her keys on her fingers.
"Ready to go Ci-ci?" She looked at Trunks and Pan and smiled, "You guys make sure that you get your work done." She winked at them and Pan rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, you guys have fun." Ciara and Bra went out to her car and went on the main road. Bra stopped out a stop light and turned the radio down.
"Did you see their eyes twinkle when I said that?" Bra said excitedly. Ciara bit her lip and smiled. "I've been trying to hook them up forever, but their pride keeps getting in the way"
Ciara looked at her, "They're dating?" She tried to keep herself from smiling. Mission accomplished.
Bra sighed, "No, not yet, but I can see they're getting real close. I just wish that they could go ahead and say it. Pan has been in love with Trunks for as long as I can remember, even though she's never admitted it."
Ciara sighed, Mission still in progress
Bra pulled into the jewelry shop and locked her car as they went inside, still chatting about Trunks and Pan, "I still don't see why they don't just give it a shot. I mean, if it doesn't work out they can still be friends." She started to look at all the different earrings in different varieties of birth stones.
Ciara came up behind her,"Oh, like you and Goten? How come you don't give it a shot?"
Bra didn't look at her and instead looked at a gold bracelet,"Goten and I will only be friends. He's too popular with the ladies to like someone like me, I mean, I'm flat chested."She frowned a little.
Ciara shook her head, "You're not flat chested. Besides, your body changes in the future and if a guy only wants you for your curves than he isn't good enough." Ciara smiled trying to brighten her up.
Bra smiled and was about to say something, but there were gun shots in the store and it silenced her. Ciara grabbed a stunned Bra and forced her down behind the jewelry rack. Ciara covered Bra's mouth with her hand and kept her down while she took a peek at whoever the sounds came from. At the cash register were three guys wearing ski masks and holding a gun at the clerk. The clerk was panicking as he emptied the cash register into the blue pillow case. Ciara glared at them and then took her hand off Bra's mouth.
"Stay here and stay down. I'll be right back." Bra nodded as her eyes were huge and on the verge of tears. She grabbed her knees and pulled them to her chest. Ciara climbed on her stomach to the other side and ducked behind a display case of wedding bands. The tallest man who was pointing his gun at the clerk took off his mask. He had a pointed face with a goatee and was built in the arms. He had a smirk spread over his lips and his eyes were cold and dark.
"We can't have any witnesses, so sorry we must part like this," the robber curled his finger over the trigger, but Ciara jumped up and kicked the gun across the room before he knew she was there. The robber turned his eyes to Ciara who was in stance, "Why you bitch!" The other robber fired at her, but she dodged all the bullets that hit the display cases and the walls.
"Don't you know that crime doesn't pay!" Ciara yelled through gritted teeth while she kicked the first robber in the head. The second robber pulled the trigger once more, but there was no ammunition. Ciara punched him in the gut and tossed him over to his unconscious friend. Ciara bent down beside them and looked at the clerk.
"Got any rope?" She asked casually. The clerk had wide eyes and nodded and pointed to the back room. Ciara got up and went to the room and saw some yellow twine and brought it back to the robbers. She tied their feet and hands together and looked at the clerk.
"Call the police and tell them that they're here and you also might want to call your insurance. Have a good day. Are you coming Bra?" Ciara looked back at her friend who was still crouched behind the display case. Bra slowly got up and stared wide eyed at Ciara as they made their way from the store. Ciara saw the clerk grab the phone and begin dialing.
They made it to the car and before Ciara climbed in, Bra took her arm and spun her around to face her, "What the hell was all of that?"
Ciara blinked like she didn't know what she was talking about, "What?"
"I just saw you kick two guys asses, dodge bullets, and play it cool! You are not human, what are you?" Bra was looking with panic and disbelief as she kept Ciara from moving. Ciara smiled like she was innocent.
"I'm human, I just train in martial arts," she scratched her head to show no secrets, but Bra wouldn't hear of it.
"Then why do you have the same stance as my father and Trunks?" Bra glared at her. Ciara was speechless, in her time it was mostly Vegeta and Trunks that trained her. She was also surprised that she knew what their stances were. Ciara couldn't come up with an answer, so she had no choice but to remain silent. Bra bit her lip and nodded, "I thought so, tell me who you really are and what're you doing here."
Ciara sighed. Bra wouldn't leave her alone without an answer, so she had no choice. "Bra, I think we should go somewhere private." Ciara looked distant and Bra looked at her funny.
"Okay," she whispered and Ciara and Bra both climbed in the car.
Bra pulled into a mall parking lot and shut off the engine. Then she looked at Ciara,"Okay, spill it." Ciara took a deep breath and faced Bra.
"What I'm about to tell you you must keep secret, okay?" Bra nodded as she stared at Ciara, waiting on information, "You're partly right about me not being human. I'm one-third human, but two-third saiyan." Bra looked like she was about to say something but Ciara wouldn't let her, "My name is Ciara Videl Briefs, I'm the daughter of Trunks and Pan Briefs and I came to the future to help my mother." Bra's mouth dropped, but she said nothing but nodded for her to continue. Something told Ciara that she was use to have bizarre things happen. "I know it sounds weird, but the only antidote is in this time so I used my grandmother's time machine to go back a few years to find it, but I don't know what it is yet."
Bra cleared her throat,"S-so what you're saying is...Pan and Trunks get married!" Ciara nodded and Bra clapped her hands and smiled, "I knew it!"
"But my mom is dying and I need the antidote for her disease or my father will be a widow, "Bra's face became stern and nodded.
"If you don't know what the antidote is, then how are you going to find it?" Bra asked as her voice became shallower.
"I'm not sure, but...I...was...wait a minute! You can help me! My grandmother said that the last case of the disease was twenty years ago, which is now. Maybe we can find whoever had it and what the doctors used as the antidote." Ciara smiled at her plan but Bra frowned.
"I don't think their gonna let a couple of teens look at hospital case files," Bra said as she shook her head slightly.
Ciara gave her a wink, "Don't worry, I have a plan." Bra blinked at her.
It was the evening and the sun was beginning to go down. Bra and Ciara were hiding behind the bushes waiting for the patrol officer to leave his post. Ciara was starting to think that maybe this cop was a good cop and stayed there all day, waiting for something to happen. But after awhile the cop took out a pack of cigarettes and looked in his pockets for a lighter. After he searched his pockets, he came up empty and saw that no one else would want to break into a hospital, so he walked towards the parking lot for his car.
"Now's our chance,"Ciara took Bra's hand and led her to the door and opened it and stuffed themselves inside. They seemed to be in a stairwell and there was an elevator also.
"Where do we go now?" Bra whispered even though they didn't need to, the secrecy made them whisper.
"Where would a hospital keep records?"Ciara asked. Bra shrugged her shoulders.
"In the record room I guess, but we don't know where that is, though," Bra looked at the elevator, "We could try upstairs, since this leads no where."
Ciara walked behind the stair case and saw a door. She peered through it and saw a hallway but nothing else, "Let's see what's down here." Ciara opened the door and stuck her head out. She saw no one, "C'mon." Bra and Ciara both quietly inched out, trying not to make a noise.
"There's a video camera in that hallway," Bra was peering down behind the corner and saw a camera up in the corner.
Ciara looked around and saw a laundry room and looked back at Bra. Bra looked at all the scrubs and coats and they both smiled.
Ciara and Bra had their hair in caps, their faces blocked with surgical masks and each wore nurse scrubs and they walked down the hallway like nurses talking friendly to each other. When they approached the corner, Ciara and Bra set off at a fast walk. They wore special cloth booties over their shoes to help their sneakers not to make noise. They peered around each corner to avoid the night shift. Bra pointed to a hospital map that was plastered on a wall.
"Okay, records, records, ah, here we go. Patient records." Bra looked back at Ciara,"It's on the second floor."
Ciara nodded, "Let's take the stairs, that way no one will hear the elevator." They both walked across the hall, but stopped before they reached a corner. Ciara put her finger to her lips, but they both could hear it with their Saiyan hearing.
"Maybe he'll think we work here since we're dressed like this," Bra whispered in Ciara's ear. Ciara bit her lip.
"But then why would we be wearing masks?" Ciara didn't wait for an answer. The doctor was turning around the corner and Ciara grabbed her and pushed her into a dirty clothes bin. She turned to the bin as the doctor left them. Ciara sighed and Bra stuck her head up from the soiled clothes.
"I hate you for this, this is so nasty!" She whispered, but Ciara put a finger to her mask to silence her. Bra ducked back down to the filthy clothes with a scowl on her face. Ciara took the elevator instead that way she could transport Bra to the record room and them not knowing. But when they reached the elevator another doctor came into view.
"Oh, great, you're doing laundry duty. Here," he dropped a couple of clothes on top of Bra's head, "Thanks a lot, some patients just don't know when to go huh?" Ciara knew that he was waiting for a response, so she gave him one.
"No comprehendo. Yo hablo espanol," she said while she shook her head. The man's smile dropped.
"Oh, you speak Spanish. Well uh, gracias." The man waved and she waved and he left them. Ciara pushed the button and it opened and it was empty.
As soon as they got in Bra jumped out and furiously threw the clothes off her and into the bin, "I am not going back in there! That had to be the nastiest thing ever!" She looked at Ciara who was smiling even though you couldn't see it for the mask."Hey nice cover up, pretending you don't speak Japanese."
"Well, I didn't want him to start asking me questions." Ciara pushed the button and the elevator closed and began moving.
The elevator opened to a deserted hallway and Bra and Ciara both pushed the cart through.
"Do you know where the record room is?"Ciara asked her.
"I think it's near the front desk. Oh Dende, how are we suppose to get by the front desk and into the record room?" Bra looked at her with pleading eyes. Ciara bit her lip.
"You might have to cause a distraction or something. But if they ask who we are, we speak no Japanese, okay?" Bra nodded her head. They walked through the main part of the hospital and saw the woman at the front desk was talking on her cell phone and was turned the other way,"Oh Dende, just our luck, eh?"
They walked silently down the hall until they came to a door that was labeled 'records.' They slowly opened the door and saw the first thing was a camera.
"Kuso, now what do we do?" Bra whispered, incase it was a camera that could hear you.
"Just pretend to be filing out something and I'll take care of it." Ciara moved under the camera and Bra started to go to one of the filing cabinets like she was looking for a patient record. Ciara pulled out a mini camera from her pocket that was from her time, instant photo. She lifted it to where the eye of the camera was and motioned for Bra to leave. Bra left through the door with a folder under her arm. Ciara took a picture of the room. The photo came out of the edge of the camera and Ciara took out her hair clip and stuck it and the photo over the eye. Satisfied, she jumped down and allowed Bra back in the room.
"Brilliant, how did you think that?" Bra asked her.
"I've watched way too many detective stories and movie mysteries. C'mon, let's see what we can find in here." Ciara and Bra both began sorting through the files.
Ciara ran her finger over the pictures of the file. She was back at her hotel room and she sent the photos to Bulma, who would get back to her with the results. It felt like she was getting so close, like any day now she would come across the antidote and her mother would be fine and they could truly live like those families on television. Like they did before.
Pan and Trunks took Ciara out to the park when she was twelve. They were going go to a picnic, but it started raining. Pan felt upset about it, but then Trunks slammed her down in some mud. Ciara ran over to them and jumped on top of them and they all wrestled in the mud, like a happy family. It was all too happy. Ciara should've known that something would be crashing down soon. And it did. They were staying over at Bulma's and she nearly pulled out her hair seeing them all covered from head to toe in mud.
Ciara didn't realize she had fallen asleep.