A Day at the Mall

Pan's Morning

Pan rolled over, fully intent on going back to sleep, when a flurry of activity from the hallway grabbed her attention.

"I'm going to be late!" her father moaned as he went down the hall. A door shut and soon the sound of the shower running could be heard through the wall. She waited a few minutes after the water ceased and smothered her laughter as she cracked open the door to the bathroom. Gohan was trying to shave and brush his teeth at the same time, but it wasn't quite working out.

"Tousan, you're going to hurt yourself." She grinned at him.

He use the mouthwash in the medicine cabinet and spit it out. "When you have to be out on your own, you will understand."

"I understand now, Tousan. Somebody just didn't wake up on time." She ducked the towel he threw at her and decided to get dressed. Besides wanting to spar later, she might succeed in convincing Bra to see the new action flick with her. Her friend  tended to lean more towards sappy romances.

Gohan kissed Pan goodbye as he passed the stairs. "Be good," he told her.

"Tousan, I'm fourteen not four." He just gave her a look that made her sigh. "Fine. I'll be good."

Just as she was sitting down at the kitchen table to join her mother for breakfast, the phone rang. She stuffed a piece of bacon into her mouth and answered it. "Moshi moshi."

"Guess what! Guess what!"

"If I say 'what' will you lower your voice?" She waited a moment to see if Bra was going to speak again. "What?"

Pan found out about a game show that the father of Bra's boyfriend was going to host at the mall that day. All she had to do to qualify was to have a best-friend. Her eyes widened when Bra grew very excited about buying new clothes for the television cameras. Her friend's sense of style was slutty at best. Even if Pan wanted to dress that way, her parents would kill her to keep her from leaving the house in an outfit like that.

"I know what you're thinking, Pan-chan. I promise I won't make you wear a skirt, a dress, or anything girly like that."

She released the breath that she was holding. "Okay, good. I'll see you there."

Pan consumed the rest of the food on her plate, kissed her mother goodbye, and went back to her room to retrieve some money. She hadn't saved a whole lot but it was enough to buy a new shirt and a pair of pants as long as they weren't too expensive.

"I'm going to meet Bra-chan at the mall, Kaasan! See you later!" She waited for a response then took to the air. When she was about three, a few days after she'd just learned how to fly, she wanted to go visit Bra. Instead of waiting for an adult to take her over to the Capsule Corp., she decided to fly there herself and the act caused many of the older neighbors on the block to faint from disbelief. That taught her that most people found bukujutsu to be highly unusual, and it would be best if she only did it when people weren't around to notice.

Pan really didn't like to spend too much time at the mall; she went in, purchased what she wanted, and left as soon as possible. Unfortunately, when she gave in to Bra's requests, she found herself there for hours at a time.

"This is going to be sooooo great!" Bra grabbed her arm the moment she cleared the entrance doors and dragged her over to the pay phones. "How can you have a game show without contestants, though? It doesn't make much sense to me."

Pan laughed. "You can't Bra. It wouldn't be a game show, then. It would just be a guy on stage looking stupid." She put in some change and dialed Goten's cell phone number.

"Moshi moshi."

"Hey Goten-ojichan, do you want to be on TV.?"

"Now why would I want to go and do that?" She could hear the humor in his voice. "What do I have to do for you?"

"Absolutely nothing. Benjiro's father has a show today and he needs contestants. Since you and Trunks are supposed to be best-friends, you two need to come down here to the mall."

"Did you ask Trunks?"

"Iie. You're the first we've called."

She heard the sound of an engine cut off and then the slam of a car door. "He'll say hai. Trust me."

"Be here before noon, okay? The show starts then." They said their goodbyes and then the two girls began their mission to find an outfit they both could agree on.

***

'Damn, damn, DAMN!' Pan cursed mentally as she looked for a good place to hide. Even though she was pretty sure her father couldn't sense her, she couldn't risk him *seeing* her, either. She felt Bra go off in the direction of the food court, barely even bothering to hide her ki, and knew that he would be drawn to her. Everyone knew that she had come to the mall with Bra, she was a good diversion.

"Kaasan must have told him. I can't believe she did that to me!" She ducked into the nearest store she could find and was startled almost immediately. "Why in the world did I have to pick 'Hot Topic'?"

"Hi Pan," said a boy that she only vaguely remembered from school. He raised an eyebrow at her and grinned. "You look lost."

"You could say that I am, Takeji," she responded. The two of them left the store, Pan's eyes flickering back and forth.

"Is someone hunting you or something?"

"You could say that." Her entire body stiffened up and her eyes widened. "Oh shit."

"Son Pan!" She heard his voice but was hoping that if she didn't turn around, he wouldn't really be there. So, the decision was made for her with Gohan spun her around himself. "What in Kami's name possessed you to do something so stupid?!"

She gulped in fear. "It's not what you think! Really, it's not!"

"You're pregnant, young lady! How can I misunderstand *that*?"

"Pan, you're *pregnant*?" Takeji asked and it would have been better if he'd remained silent. Gohan's eyes slid over to him and he powered up to the next level of Super Saiya-jin.

"You!" he hissed. His hands reached for the boy and Pan tried to stop them from wrapping around his neck. It was a admirable try but she just wasn't strong enough.

"Tousan, stop!" She frantically looked for someone to help her and spotted her grandfather. "Goku-ojiichan! You have to stop him from killing Takeji!"

Goku halted his hands, forced to transform to Super Saiya-jin level three to do so. "Run while you have the chance," he told the frozen boy. "If he goes Mystic then not even I can stop him from killing you."

"WILL YOU JUST STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!" Pan shouted at her father. "I'm not even pregnant, Tousan! That test wasn't for me!"

He turned toward her. "What are you talking about?"

"This morning when I met Bra-chan here, she asked me for a favor..."

Vegeta's eyes widened. "NANI?!"

"Yeah. It's Bra who thinks that she's pregnant, not me."

"I won't freak out, I won't freak out, I won't freak out..." He felt the changes begin and just gave up. "Screw not freaking out! I'm going to KILL that Benjiro!"

Goten smirked. "I thought you said that you weren't going to be emotional."

Vegeta glared at him. "So I lied, okay? Sue me!" He took off toward Bra's ki and Trunks walked up to them before they could follow.

"What in the world is going on here?" he asked in concern. The situation was explained to him and he grew worried.

"Let's go."

Bra had, unfortunately, moved away from the food court to the center court where they were setting up the game show. Vegeta found her talking to Benjiro about something and he saw red. The rest of the Saiya-jin decided to just stand by and observe. It was something Vegeta, Bra, and Benjiro would have to work out for themselves.

"Get away from her!" he screamed as he ran over to the two of them. "You've done enough damage!"

Bra groaned long and loud. "Pan told you, didn't she? Look, I got myself into this and I can take care of it myself." One hard look made her immediately stop talking.

"Do you intend to be a man and marry my daughter?" Vegeta asked with severity. "I hope not because I really don't like you. Not because you're ningen, but because of your personality and character. When Bra first started dating you, I didn't like you. Now, a year later, you've done nothing to change my opinion. Bra will be a lot better off without you."

Bra was amazed. Her father was actually speaking rationally instead of immediately going in for the kill. "Papa, please. Can I explain something?" He grunted and she took that as an assent. "I love Benjiro and I'm sorry that you dislike him. Sixteen is a pretty young age to have children, but it was consensual. I just ask that you not tell kaasan because she's probably going to slap me."

"Uh, Bra-chan?" Pan began hesitantly. Three sets of eyes turned her way and she figured that they had forgotten that there was an audience. "When you start showing she's going to find out anyway."

"I know but since I'll be pregnant, she probably won't hit me."

Trunks shook his head. "You really don't know kaasan, do you?"

Vegeta faded out of Super Saiya-jin after realizing that there was absolutely nothing he could do at the moment. If he killed Benjiro then his little girl was going to hate him for the rest of her life. "If you hurt her in any way, there won't be any place on Chikyuu that can hide you."

Benjiro nodded, knowing his words for truth. "I will never hurt her."

"See that you don't." Vegeta left them, headed directly for the Cinnabon place. He needed a little cheering up.

-End of Pan's Part-