A million and half sorry's for the delay of this chapter... Here it is. I also had a stint of writers block in the middle of a hectic couple of weeks so it took me a lot longer to write than normal.
C-23 Almost Couples
Gohan saw Pan's bag by the door and knew that usually meant that she was up in her room but her room was empty when he went to check on her.
He knew where she went. He knew that she was with Trunks now and he didn't like that. He still did not approve of Trunk's seeing his little girl. He was too old for her and he was a notorious womanizer. She deserved better than that.
He shouldn't have let up on him as they fought when he found out that she and he were... were... he shuttered. He didn't even like to think of that. He knew that she was old enough to make her own decisions but... Trunks?
He would have to have a long talk with her when she got home. He never really calmed down enough to get over the fact that they had been seeing each other in the romantic way for a month before any of them found out. And then she did all that after laughing at him when he asked her about their lunch dates.
She played him the fool.
Videl had tried talking to him about everything and he didn't remember half of what she said. She wasn't upset. Why wasn't she upset? She should be!
He knew that he should be concentrating on the more immediate threat of Krad's arrival, but he could only think about his daughter. He was worried about how she would react once Trunks got tired of her. He surely would.
He rubbed his head. It was all so much. He had like her last boyfriend. He was not that bad of a guy. He didn't feel that he had to threaten him to get him to treat his little girl right. He was respectful and decent. He really didn't understand why they broke up.
Then he noticed how quiet the house was. No one was home.
The boys must all be at Capsule Corp. That was a good thing. He knew that it was not the right thing to do, but he told Fry that every time that he interfered with Trunks and Pan, he would get an extra dollar for his allowance. So far, he owned the kid and extra five bucks.
He knew Videl had some meeting to go to at the hospital and he wasn't too sure what mom was doing, but he was glad that she was out of the house for a change, instead of brooding at home or in the garden.
He knew the quiet wouldn't last for long. He knew that for certain so he thought that he would take advantage of it by taking a long hot shower before he got down to marking papers. He wouldn't be able to stay in there long once everyone else arrives home.
But he was not prepared for the scene that presented itself in the bathroom.
............
Trunk's was about to kill Fry. He was always there! He was trying to have a nice conversation with Pan, but he was always interrupting them! Fry was treated it like a game! He seemed to know just when he was going to lean down and give her a kiss or say something that took him quite a bit of courage to say.
"What are you getting paid for this!" He yelled as Fry darted away with his two accomplices close behind him. He just laughed and was surely was preparing for his next attack.
"Why don't we go to my house?" Pan said as she pulled on his arm to get him to sit down again. "It will be a little bit more peaceful there."
Yeah, he thought, but Gohan will be there too. "Why don't we just go for a walk. They won't wander far from their video games not that Benot is actually allowed to play them again."
She nodded. "We can get something to eat too huh?" she said.
"Are you always hungry?" he joked.
"Of course!" she said.
............
Gohan blinked at the mess. "What the...?"
He saw his brother's school clothes scattered and soaked in one corner of the room and a familiar green shirt and jeans piled next to them. He looked in the tub and saw that it was full of grime and blood.
He didn't know if he should be worried or angry?
He picked up the green shirt and saw the familiar logo of Capsule Corporation on it. From the size, he was sure that it had to be Soyna's. Green was her favorite color. It looked rather tattered, almost scorched. What the hell was it doing in his bathroom and what the hell was all this mess? Why was his brother's clothes mixed with her clothes? What the hell was she doing over here anyway?
He picked up the clothes and put them aside. They must have got carried away with a sparing match. That was all. It was not like his brother has been known to be one of the cleanest people in the world. But why were her clothes in his bathroom?
"Goten?" he called.
He didn't get an answer. He didn't really expect one.
He had laughed about the incident in which he tore off her shirt in the sparing match and then how she tore off his Gi. He was rather amazed that she didn't get to mad at him. Of course, with Benot interrupting like that... but what did all this mess mean?
He went to look at his brother's room and knew how Vegeta felt when he saw Trunks and Pan in bed together.
Well, almost.
............
Trunk's was so glad to be out of that house with just Pan. He was able to wrap his arms around Pan and walk close to her without worrying about anyone getting upset as they looked at them. Fry was not around to interrupt as he stopped and kissed her. Vegeta wasn't around to give a disapproving grunt. Gohan was not around to give him the death glare.
"We really have to find time to get some privacy," he said. "I miss you so much when we can't spend time together." He knew that he sounded needed but didn't care. He didn't like being apart from her.
"Once this tournament is over and once I am done this semester," she said. "We will have all the time in the world." She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "But then, you will never get rid of me. I won't let you go."
He grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he held her closer.
"I would have to really hurt you bad and then let dad at you if you did," she said. "And you know that I can hurt you bad."
He laughed. "It will never come to that," he said. "No matter what everyone else is saying. I don't need to look anywhere else for the perfect woman."
She actually blushed at that! It was so hard to get her to blush. She looked down at the ground. "So what are you saying?" her voice a whisper. Her walking pace slowed a little.
What was he saying?
He bit his lip and looked into her dark eyes and couldn't say anything else. He knew what his heart wanted him to say, but his mouth wouldn't work. He licked his lips and tried to make the words come out and he could feel them coming.
Then he felt the shock of cold water strike him in a big wave. He stood there soaking and stunned.
"Gotcha!" Fry's voice. Benot and Legen's giggles as they scrambled to run and leave.
It didn't help that Pan was laughing too.
"It's not funny! I am going to kill your brother!" He said and turned to run after him. He would find a nice pond near by and throw him in as soon as he caught him. He just about said it! He just about said it and Fry had ruined the whole thing! He would have gone after him, if Pan didn't pull him back.
"You can get him later," she said with a large grin.
He was soaked. They must have had one hell of a water balloon.
"Let's go find a place to eat," she said.
"But..." He needed to change his clothes and if he ran into the brat's he was surely going to make a side trip.
"I am hungry now. Let's go," she said not giving him a choice.
............
Gohan couldn't help but stare.
Goten was sitting up in his bed, looking like he had not meant to fall asleep. He was only wearing a pair of running shorts and was sitting on top of the blankets with a pillow propped behind him.
Soyna lay next to him, wrapped in a robe that looked way to big for her and was snuggled up close to him. Her hair was a mess, she was usually careful about her hair. He could only see that she the top of her head and that her eyes were closed and her bare feet, which looked like they were burnt. Goten's arm protectively held her close to him.
When did this happen?
"Goten?" he whispered.
Goten's eyes flickered open. "Huh?" he said and looked down and the woman in his arms and then at him. He blushed furiously. "Gohan!" He didn't move though, as if he were afraid to wake her.
"I think I need an explanation," Gohan said a little louder.
He gave a nervous laugh and moved her slightly so that he could get up from the bed. She groaned and seemed to start shaking a bit until he covered her with a blanket as she settled into the bed as if it were her own.
"How long has this been going on?" Gohan said, another secret relationship. Would they ever end? Who was next to start one of these?
"What?" He said as he pushed him out the door.
"You and Soyna! I didn't even think she wanted a relationship with anyone and here you two are, leaving wet clothes in the bathroom and you two are nearly naked," he said.
"Sush, Gohan, you will wake her! And it's not what you think. Let's go downstairs and I will explain what happened. Raymond should be here soon to take care of her." He said trying to guide his brother down the stairs.
............
Trunks could see how tired Pan was getting. It was only 9 and the weekend had just started but he could see how drained she looked.
"Maybe I should take you home," he said. "You look so drained."
"I'm fine. I am just training too hard. Now that we have a real reason to train for the tournament, I really have to get myself into shape again," she said trying to look more awake, but failed completely at her attempt.
"Are you sure your okay?" he asked.
"Positive, and plus, I wasn't planning on going home tonight," she said with a smile that he couldn't help but return.
"But Gohan will get mad," he said. The wonderful thoughts were replaced by the memory of how angry Gohan had been, correction, was at him. It was one of the scariest things that he had ever seen in his life. Especially, when he was one of the calmer people that he knew.
"Don't worry about dad," she said with a dismissive swipe of her hand. "He won't brood much longer over it. He just has to get used to it. Mom said that he would eventually accept it and he will. He just a little over protective."
No kidding, he thought. "But we can't go back to my place. Those brats are certainly waiting for us."
She laughed again.
"What?"
"You are starting to sound like Vegeta," she said and took his arm. "You know that Fry is only taunting us so that dad can pay him some extra allowance."
"What!" So he was right! The little weasel was getting paid to torture him, by Gohan! That was a down right dirty trick!
She laughed again. "I know a place where we can go. There will be no interruptions there."
............
"This better be good," Gohan said.
"Well, I followed her after school. I was just worried about her and I wanted to make sure that she was all right. She just seemed so upset the other day, that I didn't feel right leaving her alone." He said. Gohan felt that he was leaving something out.
"You followed Soyna? Vegeta and even her own brother can't follow her, how the hell do you follow or even find her?" Gohan scoffed.
Goten chewed his lip. "I just knew where to look." He looked down at his hands, which were in his lap. "I haven't told anyone that I know where to find her. She was mad enough at me when I did find her."
Gohan sighed deeply, "Go on."
"Well, she was powering up. At first, it wasn't anything that I hadn't seen her do before. But then, she started to change further... I can't explain it all that well. It was like that time, when I was little... when Vegeta sacrificed himself... that feeling. Like her power was growing to large for her to handle. Her aura changed to this awful red color and..." he took a deep sigh. "I just knew that I had to stop her. Her power level was still rising. It was out of control. She couldn't stop it. She was in so much pain. Her screams were terrible." He looked at the stairs. "I shot a ki blast at her and shocked her out of that state. Then her power just dropped and she fell from the sky. I thought I killed her ki dropped so quickly."
He didn't feel anything. He was sure that if she was on the verge of self destruction, he would have felt it. Certainly, Vegeta would have, or Junior at least. Why didn't they come running?
"I raced after her. She looked as if she were barely awake. I caught her before she hit the ground." He took a deep sigh. "All she said was, 'did I make it?' I didn't know what she was trying to do so I just said, 'make what?' Then she said, 'the next level? Did I finally make it?' I told her, no, and then she passed out on me."
The next level? She must have a death wish! None of the halfling had been able to ascend further than the second level. She could already match Vegeta in a battle at level 3 and she was trying to get to the next level! She was being foolish!
Goten continued. "I was so scared that she was really hurt. Her fingers and feet were all black, even her nose. I rushed here, not really thinking all that clearly, and then no one was home. She was so warm that I thought immersing her in water would help. I didn't take her clothes off at first. I just filled up the tub and put that stuff in that Pan uses to help herself relax and placed her in."
"I really didn't know that she hated water that much," he said sheepishly. "She wasn't strong enough to fight me off, but she was strong enough to get me and the whole room wet. First she was mad at me for stopping her rise to the next level. Then she was mad at me for putting her the tub. Then she just accused me of wanted to see her without her shirt again."
Gohan was a little bit suspicious of that himself. It had been awhile since his brother had been on a date. Soyna was not one to look at for a date, but then, his brother wasn't the smartest one of the bunch.
"I had to look at how badly she was burnt. She could hardly move her legs. They are the worst. She didn't like it when I removed her clothes to see how bad her burns were." He was visibly flushed. He didn't seem to mind removing her clothes at all. "She became delirious and was even crying!" He twitched in his chair. "Her hands are all black and even her nose got burnt. There are a few burnt patches here. The tip of her tail lost all it's hair but other than that, her legs were the worst."
"You should have taken her to Raymond, instead of just calling him," Gohan said.
"I know, but you didn't see how vulnerable she was in the water as I washed her burns. I didn't want to move her. It took her awhile, but she eventually calmed until I took her out and wrapped her in my bathrobe." He sighed. "She woke up slightly but allowed me to put the cream on her burns and I just meant to lie her down on the bed, so that I could get changed. I really was, but she wouldn't let me go."
Gohan gave his brother a look of disbelieve. If he could get her undressed and in a tub of water, he was sure that he could make her let go.
"She had her tail wrapped so tightly around my arm. I was afraid that I would hurt her if I did remove it!" he said sharply. "You have no idea how weird that felt!"
"Okay. Okay, at least you called Raymond, now and then you can explain to me why your clothes were as wet as hers on the bathroom floor," Gohan said and saw how tense his brother got.
"She soaked me, okay. I just changed," he did not elaborate. He was leaving something out again.
Gohan didn't want to hear anymore.
............
Trunk's lifted the sleeping form of Pan into his arms. They had sat down in a secluded area of the park and were alone, but Pan fell asleep. He thought about taking her home, but that meant a confrontation with Gohan. He would rather risk running into his own father, than running into him. Plus, he didn't really want to be away from her.
He couldn't say it yet. Stupid kid had to ruin the moment, as usual. He would get back at him for that and make Gohan's little trick at keeping them separate backfire!
............
She was wearing some of Pan's clothes, he quickly noticed, a rather snug looking T-shirt and shorts. Her legs did look bad. They were black all the way up to her knees and her hands looked as if she had dipped them in black paint, her nose being all black, looking kind of cute though, almost as if it were painted on. She just needed some whiskers.
She was sitting up in the bed now looking at her burnt legs and hands, looking a little dazed as Raymond sat beside her to examine the burns.
"This is the worst that I have ever seen you," Raymond said.
She didn't respond. She just sat there, as if she were afraid to move.
Raymond took one of her hands and tried to draw it towards him, but she quickly drew it back. She clutched her hand into a fist, the black cracking showing a harsh looking pink underneath.
"The cream doesn't seem to be helping." Raymond muttered.
"I put it on really thick like you said," Goten said.
She looked up at Goten. He couldn't tell if she was angry or sad with that look. This was not the Soyna that he was used too. What did Goten do to change her?
"Well, at least you didn't break her arm to get her to stop," Raymond said as he look at the scrape on her side. "She just needs to rest. Hopefully, we won't have to give her a sensu bean."
"No stupid bean. I have to fight in the tournament," her voice was a whisper. "I do not want to sleep through it all."
"Your burns are pretty bad," Raymond said. "You will have to take a few days rest at least. Don't do what you did when Vegeta broke your arm. Don't make me give you that injection to calm you down again."
"I am ready to fight in the tournament," she whispered and moved her legs. The burnt covering cracked and some fell to the floor. He had to look away at the sight and the sound was horrible. She didn't show that she was in any pain or otherwise.
"You should lie back down. Sleep. Let the wounds cool further before you move. You don't want to get an infection," Raymond said and pulled a syringe out of his bag.
She coolly looked at him. "I thought you didn't want to give me that injection."
"This is just to help you sleep," he said.
"I can't stay here. Not in this bed," she said and tried to stand.
Raymond pushed her back down. "You are going to listen to me this time!" She looked at him with blinking eyes. "You are going to stay here and you are going to sleep off this needle that I am going to give you. When you wake up, you will have a bath to hopefully soak off most of the dead skin and ease the pain in the burns using this herb. He placed a bag on the night side table. Then after the bath, you will use the cream on the burns, and then you can go kill yourself!"
"I don't like bath's," she whispered as she watched the skin on her hands cracked as she moved her fingers.
"I don't care!" Raymond snapped. "I didn't marry Bra to be everyone personal physician! You will take a bath, no matter how much you hate it or else I will make sure that you get a sensu bean the day before the tournament and you sleep through everything and someone else gets to destroy Krad instead of you!" He grabbed her arm and gave her the needle. She winced but didn't complain.
Gohan was shocked. He had never seen him look so angry before in his life. Of course, Raymond was about the only one that could really loose his temper with that family and get away with it. Vegeta may not like him, but he tolerated him.
"But..." Goten said. "That's my bed."
Soyna looked at him with a familiar look. "I guess you have to sleep on the floor then."
"It's my bed!" He snapped back at her.
"You should have thought of that before you stopped me from reaching my full potential!" She snapped back.
Raymond rolled his eyes.
"You were going to destroy yourself!" He yelled back.
"I was not! I know the limits of my power!" She responded. She obviously was not in that much pain. Gohan watched in amusement as her tail all went spiky expect for the burnt tip. He seldom saw her loose control of her tail and it was quite amazing to see it whip around behind her. She must really be mad at Goten. He was going to pay later for sure.
"Hardly!" he snapped.
Raymond walked by him. "She will be fine in a couple of days. She will have some sensitive skin, but the burns look worse than they are. Hopefully that sedative works soon."
"I didn't ask to be nearly drowned by you either!" She snapped back at him. She suddenly became aware that her robe was open and covered herself up with it and shrugged it back on her shoulders.
"I had to cool you down. You were burning up!" He snorted back. "I could have let you cook and then your whole body would have been black!"
Gohan sighed deeply and followed Raymond downstairs. He could still hear them yelling at each other. He hoped that sedative would work soon too. He was contemplating asking Raymond if it would work on Goten too.
.............
AN.... There we go... Sorry, again, that it took so long to get this chapter out... Things sure are heating up... Stay tuned...
The Tournament is coming!
Soyna.