Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Holding On ❯ 19 ( Chapter 19 )

A.N.) Sorry it's been a while people, here's the chapter...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"For starters... as my slave..." Bra pondered, lifting a chubby finger to her chin and tilting her head to the side in thought.

"Slave? I thought I was just your prisoner"

"It's the same thing, silly. You have to do what I say! Now for starters, you have to clean my room, and then take me out for ice-cream, and then tell Trunks to stop picking on me, and then..."

Goten groaned. "Braaaaa, that's a lot of work. Can't you just choose one thing for me to do, then let me go?" he asked hopefully, not liking the idea of picking up her room, although the ice-cream plan wasn't half bad.

Bra frowned and then her eyes lit up. "OK, I have the perfect thing for you to do! But you have to promise to do it!"

Against his better judgment, Goten agreed, what horrible thing could a 5 year old think of?

"You promise? Good! You have to marry me!"

Goten was in shock and immediately sat straight up, causing the young girl to slide onto his knees where she gave him a look of pure terror. Was he going to laugh at her? Tell her "no"? Crush her dreams?

Although his first instinct was to laugh because he thought it to be a joke, Goten saw her face and controlled himself. "Uh... heh, Bra? Why would you want to marry me?" he asked, not quite sure how to handle the situation. Here was a little girl who he knew since she was born, his best friend's little sister, talking about sharing a life with him, sharing an eternity. 'She doesn't know what she's talking about,' he told himself.

Bra frowned, not sure of if he was going to agree or not. "Well, you're nice to me. You always protect me from Trunks when he tries to make fun of me. You're the closest guy I know that I'm not related to."

Goten smiled at her enthusiasm. "Well Bra, I don't know if we can get married now, we're both too young. So let's make a compromise."

"A comompize? What's that?"

"A compromise. It's where we take part of your idea and part of my idea and make a new one."

Bra narrowed her eyes. 'Is he trying to get out of this?' She slowly nodded her head, indicating that she wanted to hear more.

"Why don't we agree that when we're both older, if we haven't found someone else we'll give a relationship a try. I'm sure that you'll grow up to be a very beautiful woman and will no doubt make me fall in love with you if you still want me to."

Bra tilted her head and sighed. It was better then nothing. "OK Goten, but just to let you know, I will make you love me." With that she jumped up and ran back towards camp leaving a bewildered Goten sitting in the middle of the field.

*****************************

Bra woke up with a start, breathing hard and covered in sweat. 'That dream again' she thought numbly. 'It seems so real, and it probably was. Why Goten? Why did you bring me there for flying lessons? Do you remember too? Is it too much to hope for?'

Bra turned her head to read the neon green numbers on her alarm clock. 6 A.M. It was way too early to be awake, and there was no way she could call Goten this early.

She turned back over and stared at the ceiling. There was no way she would be able to go back to sleep now!

Getting up Bra walked into her bathroom and turned on the shower. 'Might as well look nice today.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`



Pan awoke with hazy memories of what happened the night before. Trunks stopped her from journeying to the past and then they stayed up talking. Turning slightly, Pan noticed two things. One, they were on the couch, and two, her head was nestled into Trunks lap as if it were a pillow.

She looked up blushing, and was relieved to see Trunks head resting to the side, his eyes still closed. She got up slowly, careful not to disturb him. His hand fell from her hair and onto his thigh.

Pan walked slowly outside, to the site where she attempted to venture into the past. It was bare. The time machine had been put into a capsule and was in Trunks' possession now.

A twig breaking caused her to turn around, only to see a lone figure hidden in shadows. She knew it was not Trunks. This person was shorter, and not as muscular. Taking a step forward she went into a defensive stance, waiting for the shadowed figure to make a move.

She heard the person chuckle, and watched as he stepped out and into the light of the moon. She knew that figure, the face, the sound of his voice. It was Jeremy. "Hehehe, same old Pan. You never will change will you?"

"What are you doing here?" she gasped. "You're dead!"

He smiled and walked closer to her. "I know I'm dead, but your grandfather pulled some strings to let me talk to you."

"Grandpa Goku?"

"Yes." He hesitated. "I thought we should talk."

"I'm so sorry Jeremy." She broke down crying, and he rushed forward to cradle her in his arms.

"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything." Jeremy claimed, trying to soothe her.

"I should have, should have done something." Pan sobbed. "I should have stayed with you in the car for 5 more minutes, or gotten out a minute sooner! It's not fair. Why you? Why did they have to take you? It's just, just-"

Pan was at a loss of words, and Jeremy was at a loss of what to do. He unknowingly held and soothed her in a similar fashion that Trunks had a few hours before.

"Pan, what happened is in the past. You need to let your heart heal."

"I know it's in the past Jeremy, but my heart still hurts. I don't know if the pain will ever go away." She rested her chin on his shoulder and leaned against him. Sure they had agreed to be just friends, and that there were no romantic interests but it hurt just the same. They were so close, as if they knew what the other was always thinking. It hurt to lose someone she cared so much about. It hurt a lot.

He continued to hold her as she sniffled and tried to regain some of her composure.

"It will get better. I promise you. Now, why don't you tell me who that guy was in your living room? Was he the Trunks you told me about in the car?"

Pan smiled and pulled away from him. "Yes."

"And?" Jeremy lifted an inquisitive eyebrow.

"And what? We're just friends. That's the way it will always be. Even if he was interested, I'm not sure I'm ready for a relationship."

Jeremy sighed and shook his head. "Just promise me one thing."

"Depends."

"Oh come on Pan! Think of it as my dying wish." Jeremy smiled.

"That's not funny," she started, before her face cracked and she involuntarily smiled.

"What do you want me to promise?"

They were busy with playful banter. It was as if they both forgot he was dead, but the fact was, he wouldn't be back.

"That you'll let go?" he asked, hoping she'd promise.

Witnessing her confused expression he continued. "Holding on to someone is ok Pan, but I'm not coming back."

"I know," She whispered softly into the night air. "I just don't know if I can let go. I don't want to say goodbye."

"You don't have to say goodbye Pan, and you don't have to let go to everythin. You can still hold on to the memories, and the feelings. But you do have to focus on the living every now and then. There are people here that care for you, and they need you too right now."

With that Jeremy started to fade into the darkness and Pan reached out a hand to touch his cheek, but it passed through thin air. "I'll see you later Jeremy."

**************************************

Marron had been awakened that morning when she felt something move against the back of her thigh, and then noticed warm arms around her stomach, holding her back against a strong solid wall of muscle.

When she was about to scream and cry out for help, she suddenly remembered it was just Mirai. He had stayed up most of the night holding her, and getting her food and a drink when she asked. He even took the liberty of massaging her foot and 'sprained' ankle. But when he tried to take the next step, she said she really didn't feel up to it. She was in too much 'pain.'

He was understanding, and she briefly remembered that before she fell asleep, his arms wrapped protectively around her and his chin rested in the groove between her neck and shoulder.

After an awkward experience of getting up with Mirai and getting out of bed, she noticed that they were both still shirtless. Correction, he was only in boxers, and she was in a bra and her pants from the day before. She had to fake her ankle still hurting, so he carried her around.

Now they were both downstairs, he was reading the newspaper and she was stirring her tea absentmindedly. It was about 10:00 in the morning, Wednesday. She was dreading the fact that Saturday was only three days away.

She looked up from her swirling spoon and caught Mirai gazing at her. He smiled, "I have to go to work, but I'll be back around 5. You going to be OK alone?"

"Yeah, I've got your mom and sister to keep me company." She smiled.

He got up and leaned towards her, kissing her lips. This time she kissed back. 'What the heck, one kiss won't hurt. Besides, I can't have him suspecting anything can I?' she thought.

****************************

The insistent ringing of the phone brought Pan from a comfortably warm slumber. The fleeting images of Jeremy passing through her mind like water flowing down a river. To hell with whoever would call so early in the morning, she thought groggily. The answering machine would pick up soon. She was far too comfortable to move, more relaxed than she had been in months, in years, in spite of her bed having grown hard and lumpy overnight.

The phone continued it's annoying insistence and then the bed itself moved, bringing Pan completely awake. She pushed awkwardly to a sitting position, hampered by legs and arms entangling hers.

Her eyes slit open to spy a man's face entirely too close to hers. Trunks.

She closed her eyes and groaned as realization hit her. No wonder the mattress had seemed hard and lumpy. Of course Trunks probably wouldn't appreciate being called 'lumpy.'

She was not asleep on her queen-sized bed with its brass head rail and soft down comforter; she was draped atop Trunks Briefs, with his lavender hair, sleepy smile, and hard muscles. They had fallen asleep on the couch last night, or had it been early this morning? Her brain was too foggy to remember.

"The phone's ringing," he slurred. His voice was edged with sleep and just as warm as the rest of them. Pan experienced a flash of fantasy about waking up with this man after a lusty night in a real bed, hearing that husky early morning voice growling something about whose turn it was in the shower, or making morning coffee, or better yet, seducing her back into bed and into his arms. The flash of fantasy became a flush of heat in her face.

"Pan?"

"Uh, what?"

"The phone."

The answering machine was at the limit in messages, she remembered, it wouldn't pick up. And whoever was calling was determined to get an answer. "Who would call this early?" She grumbled as she groped for the phone on the end table.

It was Juuachigou; there was no mistaking her voice. And whatever it was, it had to be important.

"Oh good. You are home."

"Hi..."

How much more awkward could a moment get? Awakened from sleep on top of one man by your friend's mother?

"Do you sound wrung out! What's the matter?"

Pan glanced at Trunks, studiously examining his nails; he was trying to look uninterested in the conversation, and not succeeding. She sighed wearily. "Juu, it's early."

"Noon is early?"

"Noon?"

"You are out of it. Listen, I've got some info to spread. It's about Mirai."

"Mirai?"

Trunks looked over at Pan, suddenly not caring if he looked interested or not. "What's the matter?"

"Well..."

******************************

Next chapter: Goten and Bra meet, Pan and Trunks learn the whole Mirai story, and Marron works with Bulma for the cure.

Hey everyone, sorry this chapter took a while, my best friend's grandfather is dying (lung cancer spread, and now he has tumors in his brain) and I had to comfort her, while at the same time remembering my own grandfather dying two years ago...

Anyways, I would like to thank Scarlet Fire for the wonderful beta reading and editing! Everyone say thank you! Of course I can't pay her for editing, but she does get to read the chapters before everyone else! Thanks!

I would also like to thank you wonderful reviewers out there! I love yah! Keep reviewing, and tell me what you want to see next chapter. Would you rather A) See T/P finally get together.B) See where G/B are heading or C) watch Marron struggle against Mirai some more? Humor is great isn't it? I think in the next chapter I might just put in some of each!

If you want to be notified when this story is updated e-mail me at ImaginativeOne1@aol.com. I will add you to my list.

Hope you liked the chapter. Well, did ya? I dare you to leave a review. I Double Dog dare you!! Triple Dog dare you!!!!