“Vejiita? Are you awake?” Bulma asked softly. Her back was to him in bed, but she could practically feel him awake and thinking so hard that it was probably making his poor little head ache. She placed a hand under her pillow and brought it up closer to her face to feel the familiar and comforting satin against her skin. She was nervous.

“What is it, woman?” His harsh voice answered, completely alert and awake. He didn’t move beside her, or gave any other indication that he had spoken to her, but she took comfort in the fact that Vejiita was Vejiita, and that was comforting enough.

She took a deep breath. “I have a very bad feeling about this trip. I just know something is going to go wrong….either on the way there, or while we’re there….It isn’t going to end up the way we planned. I know it.”

Vejiita stirred slightly next to her, and she turned around so that she was facing his back, and put a hand on his strong shoulder. “You’ll watch over me, right?”

He seemed to freeze then, and she couldn’t even hear him take a breath for a least a minute. She took her hand away from his shoulder, and turned over on her other side again, defeated. Just when she thought that she might actually be able to extract some emotion from him, he showed nothing. If this was how it was going to be for the rest of their lives, she wasn’t sure how she was going to handle it. A girl could only take so much. She bit back tears when she thought of how lightly Vejiita took everything that was related to her, and how little he seemed to care sometimes.

If he loves me, then why won’t he show it? She thought sadly. Am I not worth the effort?

Her thoughts were inturrupted by Vejiita clearing his throat. She paused in silence and waited for him to speak, turning her head slightly to where he lay.

“There is no need for me to watch over you, woman, there are no Saiya-jins.” He informed her haughtily. She bit her lip and closed her blue eyes tightly, trying to will away the tears, but Vejiita continued speaking, turning his head so that he was facing her back.

“But if there were, and if they harmed you, they would face a wrath far greater than any they had ever known.” He finished, and continued staring at her back.

When she slowly turned around to meet his eyes, he wordlessly turned around in bed again, to avoid her quizzical gaze. “Do you really mean that?” She asked incredilously.

There was a long pause, and then in a gruff voice, Vejiita said, “Go to sleep, woman.”

Bulma smiled.

She clutched Pan’s hand tighter as they approached the front door of Capsule Corp., and slowed in her walking. Pan merrily kept walking along the sidewalk, dragging her mother behind her, with the notion and anticipation of seeing Bra, and spending a little while on her own. Videl grabbed it tighter when Trunks appeared from behind the side of the building, and motioned for them to follow her, and her breathing began to quicken.

She didn’t know when it had started, this awful panicking feeling that overcame her whenever she thought of leaving Pan, but know that it had, in fact, started, she realized that there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Gohan had tried to reassure her several times last night, and this morning before they left, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling that she was going to lose her. And more than anything, Videl did not want that. She felt a little bad to be smothering the child like she was, but how could she not?

This may be the last time I ever see her. Videl thought, and gulped down tears, while looking at her sweet, innocent little face as she toddled alongside her, following Trunks.

Trunks showed them to the loading area, right beside the building in the grass, where there were several Capsule Corp. emplyees moving crates and other objects into the cargo hold of the ship easily, in a sychronized order. The ship itself was rather large, much bigger than ones she had seen on TV, and it was a pretty white and blue, with the Capsule Corp. logo proudly proclaimed on its side. And Bulma of course, was running around like a mad woman, holding a clipboard out in front of her and talking rather angrily into a cell phone, scattering employees all over the place when she stormed through the maze of crates and boxes. Standing next to one of the boxes, looking adorable in a white and pink outfit, complete with a matching bow and bright red dress shoes on her feet, was Bra, who waved idly at Pan, but did not move. Bulma looked up then, and saw her and Gohan approaching and began walking towards them, intent on explaining what was going on, but still yelling angrily into the cell phone. She stopped momentarily to pat Bra’s head, and then continued on with her torment, screaming into the phone loudly before punching a button on it and ending the phone call.

She gave them a frustrated look. “It seems as if we won’t have the cappiciono machine ready in time, and we’ll have to go without it. I was so busy with making sure we had an ample food supply that I completely forgot about the cappicino.”

They stared at her blankly, and she continued on. “Okay, anyway. We’re on a tight schedule, we leave in exactly two hours, with out without everyone, got it? You can load your suitcases over there, just set them on the ground and my employees will handle it. Once you’ve done that, you can either sign in at the clipboard here.” She held it out for them to see. “And go on ahead into the space ship, or you can wait out here until everyone is with us and ready to board. Judging by the lack of common sense in anyone from around here, no one else is going to be on time, which means we may be rushed.”

She took a deep breath, and finally noticed Pan, who was staring up at her with wide, dark eyes. “Oh yeah, and it would be best if you took Pan inside now, and got her situated in the house.”

Now?! Why now?! I thought we’d at least have a couple hours! I can’t leave her now!

Videl’s clutch on Pan’s hand evolved into a death grip.

“Ow! Okaasan! Ow!” Pan cried out in pain, tugging her hand away and staring at her mother as if she had gone insane. Videl was instantly on her knees hugging Pan and reciting over and over how terribly sorry she was for hurting her, while kissing her on top of the head between ‘Gomen nasi! Gomen nasi!’.

She thought about every time her father had left her to enter a fighting championship, or travel half way around the world for a news conference. All the time she spent alone, with no one but a grumpy old nanny, who smelled like antiseptic and didn’t have real hair, and all the times that she had cried and wailed and wanted him home. And he never came home, not when she wanted him to. But when he finally did, it was just like Christmas morning, and he would bring her gifts and give her hugs, and for a moment, she would forget that he was even gone. And the next day, when she would run to his bedroom to wake him up for the day, he would be gone, and in his place would be a never slept in bed, and maybe an apology note. If she was lucky.

But never once had he hurt her, despite all of his strength. And never once had he said harsh words to her, despite his superiority. He was just an invisible parent, and that, for some kids, is the best possible selection of parent. For her though, it was not. Her heart would ache every time she saw other children with their father’s, looking proud and happy to be with them. When she went to her friends’ houses, she would meet their parents, and though her friends often fought with them, and would tell her how much they wanted to be on their own, she knew it wasn’t true. No one wanted that. Not her, not Gohan, not Goten, and not Pan. If she died tomorrow, she wanted Pan to know how much she cared, even if she did have to smother her.

Gohan put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. “Videl. Pan is okay, ne? We should do as Bulma-san said now and take her inside to stay. She’ll be much more comfortable if we settle her in.”

“Right.” Bulma agreed. “My parents are inside the kitchen, and they already have Pan’s room set up and everything.” She shot Videl a comforting glance. “And don’t worry. They have a lot of experience with children, afterall, they did raise me.”

And look what a brilliant job they did. She thought sarcastically, holding onto Pan tighter. Bulma is about as sweet an innocent as a….well, Vejiita. Now that I think about it, they are a more perfect match than I ever thought they’d be. Bulma probably isn’t even worried about leaving Bra. She probably doesn’t even care about her.

She looked into Pan’s eyes then, marveling at how dark they were, and how beautiful they were, and thought. And Pan? Does she know that I care about her?

Despite how much she just wanted to stay there hugging Pan forever, Videl reluctantly stood up, and grabbed onto Pan’s little hand once more. And she would have cried then, if Gohan hadn’t put his arm gently around her and given her a reassuring squeeze.

“She’ll be here when we return. Have faith in yourself Videl. You’ll make it.” He assured, and smiled at her.

Her troubles didn’t erase completely then, with that one simple smile, but they were eased. She may not trust herself, or trust Bulma, or even Pan, but she trusted Gohan. Through all the rough times, through all the good times, he had been there. Just the sweet, if slightly nerdy Gohan, who held her hand when she was scared, and wiped away her tears when she cried. He was everything, and anything that she could ever have asked for, and in that moment, just like several other times before, she thanked Kami for bringing them together.

“Kaasan?” Pan inquired, looking up at her. Videl’s heart skipped again, and she felt tears beginning to pool in her large blue eyes. More than likely, the little girl would have something poigant and beautiful to say, or give a tearful, heartfelt ‘goodbye’ or ‘don’t leave me!’, just like most children do when they are being separated from their parents the first time. Videl bent down until she was able to look into Pan’s eyes and raised her eyebrows, signaling to her that she was listening.

“I have to pee….” Pan whispered, and wiggled up and down earnestly.

Videl squeezed her so tight that she was surprised she didn’t snap in half and smiled broadly, even letting out a small chuckle. Leave it to Pan to break the tension.

Chapter 10
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