Author: The Noseless Wonder
Disclaimer: I’m not even going to bother. Just read the previous chapters. I’M TOO LAZY!!
Authors Notes: I’m sorry it took so long, but there is a lot of this chapter to make up for it. Chapter 5 is fiiiinnnalllly ready. (Thanks to the people who threatened to kill me)
Back in the future, Goku Jr. was planning his fifth birthday party. Much to his parent’s ‘delight’ he seemed to enjoy running around the house screaming, “It’s my birthday tomorrow! It’s my birthday tomorrow!” He was very excited with the new responsibilities he would be facing as a five year-old. It meant that he would get to stay up until 8:30 and that he could answer the phone as long as there was somebody home.
Gohan and Videl wanted a small celebration, just the three of them, but Pan was supposed to be there too, which made Goku Jr. sad. However, Chichi knew that her grandson’s birthday was coming up. There was no way she was going to let one of her grandchildren go without her patented birthday feast and a cake to match. Gohan argued with his wife that Chichi lived for those kinds of events and Goku was his name sake, you couldn’t just tell them not to come.
Videl reluctantly made the call, but she found out from Chichi that Ubuu was staying with them on a visit. It didn’t really make a difference to Videl, she and Gohan didn’t know him very well, but Chichi insisted. She had said that she didn’t want to be a bad hostess by leaving him alone in their house while they were gone, so the list grew to
six people. Then, Chichi started asking about Goten and Marron. They hadn’t been invited and Chichi was wondering why. It was her “subtle” way of criticizing Videl for forgetting about the rest of her family. Videl caved, so the list grew to eight people.
After talking to Chichi, Videl became very angry. She said a polite good-bye, but slammed the phone down on the receiver. Gohan saw that the talk with his mother had ticked his wife off and stressed her out. He came up behind her, wrapped his strong arms around her waist and kissed her lightly on the shoulder.
“I’m sorry. I know my mom can be tough sometimes.” The bass in his voice and the breath from his mouth tickled her ear. She loved it when he did that, but she would never tell him. He’d probably just use it as a way to get out of trouble. He brushed her hair out of the way and kissed her ear. His lips traveled slowly across her jaw-line and over her cheek, giving her small kisses as she talked.
“It’s not completely your mom. It’s just that there’s going to be a lot of people here, when we wanted to keep it simple. I don’t exactly feel like celebrating one child’s birthday, when my other child could be lost or even dead.” She said.
He stopped kissing her and rested his head on her shoulder. “I know, I’m as worried about her as you are, but Trunks said she was going to be fine.”
“You believe him?” She asked, sort of shocked that Gohan was siding with Trunks.
“I’m probably going to regret it later, but yes, I do.”
“Momma, is Panny dead?” A young voice asked from behind.
Videl nearly jumped out of her skin. Did he hear all of that? Once more, had he seen all of that? She turned around and kneeled to give her son a hug. Goku Jr. refused her open arms at first, but he broke down quickly and jumped into her hug. She could tell he was crying by the sharp breaths he was taking.
“No honey, Panny isn’t dead.” She said in attempt to comfort him. “I was talking too much and making myself worry more. I always talk too much when I’m worried about somebody. In fact, I worry like that every time you’re late getting home, that’s why I get so angry at you.”
“Momma, if it will make you worry less, we can skip my birthday this year.” He said, his tears still flowing freely.
Videl felt as if she would break down and cry herself. Not only had she made her youngest and only son upset, but she had made him feel like a burden as well. “No, we are not skipping your birthday this year! How often does a guy get to turn five?”
“I won’t enjoy my birthday if you’re sad.” Goku Jr. said, drying his tears with his sleeve.
“I won’t be sad, I promise. Tell you what, if there was one person you could invite to your party, who would it be?” She asked.
Goku had to think for a while. “Is Grandpa coming?”
“Yep.”
“Is Uncle Goten coming?”
“Yep.”
“How about Trunks?”
“Well,” She said. “We can invite him.”
“Bra too?”
“You want to invite both of them?” She looked at his puppy dog eyes. Everyone knew he had a five year-olds version of a crush on Bra. As for Trunks, he was like another uncle or an older brother to Goku. She caved once again. “Okay, both of them can come.”
Goku gave his mother one more hug and then jumped out of her arms to give Gohan a hug too. He ran out of the room as happy as could be. Videl let out a tiresome sigh as she stood up again.
“How many does that make now?” Gohan asked.
“Twelve.” She counted.
“Twelve?” He wondered where the high number came from, counting names on his fingers.
“You can’t just invite the Briefs’ kids without inviting the Briefs.”
“Great, Vegeta will be here. He’ll probably just criticize everyone for not training enough.” He said. “Why not invite Krillin and Eighteen as well?”
“Be grateful they’re on vacation, or we might have had to.” She laughed. She returned to her husband’s arms and sighed. She was still worried, and a little stressed, but she felt better, thanks to her son.
Pan had really tried to do what Piccolo had told her. It was the right thing to do. Just sit in the ship and don’t talk to anyone or go anywhere. She knew that she would end up changing something in the timeline if she went out and snooped as much as she had wanted. She made herself settle down and be content with the surroundings she had, but she was getting major cabin fever. The contentment lasted for about two minutes before she gave up and started pacing around outside.
Maybe a little trip to the street mall wouldn’t hurt. She knew it still had to be there, she couldn’t remember when it wasn’t. She had to shop for Goku Jr.’s birthday present anyway, so that would give her the chance to get out and move around. Besides, what were the chances that she would run into somebody she knew? Surely no one would recognize her as a twenty-five year-old instead of an eight year-old. She ran inside and started to get ready. There was no way she was going to stay cooped-up all day.
After some consideration and planning, she decided to wear something more effeminate than her usual wardrobe. Besides, it’s not as if she had much to choose from. When she wore Bulma’s old clothes she hardly recognized herself in the mirror, and with a little make-up and her hair up, she looked like a different person.
She put on the same black skirt she had on the first day she was awake after the ship took off into space. The one that went down to just above her knees. Pan wasn’t used to skirts. She would have to remind herself to sit with her legs crossed or her knees together. Then, she had to select a blouse. She wanted to wear one that didn’t reveal a lot, which narrowed down the selection greatly. The only one that was still clean, was black and it had spaghetti straps. She hated spaghetti straps. They made her feel as if she was walking around in her bra. There was, however, a thin, white over-shirt she could wear. It was somewhat transparent, but it made her feel better.
After the clothes came the most difficult part: picking a pair of shoes. Her old and dirtied tennis shoes really didn’t coordinate well, and the boots Bulma left in the ship were even worse. She chose a pair of black, satin, one and a half inch heeled dress shoes. They were even thick, which would help her maintain her balance.
She put some make-up on, not very much though. She still wanted to look a little natural. Then, she put her hair up in a twist. Pan was surprised that she remembered how to do that. The last time she really had to dress up was for her college graduation, and her mom had helped her then. She was annoyed with her outfit. The entire ensemble was inconvenient and uncomfortable. The skirt was hard to sit in, the shoes were hard to walk in and the make-up made her face feel stiff and dirty.
Pan was on her way out the door when she passed by a mirror. She hardly recognized herself and scoffed at the soft, effeminate image, but then she noticed something… The blouse and the skirt clung to her, showing off her curves and her well-toned physique nicely. The shoes improved the look of the muscle tone in her legs, and the shorter skirt allowed it to be seen. Maybe dressing up once and a while wouldn’t be so bad...
Once outside, Pan took a small case out of her bag and picked out a capsule. She pushed the button on top and threw it to the ground. It instantly became a shiny, new black convertible. She had wanted to choose a hover bike, but it would have been inappropriate with a skirt on. It was bad enough not being able to fly, so she didn’t want to pin herself into a stuffy car. A hover convertible would have to do.
Bulma had left a few thousand zeni cash in the ship. Pan was grateful, but she didn’t know how long it was going to last with her saiyan appetite and lack of reasonable things to wear. She’d better not shop too much. There had to be something else to do on the planet that didn’t involve spending money.
Driving in a convertible was probably one of the next best things to flying, but it was taking too long. It would have taken Pan five minutes to fly to the mall, but it was taking forty-five just to drive there. She had to stop at a lot of stop lights on the way, but as she got closer to the town, she noticed she was starting to attract attention. She stopped at one light and cringed as a truck full of teenage boys started whistling and making cat-calls at her. Once the light turned green the boys seemed to settle down. However, the harassment wasn’t over. The car in back of them was filled with teenage girls, who were obviously with the boys ahead of them. The girls yelled and cussed her out. Pan just glared at them. She was so tempted to just blast both of the cars to pieces, but she held back.
As soon as Pan finally lost the teenagers, she stopped at another red light. There was a man in the passenger seat who was giving her strange looks and mouthing words at her. He made a sound like a cat purring, and she finally figured out what he wanted. Pan was appalled. The woman in the driver’s seat was obviously his wife or girlfriend, but that didn’t stop him from hitting on her. The woman who was driving quickly noticed the man who was noticing Pan. She hit him over the head, hard, then began screaming at him. Then she turned to Pan, who was sinking down into her seat, and yelled something unintelligible at her. Pan didn’t hear what the woman had yelled, but she wasn’t sure that she had wanted to. She just sank farther down into her seat and gunned it when the light turned green again.
‘I can’t understand how Bra likes dressing up like this. I wonder if those kinds of things happen to her very often.’ She thought. She pulled up to the mall and looked around. ‘No parking spots? Oh well, I’m just glad I’m driving a Capsule car.’ She was reluctant to get out of the car. After what had happened to her on the way there, she was wishing she had a pair of sweats. She got out of the car and pushed the button on the dash. Instantly, the car turned back into a capsule.
She looked around the mall. She figured she had better stick to the toy stores for Goku Jr., but she wanted to get something for her mom and dad too. There were plenty of stores to choose from. The street mall was a lot livelier than it was twenty years in the future. She noticed there were more stores, probably because the street mall was so new and exciting to everyone.
She managed to shop through most of the stores. She found an old music album that her mom had been looking for, and a tie that she knew her dad would love because it had been out of style for a long time. For her little brother’s birthday, she got him a video game. It fastened around the ear and it had a plastic visor that went in front of the player’s eyes. It looked very much like one of Freezer’s scouters. The characters in the game were controlled by sensors that hook around the player’s fingers. A movement by one finger would cause the characters to make a certain motion. It was a really old game, but it was new to Goku, so Pan knew he would love it.
After two hours of shopping, Pan was utterly exhausted. She was also very hungry, so she set out to find a good place to eat and rest her feet that wasn’t going to cost her a ton of money.
The ice cream parlor was virtually quiet, with exception of the loud racket in the corner. There weren’t a lot of people there. For a warm summer day, it should have been crowded. The people who were there were just letting their ice cream melt as they sat and stared at the cause of all the racket in the corner.
There were four people in the far booth who were the source of the problem. Two of them were consuming mass amounts of ice cream. The other two were eating like normal people, but they acted as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. There were three guys. One of them had black, spiky hair, the other had a lavender bowl cut, and the other had red, curly hair. There was also a girl with blonde hair sitting between them.
The storekeeper was looking at them strangely. They were the reason his business was going down. Everyday, the same four people would come in and order the same things. The girl and he red-headed boy would order sundaes, like normal people. However, the two other guys would order two or three Monster Sloshy’s a piece. A Monster Sloshy was basically a sundae, except it was made with four quarts of ice cream and a half a gallon of chocolate syrup. The sheer volume of their consumption, plus the level of their voices, would drive all of the other customers out.
The store owner couldn’t just throw them out. They always paid well more than they owed for the food. Unfortunately, it just didn’t make up for the business that he lost. He eventually just decided to give them dirty looks every time they came in, hoping they would get the point and leave. However, the blonde girl seemed to be the only one who noticed.
“…then he yelled at us and called us brats, so we mooned him.” The lavender-haired guy said. The three men laughed loudly as the girl politely smiled at the store-owner. She was just hoping that he wouldn’t call the police.
“Guys, we should keep our voices down. I think the store owner’s getting mad.” She said.
“Lighten up Marron.” Trunks said. “It’s not like we haven’t paid.”
After that, the crowd still quieted down. They didn’t want to be thrown out of their favorite hang-out. “Is that all you did when you were younger, beat people up and then moon them?” The you red-headed man asked.
“Only if they deserved it.” Goten said. “Besides, we were just following our calling.”
Trunks rolled his eyes at the “calling” remark. He didn’t consider a genetic handicap a calling. They had to fight, it was in their blood. If they didn’t fight, they would probably feel bored or depressed. “Speaking of calling, what are you going to do when you get to West City, Dex?”
“I thought I would stay with my sister until I can get the new Capsule lab up and working. She just got married, but she said I could stay with her and her husband until I got things settled.”
“When are you leaving again?” Marron asked.
“In two days.” The young man replied.
“Wow, has it really been that long since you found out you were getting transferred in the first place?” Trunks asked.
“Well, your mom really didn’t leave me with that much time, but I guess when Bulma Briefs makes a decision she acts quick.”
“Yep.” Trunks shook his head knowingly. “That’s my mom.”
“Well, we’re going to go out and have a goodbye bash before you leave, right?” Goten said.
“Yeah, whatever.” Dex said, seemingly half enthused.
Suddenly the four became real quiet. Goten had his eyebrows furrowed and he had stopped eating. Trunks could tell he was lost in thought.
“Don’t think too hard Goten. You might hurt yourself.” Trunks joked.
Goten didn’t even seem to hear the insult. “Your sister is the fourth person I know who has gotten married this month.”
“We’re young, it’s just that time of life.” Marron stated.
“Yeah, but it makes me feel rushed. My mom’s trying to set me up with girls now. I told her that I have no interest in getting married unless I could find the right girl myself.” Goten looked at Marron, hoping for some kind of a response, but she just sat there and ate her sundae.
“I have no interest in getting married at all.” Trunks said. “Taking care of a woman and children would just get in the way.”
“Get in the way of what?” Marron asked.
“Freedom, independence, life, fun.” He replied.
“Yeah, right.” Marron laughed. “I bet that if the right girl walked through that door right now, she’d have you wrapped around her little finger.”
“Nope.” He defended. “Not me, bachelor for life.”
“Famous last words.” Marron mumbled.
Pan managed to juggle her packages as she combed the mall for a good place to eat. She was just about to give up when she noticed a sign for her old favorite hang-out.
“Sloshy’s!” She said to herself. “I haven’t been there since I was fourteen.” Her and her friends had gone there all the time before the galaxy tour, but when she got back, the place was closed down. She worked her way through the crowds and into the ice cream parlor. Every aspect of the place drove her into reliving a thousand memories. She set her packages down and hurried over to the counter.
“What can I get you Miss?” The store owner was delighted just to have a customer.
“A Monster Sloshy.” She could usually down two or three easily, but she was trying to save money.
“Another one?” The owner said disappointedly. “What is it with you kids and your appetites these days?”
Pan took no offense to what he had said. She just smiled and paid him. She was glad that she had set the packages down before. She had forgotten that it took two hands to carry one of those things.
“Hey, look.” Marron said pointing. “Someone else ordered a Monster Sloshy.”
Goten turned to look. “Something tells me she’s not going to be able to finish that.” He said when he saw the petite girl slowly consuming the huge sundae. “I don’t think she knew what she was getting into.”
Trunks turned to see what the big deal was about. A small smile formed on his lips when he saw her. She was sitting in a chair with her legs crossed. One of her shoes was off her foot and dangling from her toe.
As his eyes slowly traveled upward, he noticed that she was very tone for someone who ate so much ice cream. His eyes continued up to her face. She was savoring every bite of that sundae as well as she could. The thing was probably going to melt before she got half way through with it. Her eyes closed with every bite as the chocolate sundae didn’t even seem to shrink.
She had dark hair that was piled up on top of her head, and her blue eyes were sparkling brightly. She looked incredible to him. He had to meet her. He got up from the table and wiped his mouth while checking his breath. He took one more look at the reflection in his spoon, just to make sure.
“Where are you going?” Goten asked.
“I’m just going to find out who she is.” He replied.
“See?” Marron asked. “That just proves my point. How do you honestly expect to stay single if you go this girl-crazy over a complete stranger?”
Trunks just ignored Marron’s previous comment and made his way over to the woman’s table. He continued on his mission, even though he could clearly see that she was enjoying her ice cream and probably did not want to be disturbed. She didn’t even seem to notice him as he approached her table, so he sat down.
Pan heard the seat across from her squeak as someone sat down in it.
“Hi.” A man’s voice coyly greeted from across the table.
‘Great. Another guy trying to pick me up just because I’m wearing a skirt. I just wanted to enjoy my ice cream.’ Pan thought. She tried to think of the quickest way possible to dump this particular jerk so she could finish eating her sundae in peace. “Look, I’m sorry, but I…” She stopped dead in her tracks when she looked up to see what particular jerk was sitting across from her.
She started to panic. ‘Oh no! Does he recognize me?’ She thought, but then she noticed something. Those sharp, heart-piercing blue eyes had never looked at her that way before. She knew that look. She had seen him give it to other girls, but she never thought she would get that look from him herself. That look and that stupid smirk were always used when he wanted to pick up a girl. Then something dawned on her...
‘He’s not trying to pick up a girl, he’s trying to pick up me!’ She thought. ‘I’m being hit on by Trunks Briefs!’ After realizing the severity of the situation, Pan just wanted to leave. It was starting to get awkward, even though she was enjoying this unusual form of attention Trunks was giving her, but if this was a joke, she was going to make sure he would pay.
“So, are you new in town?” Trunks asked, obviously unsure of how to break the ice.
‘Whoa, nice line!’ Pan laughed to herself. She wasn’t sure of what to say. She had never talked to him in this way before. It was a little weird. Usually, they just talked about fighting, his work, or life in general. She had no idea how to flirt at all, let alone with one of her best friends.
“In a way.” She finally said out loud. “I’ve been her before though. I have relatives that live here.”
There was a pause that seemed to last forever. Trunks seemed very uncomfortable and nervous, even though he was trying to put a front of suave and confidence. Pan decided that this was definitely not a joke. ‘What happened to Mr. Lady’s Man?’ She wondered. ‘I thought Trunks was supposed to be the Don Juan of southern Japan.’ Pan was ready to get up and leave, which was pretty bad considering she always wondered what would happen if he talked to her this way.
“Well,” Trunks finally spoke up. “My friends and I were just about to go downtown. We could show you around, if you’d like. It’s just a little walk away.”
“We were not.” Goten said quietly from their table across the room.
“We weren’t what?” Marron asked, unable to hear the conversation herself.
“Trunks just said that we were about to go downtown.”
“I thought you were going to help me pack.” Dex complained.
“We are. Now shut up and let me listen.” Goten snapped.
That drew the line for Pan. It was getting too weird. Did he just ask her out? Or was going out with a group even considered a date? She wasn’t experienced with this kind of relationship. She put her spoon down, regretful that she only got to eat a small portion of her sundae. “Actually, I’ve got to get these packages back. It’s my little guy’s
fifth birthday, but thanks for the offer.”
“Oh, your son?” Trunks asked, disappointedly.
Pan heard Goten slap his own forehead with his hand, then whisper what Trunks had just said to Marron. Pan knew Goten could hear every word that was being said, even across the room. He was, after all, half Saiyan. Pan had stifle a chuckle herself when she heard Marron and the red-headed boy she didn’t recognize burst out laughing.
“He’s my younger brother.” Pan said.
Trunks’ mouth went slack and a thin line of crimson appeared on the bridge of his nose. “I… didn’t mean to… imply… I…um…oh...” Was all he could manage to get out of his mouth as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Do you need help with your bags?”
Pan stood up and threw her trash away. She felt bad for him. She was even as embarrassed as he was, she was just able to hide her blush. “No thanks. I’ve got them.” She just wanted this whole thing to be over with. She would have to come back though, so she could spray him with that memory stuff. It would be better if he forgot her visit all together. “It was nice meeting you.” She turned to walk out the door.
In desperation, Trunks rushed in front of her, stumbling over a chair in the process, and extended his right hand. “By the way, I’m Trunks Briefs.”
Pan set her bags back down on the table. She frantically searched for an alias. She couldn’t just tell him her real name, even if he wasn’t going to remember her. She picked the first one she saw off the sign in front of a bar across the mall, and crossed her fingers, hoping he would buy it. “Kara.” She shook his hand. “Kara Oakie.”
Trunks, again out of desperation, turned her hand over and kissed it. He didn’t want her walking out the door thinking he was a total loser. “Good night…Kara Oakie.” He said, finally showing the smoothness and suave she had been expecting from the beginning.
She gave him a bright smile. She hadn’t been expecting that from Trunks. “Goodnight…Boxer Boy.”
Trunks was blushing brightly, but smiling as Pan walked out the door. As soon as she got out of sight, she ducked behind some plants so she could listen. Her hearing was pretty good too, she just hoped no one would hear her laughing.
Trunks walked back to the table. He was smiling, and acting pretty sure of himself. He just knew that he had left a mark on that young girl’s heart. Everyone at the table was silent as Trunks approached and sat down. That is, until Goten, in a mimicking fashion, asked “So, are you new in town?”
Everyone at the table burst out laughing. “Oh, is that your son?” Marron asked mockingly.
Trunks glared at them. “I think the last part made up for that. She really seemed to like me.”
“Hey, you’re right.” Goten joked. “Making fun of someone’s name is a definite sign of interest.”
Everyone laughed again. The shop owner’s annoyance was quickly returning.
“Hey, I got her name didn’t I?” He pointed out.
“Yeah.” Marron said. “I think you should start picking out your kid’s names now. You know, so there’s no rush?”
Trunks just put his head in his hands. They were right, he had acted like a complete idiot. There was no way he was ever going to see her again, unless he looked for her himself.
Pan was still laughing as she got back in her capsule car. She would have paid any amount of money to have had a tape recorder for that. She drove slowly. She was enjoying the night air and the smell of the woods. She had been cramped up in that ship for way too long.
When she got back to the ship, she threw down the packages and collapsed on the bed. She was grateful to be back. She smiled in remembrance of what had happened earlier, but it kind of made her sad. It proved her theory was right. It meant that if she and Trunks were around the same age, they might have had something. It meant that Trunks really did just see her as a little girl.
She closed her eyes, ready for sleep. She still had on the uncomfortable clothes that she had worn earlier, but her body was making a convincing argument just to lay there. Slumber was quickly overtaking her.
A shadow crossed over her. It was blocking the room light. At first, she thought that she was just really tired, but she opened her eyes, just to make sure. The figure that stood above her almost made her jump out of her skin. She screamed, loudly. Piccolo covered his ears due to the sheer volume and pitch of the girl’s voice.
“Don’t do that to me!” She yelled. “Don’t you think it’s a little strange to just walk into a woman’s bedroom unannounced?”
Piccolo just gave her a strange look. Of course he wouldn’t have thought anything of it, Pan wasn’t even sure he knew what a girl was.
“Get up.” He said in his usual impersonal voice.
“Why?” Pan asked, getting really annoyed with her teacher.
“I want to see how well my future self really trained you.”
“All right.” She surrendered. Knowing Piccolo, arguing with him would only waste her energy. “Just let me change.”
“Why?” He was losing his patience with her as well.
She pointed to her skirt, frustrated at his naïveté. “These aren’t exactly sparring clothes.”
Piccolo gave a grunt as he walked out the door. “All right, but hurry. I haven’t got all night.”