Summary: Pan Son and Trunks Briefs were best friends, they were also like brother and sister but after Trunks announces his engagement to Marron, Pan develops a deep resentment of Trunks and Marron throughout the course several of years. Will their friendship ever be the same again? And will Pan stop hating Trunks and move on with her life?

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball (Z, Gt, etc.) or any of its characters except my OC's, nor do I make any money from my writing.

Terms of Resentment

Chapter 3: Aftermath

~Son Residence~

When Pan arrived back home after running off from the party, she immediately ran up to her room, and collapsed onto her bed, already sobbing before she had even buried her head in the pillow, thinking; Why, why, why? Why does he see her, but not me? Eventually, Pan realized that her pillow case was becoming uncomfortably damp, and, letting out a choked, rasping breath, set out to change it. Her footsteps echoed slightly through the empty house. Her family still hadn't returned, which suited her perfectly fine. She didn't particularly want everyone to know about her infatuation with Trunks, and since everyone was gone, she had time to clean herself up.

"How am I supposed to talk to him now? Every part of me feels like its being torn apart, and yet, I still love him... It's all that woman's fault! Stupid Marron! She just had to get in the way! If it wasn't for her, Trunks would love me!" Pan muttered to her own reflection in the mirror, as she let warm water run over her hands, hardly noticing as it slowly turned scalding hot. Suddenly, she heard the front door of the house slam closed, jerking her out of her thoughts, and to the burning in her hands.

"Ouch!" Pan yelled, yanking her now brightly crimson hands out from the stream of water, and turning the faucet off as she cursed under her breath. There's no way I can stay unnoticed now! I just had to yell! Pan thought, her fears confirmed when she heard a soft knocking.

"Pan, is everything okay in there?" Videl asked through the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine! The water was too hot, that's all!" Pan yelled back, successfully feigning her normal, cheerful tone of voice.

"Alright!" Videl replied, relieved. "How come you ran off from the party earlier? We were worried..." To which Pan thought: If you were so worried, why didn't you follow me? I bet you didn't even notice until later..., but instead of saying so, she just vaguely replied:

"Oh, I just remembered that I forgot to do something..." And then, to support the lie, although it disgusted her, she said, "Well, honestly, I just wanted to get a gift for Trunks and Marron, to congratulate them!" and mentally started screaming Go away, go away, go away!

"That's so sweet of you! I'm sure they'll love it whatever it is! Well, I'll go see..." Videl said, rolling her eyes, "...If your father has left any food for us to eat tomorrow!", and with that, she walked off to the kitchen. Pan would normally have laughed at the joke, but she had spaced out at the word 'They'll'. Eventually, Pan worked up the nerve to turn the faucet back on, this time paying more attention to the temperature, washed all tell-tale signs of tears off of her face, and brushed her teeth, figuring it must almost be her designated bed-time by now. After all, her parents always returned from the Brief's parties in time for it. Sighing sadly, Pan finally walked out of the bathroom, releasing her hair from her usual hair-do as she walked. Once in her room, she undressed and threw on the over-sized shirt she used in place of a night gown, then proceeded to crawl under the covers of her bed, a wave of exhaustion hit her, dragging her eyelids shut. The last clear thing Pan thought before fatigue overtook her was of how badly she hated hearing the word 'they' when it was a combination of Trunks and Marron, and no one else.

~A Week Later~

Breakfast, at the Son household, was, as always, bustling with activity, as Chi-chi and Videl frantically attempted to provide enough food for four saiyajins. Both of them, however, noticed that yet again, the work load seemed easier than usual, which they quickly connected to the fact that Pan was pushing food around her plate, but, shockingly, not actually consuming anything.

"Pan, why aren't you eating? Are you ill? Did these delinquents here train ya too hard?" Chi-chi finally asks, glaring at Goten, Gohan, and Goku at the word 'Delinquents'.

"Aw, but she didn't have to train at all yesterday!" Goten said to the comment, grinning sheepishly. "Isn't that right, Pan?" He continued, winking at her. However, when Pan didn't even look up, continuing to stare at her plate, his smile dropped. "Panny?"

"Huh?" Pan said, realizing that she was being spoken to. "What?" Mentally, she cursed at herself for not listening to the conversation, but she couldn't help it. She just couldn't stop thinking about Trunks and Marron.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Videl questioned.

"N-nothing! Nothing at all!" Pan replied, quickly digging into her plate to cover up for her hesitation.

"She's just fine!" Goku said, easily fooled, as usual. No one else was really convinced, and everybody except for Goten just shrugged it off. Goten, however, kept a sad gaze trained on Pan for the rest of the meal, and excused himself from the table right after Pan, following her up the stairs to her room. He, after all, had seen the way Pan would look at Trunks when they were together. This engagement had to be killing her. Shortly, Goten arrived at the door to Pan's room, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door and walking in, finding Pan sitting on her bed, starring at a wall.

"Pan?" Goten said cautiously, aiming to catch Pan's attention.

"Hmm..? Oh! It's you, Goten! What's up?" Pan replies.

"Come on, Panny, you don't need to pretend. You're upset about Trunks' and Marron's engagement, aren't you?"

"... N-no, I'm not!" She said, shifting her gaze to her feet, seemingly taking a huge interest in them.

"I can see when you're upset Pan... come on, just... talk to me... I want to help you..." Goten said, sighing before he took a few steps farther into the room, sitting next to Pan on the unmade bed. A shuddering sigh escaped from Pan's mouth, and she suddenly became completely unable to contain her tears, heart-wrenching sobs wracking her body.

"I j-just... don't know... w-what to... do!" Pan manages to say in between sobs.

"It's okay, Panny... it's okay." Goten said, tentatively giving Pan a brotherly hug. She immediately buries her face in Goten's shirt.

"B-but... b-but... I... him..!"

"What?"

"I LOVE HIM!" Pan wails, admitting it for the first time to someone else.

"I understand, Panny... But see, the thing is..." Goten pauses, mentally phrasing what he was going to say. "Trunks is too old for you anyway, you know what I mean? Gohan and I would kick his ass... " He froze, realizing that he probably shouldn't curse in front of Pan. "Um, his butt... if he... tried to get into that kind of relationship with you."

"But... Shouldn't you... j-just want me... to be... h-happy?" Pan says, looking up, her sobs having ceased, but her breath still catching in her throat.

"Well, yes. But Trunks is just too old for you... and well... you know by now, that he's not really an option for you anymore..."

"You just had to bring that up again!" Pan yells, anger surging up through her being. She pulls away from Goten, and runs down the stairs to the front door, ignoring Goten's protests. She throws it open, wanting to just get away, only to come face to face... with Trunks.

"Hello, Pan." Trunks says, smiling slightly at her, in a way that usually made Pan's heart leap up into her throat. In fact, it still had the same affect, but, being angry at Trunks, she ignored the feeling, turning away from him.

"Shouldn't you be with Marron?" She spits out, not bothering to return Trunks greeting.

"She's busy right now." He says, unfazed by the toxic tone of Pan's words. "Besides, I'm sure she doesn't mind be spending time with one of my best friends." Trunks continues, choosing to exclude the fact that Marron was actially picking out a wedding dress.

"She's busy, huh? Well, tell you what! I'm busy too!" Pan yells, slamming the door in Trunks face, then sinking to her knees, once again sobbing. On the other side, Trunks sighs, and walks slowly away from the door, looking up at the cloudy sky, a cold breeze rustling the leaves on the trees around him. He shakes his head, and takes to the sky, not really knowing where he should head off too. Certainly not to Marron. She was very insistent on keeping her wedding dress a secret until the actual wedding day. Instead, he finds a stream, sitting on a rock in the center, remembering all the good times he and Pan had together.

~End Chapter~

It is Winter break, meaning I will update almost every day of the break. I apologize for the delay, and thank you to everybody still following this story. While you wait, R&R please!