Twenty reviews... wow, you people are the best... DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THIS IS DOING TO MY SELF CONFIDENCE?!? THIS IS AWESOME!!! And just for you lucky people out there... another chapter!!! Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Second Escape

The next day, there was only one question burning in Pan's mind. She had to know... Had her mother known Goku-san? There was only one way to find out...

Pan ran out into the garden toward the tree. But before she could reach it...

"Where are you off to in such a hurry, and at this hour?" Pan whirled around to see... Bra.

"Well... I... I was... PLEASE DON'T TELL OTOU-SAN!!!"

"What could I possibly tell him? I don't know what you're doing."

"Look, I can't tell you where I'm going. But I'll be back in... an hour. Can you cover for me?"

"Sure, Pan. I owe you for all those times you covered for me when I was at my doctoring lessons."

"Arigatô! Thank you so much, Onee-chan!" Bra nodded and smiled. Then she went back into the castle.

Pan scaled the tree quickly, and hopped on to the pile of crates on the other side of the wall. She jumped down, and ran as fast as she could to the alleyway, and knocked on the small green door three times, paused, then four more times. The door opened, and Gohan yawned, stepping out into the night air.

"Pan-chan? What are you doing here?" Videl and Zamuri stood behind Gohan, and immediately smiled when they identified their visitor.

"I need to speak to Goku-san right away! It's important!" Zamuri came out behind his father.

"Hey, Pan! I can show you where my grandpa lives if you want!"

"Sure, that would be great!"

Following Zamuri, Pan was led to a small two-story building a few blocks away. From the outside, it looked like just another corner store.

"This is our family store. We make and sell cloth-related materials. Clothes, blankets, and other things like that. This was founded by my grandfather and grandmother, and it's also where they live." Zamuri led Pan to the small white double doors in the front. He knocked, and Chi-Chi answered.

"Hello, Grandma. Is Grandpa here?"

"Oh, hello Zamuri. Hello Pan. Yes, Goku is upstairs with Goten."

"Arigatô, Grandma." Chi-Chi nodded as the two children ran up the back stairs behind the cash register table. Zamuri led Pan down a white hallway, and opened the last door on their right side. Inside, Goku was lying on his bed asleep, with a bowl of homemade rice balls and noodles spilled across his upper chest. There were a few bits of rice and noodle pieces lining his mouth, which was hanging wide open, snoring sounds emitting from it. His right hand was hanging off the bed, and a pair of chopsticks were dangling from his fingers.

Zamuri stifled a laugh. Pan, however, was confused. She had thought Son-san to be a wonderful, wise man anyone could come to for help and advice. She had never pictured him lazily sleeping with spilled food all over him.

Zamuri suddenly had the insane urge to jump on the bed to wake him, but resisted. Instead, he lightly tapped his grandfather on the shoulder. When Goku did not respond, he tried calling his name. However, nothing seemed to work.

"Grandma always said Grandpa could sleep through an earthquake, but I never thought she really meant it."

In the end, Zamuri was able to fulfill his urge, and began jumping on the bed next to the still sleeping Goku. This however, still did not work. Eventually, Chi-Chi and Goten entered the room, and watched the children's failing attempts to wake him.

"Oh, that never works, kids. If you really want to wake him, you have to do this!" Suddenly, Chi-Chi let loose a very hard punch to Son-san's stomach. Rice and noodles went flying, and the chopsticks dropped to the floor. The bowl soared up, and landed on his head. Goku awoke with a start to see his wife angrily standing over him.

"The nerve of you! Sleeping when there are guests in the house!" After Chi-Chi finished her lecture, she smiled, satisfied, and went to wash the dishes. Pan and Zamuri merely stood there with odd expressions of confusion and a feeling of great fear of an angry Chi-Chi. Goten couldn't stop laughing at the sight of his father, and how surprised he had looked when his own wife had punched him. His eyes were still half closed, his face even messier, and he wore a very dazed and confused expression.

Goku was now just starting to realize where he was, who else was there, and what was on his head. He licked the excess food off his face, took the bowl off his head, and started putting the rice, noodles, and chopsticks back in the bowl. Goten took a few breaths to stop himself from laughing. Then he straightened up, waved in greeting to Pan and Zamuri, and went back to his bedroom.

"Hi, Zamuri! Hi, Pan!"

"Hello, Grandpa. Did you... er... have a nice nap?" Goku chuckled. He put on a child-like grin that reminded Pan of Goten's.

"Anyway, I just brought Pan over here because she said she really needed to talk with you."

"Oh, is that so? Well, what do you need, Pan-chan?" Pan hesitated. She didn't want Zamuri to hear anything.

"Um, Zamuri-chan... I would... er... appreciate it if we could... have some time alone to talk."

"Heh! Sure Pan, whatever." Zamuri put his hand behind his head, laughed, and went to talk to his uncle in the next room.

"Okay, so what did you need that was so important?"

"I need to know... Did you ever know Queen Bulma?" A surprised and puzzled look crossed Goku's face, and then he smiled.

"Yes, I did know her. She and I were kids together. She always thought I was a bit of a lunkhead. Yeah, we were very good friends, but I haven't seen her since she went off to marry King Vegeta. Bulma didn't seem to have any feelings for him. But she belonged to the richest family in town next to the king, and their parents thought it to be a very good match. It's a shame she caught that fatal disease. When Chi-Chi and I found out, she went in to her room and cried for a while. She and Bulma were also very close friends."

Goku looked back at Pan, who was hanging on his every word. "Is that all you needed to know?"

"Yes, thank you, Goku-san. Now there are some things I feel I need to tell you." Pan spilled her heart out right then and there. She told this man everything that had been bottled up inside of her for so long. She told him she was a princess, about being adopted, about trying to find her real family, about the naming ceremony, about King Vegeta's reaction to Trunks when he told of Bulma's final request, and even about Paris.

Now it was Goku's turn to hang on to Pan's every word.

"So you told Goten that Paris was your maid? Gee, no wonder he's been acting so weird lately. I haven't seen him this happy in a long time."

Suddenly, Zamuri burst into the room. Apparently, he and Goten had been standing there the whole time listening to Pan's story.

"It's okay, we know everything now."

Pan's eyes widened in shock. "What were you doing listening to our conversation?!?"

"Don't be mad at him, Pan. It was my idea." Goten had just come around the corner, his hand scratching the back of his head. "I knew there was more to this story. I had to find out why you ran away from home in the first place. Oh, and are you planning to tell Paris about me?"

"I, uh... I haven't gotten the chance yet, but I was planning to." Pan stuttered.

"Good. If it's not too much trouble, I've been dying to see her again. I'd do anything."

"I promise I'll do everything I can to get you two back together." Pan smiled and said her goodbyes to everyone, and then followed Zamuri down the stairs and out the door into the darkness. She was still a little mad at him for listening in to her conversation, but felt she had to forgive him.

It was very dark out, so Zamuri decided to lead Pan back to his house, then she could walk home from there. In her head, Pan was making connections. Her mother had known Goku-san. Her mother's maid was Goten-kun's girlfriend. Zamuri was not an only child, but he didn't know anything about it. And now he knew she was an adopted princess.

"... Pan? Are you okay?" Pan had been staring up into the beautiful night sky.

Stars... hundreds of tiny stars...

Pan had never actually taken the time to really look at them. But out here, in the quiet dark streets of this town, it was so peaceful... so perfect...

"Pan! We're here." Pan snapped out of her trance to see her legs had automatically carried her to the small alleyway. The two were now standing in front of the green door.

"Oh, gomen Zamuri. It's just that... the stars are so beautiful. Wouldn't it be fun to fly up there? Just the two of us... just for fun?"

"Well, I never thought of it that way before. The only times I've been up there was when my family and I were escaping the raids. And that's usually during the day. But sure, now that I think about it, I'm sure it would be beautiful..." He was now gazing in wonder at the night sky as well.

"Can you fly?" Zamuri looked back at Pan, a little startled by her question.

"No, I was born with a low power level, and my parents think I won't be able to fly for another year or two."

"... I learned how..." Pan mumbled quietly, staring at the ground.

"YOU WHAT?!? No way! Let me see!" Pan blushed furiously.

"Well, my... my adoptive brother... he showed me how... I'm not very good yet... I only learned yesterday..." She began to nervously shuffle her feet.

"Oh, come on. You can show me... can't you?"

"Yes, I suppose so..." Pan raised her ki a little, and focused it all below her. She thought of finding her real parents again. Slowly, she began to float off the ground. Zamuri stared in wonder.

"Wow! Incredible! I never thought..."

"Would you like to see the stars up close, Zamuri?" Pan was feeling a bit more confident now. That lighter-than-air feeling always put her in an especially good mood.

"Would I!" Zamuri took her hand, and they soared off together.

Up, up, up... the stars seemed to take forever to reach...

The two broke the barrier of clouds, and were stunned by the magnificent sight of the night sky. It seemed to go on forever...

Pan felt she would never want to leave this place. She wanted this night to last forever. Just the two of them in this world only witnessed by a privileged few...

"Pan... It's beautiful..."

"Ahem." Startled, both whirled around to find themselves face-to-face with the eldest prince of Vegeta-sei.

"N... Onii-san! What... are you doing... here?" Pan stuttered, alarmed at the threatening glare displayed on her not-brother's face.

Not knowing what else to do in the face of royalty, Zamuri bent into a deep, unmistakable bow. Though how he did it while being held up 2,000 feet in the air, no one can say.

"Pan, we're going home. Drop this boy off where he belongs." Pan looked back at Zamuri, who seemed to be very relieved that he was not going to be punished, but at the same time, worried about how Pan was going to get punished.

Pan lowered her ki, and floated softly but quickly to the ground.

"Well... er, I had fun, Pan. I hope you'll... be all right. I'm sorry; I shouldn't have made you show me..."

"No, it was my idea, Zamuri. I'll see you around... maybe." Pan waved goodbye to her friend, and followed Trunks back to the castle.

"What on Vegeta-sei did you think you were doing?!? Not only did you disobey Otou-san and I by sneaking out of the castle at night, but you made Bra cover for you, and to top it all off, I find you flying with some strange boy 2,000 feet up in the air!!!" Pan didn't know what to say. Had Bra deceived her?

No, she wouldn't! Would she...?

"You are so lucky Otou-san doesn't know you were missing! Kami knows what he would have done to you!"

Pan was sent to her room for the rest of the night, while Trunks tried to figure out a fitting consequence. So far, he had only come up with "If I find out you have gone out of these walls again, I swear..."

Pan changed into her pajamas and dug her face into her pillow, and cried herself to sleep. Not only for the fact that she wasn't allowed to see Zamuri or anyone else again, but also because she had never seen her brother act that way to her before. He had always been so caring and forgiving. But now...