Untitled
by Pan no Ojousan
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The soft, summer breeze drifted lazily over the two children. They lay in the grass, staring up into the clouds, triyng to see shapes within them. So far, Pan had pointed out Trunks, Goku, and Vegeta, and Bra had a butterfly and Bulma. “There! See that?” Pan said excitedly, pointing into the sky. “It's my Tousan!” “I don't see it,” Bra said uncertainly, but she plopped another rock into Pan's pile. Every rock in the pile meant one object identified. She turned her attention back to the clouds. “I see my Tousan..” “You can't! I already saw him!” Pan cried. “It doesn't count if I already saw him. Try again.” Bra turned her head toward her friend. “Pan, I think you're cheating.” “What are you talking about? It's in the rules. It's not my fault if I left the rules at home..” The older half-Saiyan girl gave herself a rock, dispite Pan's argument. Then she reoriented her gaze back to the sky. She mentally connected the clouds to form her own face, smiling up at it. Pan kept happily watching various forms of Trunks' face float past. “Pan?” “Yeah?” Bra took a deep breath, reassuring herself that whatever concequences came with this next line would be worth it. “I'm bored.” Pan turned to her friend, who was horrified to see the biggest grin that had ever crossed Pan's face. “You mean it? You're really bored?” *gulp* “Yeah. But I have a feeling I'm about to be dead.” “Of course not, Bra-chan. We're just going to get un-bored, that's all. How many rocks do you have?” Bra quickly counted her pile. “Three.” “And I have four,” Pan smirked. “That means I pick what we do.” “This will be bad,” Bra muttered, but Pan didn't even hear her. She was already devising an evil, diabolical plot to take over Capsule Corp. Pan examined the building, trying to recall what was inside all those windows. “I think that's your Okaasan's working room,” she said thoughtfully. “Is she in there or is she with your Otousan?” “She's probably working on something in the lab, but..” Perfect, Pan thought. Now, where could Vegeta-san be? He's probably in the gravity room, Bra reasoned to herself, contemplating the same question. Or maybe he's watching something stupid on TV. Pan turned to her friend. “Where is your oniichan? And Goten-ojisan?” “I don't know. Maybe over Goku-san's house.” “But they're not here? For sure?” “For sure.” “Great!” Pan exclaimed. She rubbed her hands together in anticipation. “Here's the plan....” Bulma sat at her desk, scribbling down progress reports and expense slips. “Where is that son of mine?” she wondered aloud, slightly ticked. “He practically owns this place. I shouldn't have to do all this paperwork.” She stood up slowly, walking across the room to her filing cabinet. She yanked out the employees' timesheet folder and shifted through them. “Aha! Trunks Briefs.” She grinned in triumph. “Busted, kid! You have this whole week filled out, and it's only Tuesday! VEEEEGEEEETAAAAA!!!!!!” She fled from the room, folder in hand, to rat out her son. “Coast is clear,” Bra whispered from the window above. She and Pan instantly climbed through and dropped to the ground, ducking behind a desk. “She's telling on Trunks. She'll be gone for like five minutes.” “We'll be quick, then,” Pan said evilly. She grabbed Bra's arm and tiptoed across the hallway and into the next office. “Now, we wait here until your Kaasan is back in her office. Then we make a break for your kitchen.” “For what? That wasn't in the plan,” Bra pointed out. “I'm hungry.” “You're always hungry, though.” “SHH! Here she comes!” Bulma reentered her office, mumbling to herself. “Just because I gave birth to him doesn't make him entirely mine! Every other father in the world would be happy to punish their eldest child, but Vegeta? Noo, he has to pick the one and only time he deserves it to say, 'He's just a kid, he'll grow up..'” The girls exchanged a look, then continued down the hallway to the kitchen. Vegeta was in the next room, laughing at a stupid TV show about criminals. They had to be extra careful not to get caught around Vegeta. “Get the soda,” Pan mouthed as she opened the fridge. She quietly pulled out some Lunchable snack things and joined Bra at the table. They were very quiet and tried their best not to talk while they ate. Suddenly, the girls heard the muffled sound of someone saying hello. Then, quite clearly, they heard Vegeta's responce. “Where have you been?” he demanded rather loudly. Bra glanced at a confused Pan. “Trunks is home,” she mouthed. Pan's eyes grew wide. “Sugoi! He's gonna come in here!” The girls frantically gathered their food and ducked down under the table. “Try to surpress your ki,” Pan advised, not doing too well of that herself. They both held their breath as footsteps approached. “Thank you, Vegeta!” they could hear Bulma say. “I knew you’d come through!” “Woman! Don't touch me!” “Oh, great! Where’d he go? THANKS A LOT, VEGETA! YOU DISTRACTED ME!” The kitchen door opened then quickly shut. Bra and Pan froze in terror. They had a pretty good feeling that it was Trunks who was in the kitchen, and they also knew that he liked to ruin their fun. “Bra,” Pan whispered, as quietly as she could manage. “I think he's gonna find us.” “Me, too,” Bra whispered back. He slowly stepped away from the door, trying to determine whether or not his parents were still after him. Luckily for the girls, Trunks wasn't too concerned with their location right then. “I should get out of here,” he muttered to himself. “What are we gonna do?” Bra hissed. “I don't know!” Pan wailed. A little too loudly, she feared. Her hands immediately clasped over her mouth. She and Bra exchanged a frightened glance. There was complete silence for a few moments. Pan hoped that Trunks didn't hear her. Unfortunately, he did. “Pan? Where are you?” Bra gave her friend a “great job, you baka” look, then nudged her with her elbow as a signal to stay quiet. “Pan? I know you're in here, I heard you. Bra's probably here, too, huh? Get over here, right now, or I'll tell Vegeta.” “Don't!” Bra cried, scrambling out from under the table. “Bra!” Pan yelled, giving her a disapproving stare. She turned a light shade of red. “Sorry! I just don't want Otousan to yell at me like he's gonna yell at Trunks when he finds him.” The smug, triumphant look on Trunks' face quickly faded. “So I guess we're all stuck here, huh? If I get caught before I make up a good excuse, I'm dead. And if you get caught..well, I really don't know what you're doing so I guess you'll be in a little trouble, at least.” “Right. So I'll make a deal with you,” Pan said slyly. She guessed she was a little desperate, but that couldn't be helped. “Me and Bra will get rid of your Otousan and Okaasan for you, and then you won't tell on us. Okay?” Bra glared at her friend. “But Pan, we didn't do anything yet. If we go tell on Trunks, then we can't get in trouble, too, because we didn't do anything wrong.” Pan frowned thoughtfully. “You're right. But I still wanna carry out the plan and maybe get something from..” She trailed off, glancing nervously at Trunks. She turned back to Bra and whispered, “I can't say or else he'll tell.” “Well, it's only fair,” Trunks said, grinning. “I mean, you know what I did wrong so I should know what you're about to do.” Bra firmly shook her head. “We can't trust you. Are you crazy?” “You're a really bad liar,” Pan said, nodding in agreement. “Now, to distract Bulma and Vegeta-san..Bra-chan, see that window up there? The really small one?” “..No..” Pan sighed. “I guess it's not a window then, it's one of those vent things that's in every room. Trunks, what does the vent do?” “That's the heater-slash-air conditioner,” he said slowly. “You're not planning on..” “Yes I am,” she said happily. “Make sure the things don't come on and we don't burn up, okay? Bra-chan, come over here.” “You're crazy,” Bra corrected herself. “Maybe I should stay here with Trunks.” “NO! You have to come,” Pan said, now seated atop the fridge. She was trying to pry the vent off without damaging it and not doing a good job. “How do you get these things off?” “With tools and stuff. We don't have any of those here.” Bra folded her arms over her chest, refusing to take part in a very Vegeta-like way. “Trunks, if you plan on helping out in this, I'll be forced to convey your stupidity to Kaasan and Tousan.” “I don't!” he cried, trying to look innocent. “Would a knife and fork work?” Pan asked, now on the ground and holding up a few utensils. Trunks shrugged. “I guess so. Now hurry up and get the vent off before they get in here!” “Where are you gonna go while we're trying to get them out of here?” Pan asked as she scrambled to get back to her position near the vent. “Uh..I don't really know. I guess I'll sit in here and pray they don't show up.” “You could come if you were shorter.” “Well, I'm not. Sorry.” “Trunks!” Bra scolded. “I can't believe you're actually supporting this! Shame on you!” “Shut up, Bra-chan,” Pan said sweetly, finally loosening the vent. She pulled it off with relative ease. “Trunks, hold this. Don't put it back until you know we're safe.” Bra blinked. “You mean he can trap us up there if he wants?” “Yeah. But then we'll just blast the next vent off so it doesn't really matter.” “Oh, okay. Well, if we get lost, who's gonna come find us?” Pan stared. “Uh.. I guess we'll have to blow up the air conditioner.” “NOOO! You can't!” Trunks cried. “I'll do anything! Just leave the air conditioner!” Pan shook her head, then crawled through the small opening. Being small does pay off sometimes, she thought happily. Trunks would owe her for this. The inside of the vent was very dark. Pan didn't like to admit it, but she did fear the dark, just a little. She crept slowly through the vents, trying to keep calm and unafraid. “Pan?” “AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” she screamed, reflexively jumping to her feet. Unfortunately, the vent didn't have enough room and she smacked her head. Both the scream and the impact echoed throughout the tunnel. “Shhhh,” Bra hissed, creeping up behind her friend. “We don't wanna get caught while we're up here!” “Sorry,” she whispered back. “I didn't think you would come!” “Trunks made me,” she sulked. “Besides, I know this place better than you do. Come this way.” Bra led the way and the two strayed off into a side vent. They crawled very slowly, because every movement made the whole system creak and groan. After what seemed like an eternity, they stopped in front of one particular vent. Pan glanced at Bra, awaiting an explanation. “This is one of the offices,” Bra said quietly. “We can go down into it because it's probably empty. After that, we'll have to find my Tousan and hope that he hasn't found Trunks yet.” “Maybe they forgot about him,” Pan reasoned, preparing to destroy the vent. “I mean, it's kind of obvious that he'd be in the kitchen.” “They're probably waiting for him to come out.” “This is Trunks we're talking about. He could stay in that kitchen forever, or as long as the food holds out.” Bra shrugged and watched Pan ki-blast the vent. It clattered to the ground, allowing the two part-Saiyans to escape from the vent maze. They dropped down onto a filing cabinet, then to the ground. Pan led the way and quickly left the vacant office. Pan started to walk a little faster down the hallway. “I don't hear anything. Maybe they got him already..” “He's gonna be in trouble!” Bra snickered. They approached the kitchen slowly, expecting someone waiting outside. Nothing. Bra checked the TV, and it was off. Vegeta was gone. “..Are they in there?” Pan asked, confused. “I guess,” Bra said, pushing open the kitchen door. It was completely empty. “Aw, man!” Pan whined. “Now he's gonna tell on us, too!” “At least we didn't do anything yet,” Bra pointed out. This seemed to calm Pan a little bit, but not much. “I'm not caught,” Trunks said suddenly. The girls spun around in surprise. “Aren't they out there anymore?” “No. We'll go doublecheck, and you follow us to escape to Goten-ojisan's,” Pan said quickly. This seemed acceptable, so the girls ran on ahead and checked every room they passed. Once they were sure everything was clear, Bra went back to get Trunks. The three of them crept out of the house, unnoticed. “Thanks, you guys,” Trunks said. “I'll go now, so tell Tousan and Kaasan that I'm over Goten's.” “FREEZE MISTER!” someone yelled through a loudspeaker. All three of them froze in terror. “It's..it's Bulma-san..” “Hai..and she caught us,” Bra cried. “You though you could get away, huh?” Bulma cackled from wherever she was. “You thought you could outsmart your old Kaasan? Well guess what, Trunks? We outsmarted you! Hah!” “'We?' You mean Tousan actually helped you?” “He liked the idea of setting a trap for you,” she explained in a more motherly tone. Then she reverted back to her mad-scientist/psycho-bitch voice. “And you've fallen right into it!!! NOW, Vegeta!!” “Now what?” he asked from right behind them. All three spun around and backed away and terror. “Great job, baka! You just ruined the whole thing!” Bulma sighed in exasperation. “No matter. Just grab Trunks and let's go.” Vegeta shrugged and started walking back to the house. Halfway there he realized Trunks wasn't following. He turned around and gave the child an icy stare. “Gomen-nasai, Otousan,” Trunks mumbled, slowly trudging after his father. “And don't think you two are off the hook!” Bulma said through her loudspeaker. She emerged from the side of the house, but still she used the loudspeaker. “I want you both in there right now so that we can talk about the rules of right and wrong and why you shouldn't help Trunks escape from trouble.” “Why, Bulma-san?” Pan asked, honestly confused. Bulma lowered the loudspeaker and smiled at the girls. “Because Trunks will always get caught,” she said sweetly. She motioned for them to come over to her. “Now, you wanna go watch Vegeta yell at Trunks?” “Yeah!” they said in unison. The girls scampered into the house. Bulma smiled and shook her head, then slowly followed. |