Okay, once again, sorry for making you wait so long, but my computer was having troubles. No matter, it gave me a chance to catch up with my writing! Oh, and those of you who still think I'm on a deadline... I'm not!!! Okay? There is absolutely no chance of me finishing the story in two days! ... Thank you!!!

Chapter 28: Sleepless Mornings

Pan awoke with a jolt upon the feeling of cold water drenching her face.

"YAAAAHHH!!! WHAT THE..." She bolted upright from her grassy bed only to find Piccolo standing beside her with a large wooden bucket. "Oh... Ohayô, Piccolo-san." She yawned deeply, wiping the water from her face. Her eyes darted around, recognizing her surroundings. She immediately noticed the sun had barely risen.

"Time to get up." Piccolo grunted. "Training starts now."

"What time is it?" She mumbled.

"I'd guess a little after four." He answered.

Pan yawned again. "It's too early, Piccolo-san..." She attempted to lie back down, but he swiftly grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. "Okay, okay!" She yelped.

Pan shuffled her feet in the tall, frost-covered pasture, doing her best to stay awake. She had probably gotten about three hours of sleep at most. Eyes half closed, she fell farther and farther behind her trainer. When they reopened, she noticed Piccolo was walking about 50 feet in front of her, and at a much quicker pace. Pan quickened her own pace to a light jog to try and catch up. The tired girl followed her mentor through the hills and down to the rushing freshwater creek. The small pebbles resting in the shallow water glimmered in the bright moonlight.

Once the pair reached the foot of the river, Piccolo filled his bucket with the cool streaming water. Then he handed it to his pupil.

"Take this to the top of that mountain." He pointed to a large, jagged shape in the distance bathed in fog, and topped with a snowy white peak.

"Heh... No problem." Pan shrugged confidently. She took the bucket by the handle and prepared for another smooth takeoff. But before she could so much as raise her ki, Piccolo stopped her with a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Without flying..." He smirked.

"Wha... You mean I have to go all the way up there the hard way?!?" Pan gaped, taking a second look at that mountain. It seemed a lot taller and farther away than it had before.

"I told you this wasn't going to be easy." He remarked. "Still think you can handle it?"

Without a second thought, Pan nodded and brought back that confident grin as she faced her goal. "Yeah." And so began Son Pan's excruciatingly difficult training.

It was no use. Bra just couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned in her bed multiple times, unable to put her troubled mind at ease. It felt good to be back home in her own room, but she felt lonelier than ever before. Bra lazily rolled to one side of her bed and checked the clock. It was nearly four in the morning. She hadn't slept a wink all night. She groaned, and decided that it was useless to keep trying to sleep. She rose from her pillow, and shuffled her feet into her slippers. Draping her purple silk robe over her nightgown, Bra quietly crept out of her room, past her father's quarters, and down the main marble staircase. She roamed the halls and vast chambers, looking for something to do with herself... something to make her feel even the least bit better. She stopped as she passed the kitchen, but shook her head and continued on. Food would do her no good now. Eventually, her feet led her to the last place she would have gone on any regular day. But today was far from regular. She allowed herself to descend the stone spiral staircase to the dim, torch-lit hallway leading to the dungeon. At first, the guard at the bottom of the staircase stopped her to question her purpose down here, but she simply dismissed him with a wave of her hand. After all, how could she answer that when she wasn't even sure herself?

Bra strode down the cool passageway, and stopped in front of a cell door guarded by two soldiers who had practically fallen asleep at their posts. The young princess's curiosity rose, wondering what could be so heavily guarded. When both pairs of watchful eyes sagged closed, Bra quickly took a peek inside the cell through the barred window on the door. Her eyes widened at the sight of the figure inside. There, slumped against the wall with his hands hanging chained above his head was Trunks. Bra found she could not bear to look upon that shameful face. She pulled her head away from the door, and hastily paced back to the staircase. How could her father allow them to do that to his own son? It was disgraceful. Hands stuffed in the pockets of her robe, she lowered her head and stared at the stone floor. But before she could reach the staircase, something seemed to slow her down. A soft, low moaning could be heard from one of the cell doors to her left. Interested, she crept to the barred window, and glanced inside. The moaning ceased as the small boy looked back up at her, first with tired pleading eyes, then with firm annoyed ones.

"Oh... it's you... princess..." He mumbled.

"Zamuri... I can't believe they did this to you!" Bra exclaimed, though softly so no one else could hear. "I didn't want this... not for you..."

"Yeah, whatever. Look, if that's all you've come to say, then go." A sudden lurch of his stomach caused him to start moaning again. "Oh... my stomach... I'm so hungry..."

"You mean they haven't been feeding you?!?" Bra cried with shock. "Oh... don't worry! Um... Stay here, I'll be right back!" She turned and disappeared beyond the window's narrow sight range. Zamuri glimpsed back up at the window, then chuckled to himself.

"Heh... Like I've got anywhere to go... Oh, ouch! It hurts!"

Bra ran as fast as she could to the kitchens, a sense of purpose distracting her from her troubles for the moment. She sat down at the small, rounded table in the center of the white tiled room, and breathlessly wheezed out her order to the nearest cook. As soon as the food was prepared and brought to her on a silver tray, she picked it up, telling the baffled cook she would eat it in her room, and they could pick up the tray and dishes in there later. She rushed down the stairs as fast as she could without spilling anything, and passed a bemused guard on the way back to Zamuri's cell. Only once she found herself in front of the locked cell door did she realize she still needed the key to get in. Setting the tray down next to the door, she returned to Trunks' cell and stole a whole ring of keys off the belt of one of the sleeping guards.

After sitting there for about five minutes, wondering where the princess had gone to in such a hurry, Zamuri finally heard a soft jingle coming from just outside the door. He raised his head in attention, listening to the young girl fumble with the ring of keys, trying to find the right one to open the lock. He soon caught a whiff of something that tormented his empty stomach even more.

"Hey, what smells so good?" He asked weakly as Bra finally opened the door, carrying in the large tray of food.

"Your breakfast. Hope you like it!" She laid the tray out in front of him. "There's eggs, ramen, shrimp, sushi, rice, tea..."

Zamuri was too hungry to listen. He stared at the humongous plateful of food, attempting not to drool. Temporarily forgetting he was chained to the wall, he attempted to lurch forward to begin scarfing down anything within reach. But the shackles held him back.

"Oh, sorry! I almost forgot." Bra reached for the keys again, and began trying a number of them on the keyhole. Once she successfully freed him, the ravenous boy plunged into the food, gobbling down as much as Saiyanly possibly.

"Arr fyu gomma ead?" Came Zamuri's voice, muffled by the large amount of food stuffed in his mouth.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that." Bra apologized.

Zamuri swallowed. "I said, aren't you gonna eat?"

"Oh no, no thanks! You go ahead. I'm not that hungry." She replied. Zamuri shrugged, and went back to his meal. She smiled as she watched him eat. A feeling of satisfaction tingled down her spine. It suddenly occurred to her that no one had stopped her from doing this. As princess, she had this power. No one could object to her will. That is, unless her father found out. But she would make sure that didn't happen. She wouldn't let him find out. Besides, she liked being the only thing standing between this boy and starving to death. She had rarely experienced this ultimate feeling of purpose. Bra liked this feeling.

"By the way, Zamuri," She said as he devoured the last bit of food. "I'm sorry for not being able to save you from my father back there in the cave."

"Don't worry about it!" Zamuri said cheerfully as he washed his meal down with his last bit of tea. "You certainly made up for it!" He leaned back against the wall and patted his satisfied stomach. Bra laughed.

"Yeah... Well, I only wish I could have done more. It's my fault you're stuck down here."

"No it's not. I shouldn't have followed Pan to that cave in the first place. She told me to stay behind, but I didn't listen."

"But I'm the princess! I should have the power to do something about this." She thought for a moment, and then a smile spread across her face. "... and I think I just thought up the perfect something."

What is this something? Care to find out? Give me enough reviews, and I'll let you know!