I execute the kick flawlessly, just as Grandpa Goku taught me so many years ago.  I take advantage of the slight pause in my routine to sneak a brief peek in the direction where my family sits, observing the demonstration that I am giving.  They are watching me proudly, as always.  It's nice to know that my parents will always be there to support me, and Chichi-baasan and Goten-jisan as well...  They have all come today just to see me - and he has come, as well...

He is the one I want to see watching me as I search the stands for his bright blue eyes - but when I finally locate them, they are not focused on me.  He is joking and laughing with Goten, seemingly oblivious to my performance  here in the center ring.

I bite back a sigh and continue with my demonstration, concentrating desperately on maintaining the correct balance of relaxation and tension in my muscles.  I should have known better than to hope that...  but...

I manage to finish the routine without messing up, and leave the demonstration ring, signaling to my parents that I'll meet up with them later.  I head swiftly to the change room, to swap my gi for simple jeans and tee-shirt.

"Here, let me take that," a soft voice tells me as I shrug out of my top.  I turn slightly to meet bright blue eyes partially veiled by lavender hair.  I feel my heart clench for an instant - before I realize that the face is feminine, not masculine...

"Thanks," I mumble as I let Bra take my dirty clothes.  I consider taking a shower, but I didn't work up that much of a sweat.  It was only a simple demonstration of skills today, not formal combat, or even a sparring session.  The latter two would be pointless against anyone other than Saiyajin-blooded fighters - and I was the only one who bothered to enter the competition this year.  Grandpa would have been so disappointed if I hadn't.

"You looked pretty good out there today, Pan," she tells me.  "You should win this section easily."

I turn away, almost burying my head in the locker as I reach for some clean clothes, not wanting her to see the tears that have sprung into my eyes.  This competition barely matters to me.  All the years of effort I have put into my training seem to have been wasted.  I'm good, I know - but what have I achieved?  I will never match the others with their power and skill, and there is nobody left to fight.  All I have are some worthless trophies from matches where my opponents didn't stand a chance...

"Are you all right?"

A hand is placed on my shoulder, obviously meant to comfort; but I can't help wishing that the hand was larger and not so delicate...

I steel myself, then turn to face her, a bright smile plastered across my face.  "I'm fine, nothing wrong with me!"

"You seem a bit distracted lately," she continues, her bright blue eyes darkened in concern.  If only they were his...

I shrug off both her hand and her concern, gaining a brief respite from those eyes as I pull on my top.  "Nah, just thinking a bit about school, final year and all."

She nods sympathetically, having been through it herself not so long ago.  "Just remember, I'll always be here if you need me."

"Hey, Pan!"  Goten yells from somewhere outside.  "You in there?  What's keeping you?  Your Mom and Aunt won't feed us until you come out!"

I snort, smiling at the remark.  "Good!  Because I'm the one who should be hungry, not you!  You've done nothing but sit on your butt all morning!"

"Pan!"  My mother is horrified, but I can hear uncle Goten laughing, along with him - and he is the one who answers me.

"We'll be waiting for you at the picnic grounds, then."

I feel my lips twitch into an involuntary smile at the sound of his voice, a warmth in my chest spreads throughout my entire body, and my head feels lighter than air.

"He'll never love you."

The words hit me like a punch in the stomach.  I turn to meet Bra's narrowed gaze, trying to conceal my reaction.  "What do you mean?"

"I mean he'll never love you," she repeats, her gaze hard as ice as she stands before me with one hand on her hip.

"Why not?"  I demand, knowing that it's pointless to deny it further.  And she is his sister.

"What do you see in him, Pan?"

I pause.  What do I see in him?

"He's handsome, and strong, and..."  I trail off.

"And what?"

"And he's Trunks!"  I burst out in frustration.  "He's everything I need and want!  I don't know why I love him, but I do - and nothing you say will make me feel any other way!"  I glare at her for a moment before turning away to pull on my jeans.

She doesn't want me to love him.  I can see it in her expression.  Why not?  Is it because he's so much older than me?  I know my parents would think that if they ever found out.  Doesn't she believe that I can make him happy?

"Pan, I don't want to hurt you."

Yeah, right.  I finish buttoning my jeans and slam the locker door shut, slipping my bag over my shoulder.

"But I think you're going to hurt yourself - and him."

I spin around, almost hitting her with my bag as it swings from my shoulder.  She doesn't even flinch.

"I would never hurt him!"  I snap angrily, moving towards the exit.

"Not on purpose," she concedes.  She grabs my arm as I walk past her, pulling me back around to face her.  I look down at her hand in surprise.  I never knew that she was so strong!  I wonder if Vegeta ever trained her...

"Are you going to listen to me or walk out that door and make a mess out of both your lives?"

"This had better be good," I tell her, folding my arms in front of my chest.

She sighs, releasing me, and pushing back her hair with one hand.  "He'll never love you," she starts again, "because he's already in love with someone else."

I try desperately to ignore the icy lump that has formed in the pit of my belly.

"I haven't seen - "

"Then you haven't been looking!"  She snaps at me, her face showing her anger and frustration.  "Face it, Pan - you've been acting like all the other brainless butterflies that drool after him day and night!  You just see what's on the surface - you never look beyond that to see what he's really like, what he wants and needs!"

I blink, taking a step back in the face of her emotion filled tirade.  "I'm not a brainless butterfly!"  I protest.

"Then prove it!  Watch him today at the picnic, watch him tomorrow and the next day and the next - just as I have done for all these years!"  Her face and tone softens slightly.  "Remember, he's only human, just like you and me."

"Half-Saiyajin,"  I correct half-heartedly.

"Whatever."  She smiles sadly, then heads out the door, leaving me with my thoughts for a few moments.

Could he really be in love with someone else?  Who?  I will do as Bra has asked, if not for my sake but for his.  She must know something - but why wouldn't she tell me straight out?  Why did she say that about Trunks only being human?  I can only wait and see...

Two weeks.  Just fourteen days.  It seems like such an insignificant amount of time - but it has ended up changing my view on life.

Bra is sitting on the edge of a cliff, looking out across the ocean as it glitters with the afternoon sunlight.  We have not spoken of Trunks since that day, two weeks ago; but I have followed her advice.  I was shocked at what I had discovered, I didn't want to believe it - but I cannot deny the evidence I have seen with my own eyes in just these two short weeks.

Goten.  Trunks is in love with uncle Goten.

He's always watching him, especially when he thinks that no-one else will notice, and the way he watches him - is the way I wanted him to watch me.  His eyes are full of smothered longing, and they brighten with joy whenever Goten is near; but blanketing all these emotions is a thick layer of despair.  For he knows that Goten will never be his.

I sit down beside Bra, dangling my feet over the edge.  It matters little if I fall, being able to fly.  Can Bra fly I wonder?  I have never seen her do so.  I shift a little closer to her, watching as a few pebbles that I dislodge rattle over the cliff to drown.  Beneath us the waves crash against the sandstone walls which confine the ocean, smashing away at the rocks with their unfettered violence.  It kind of reminds me of Vegeta.

"Why didn't he tell him?"  I ask, confidant that Bra will know what I'm talking about.

"I don't know," she replies, the wind whipping her pale hair across her face like a veil.  "He was probably too scared to try - scared that he wouldn't love him back, that it would cost him their friendship..."

I sigh, and nod.  That was pretty much the conclusion I had come to, as well.  Now, it is far too late for him to try; Goten is married, father of one child, with another on the way.

"Does Goten have any idea of how Trunks feels?"

She shrugs in response.  "He's your uncle.  What do you think?"

I bite my lip, considering.  "I don't think he does.  It's probably best that he doesn't."

She turns to look at me, raising one eyebrow questioningly.

"I hate to sound callous, but this way only Trunks is miserable.  If Goten knew..."

She nods understandingly, returning her gaze to the distant horizon.

If Goten knew, he'd probably suffer in silence along with Trunks - but he's hopeless at keeping secrets.  His wife would know that something was wrong, and that would make her upset, and then the kids...  It would result in a huge mess of guilt and jealousy.  Trunks must know this; it's probably the only thing that prevents him from telling uncle Goten how he feels, now.

"So what do you think of my brother now?"

The question surprises me, but she has a point.

"I feel sorry for him," I tell her as I watch the waves rise and fall. "He made his decision not to tell him, so it's partly his own fault, but I feel sorry for him, and for uncle Goten, too, because they could have had something wonderful together..  I think that they would have been a good match.  Instead Trunks is left to mope around on his own while Goten married a girl he likes, but doesn't truly love."

"Nani?!"  Bra gasps at my last statement, and stares at me with wide blue eyes.  "What do you mean?  Of course he loves her!"

I smile a little bitterly.  "Take your own advice, Bra.  Watch him.  He cares for her, yes, but not as much as he might.  Not as much as she loves him - and that he knows."

Bra laughs sadly.  "What a pair they make."

"Hmm,"  I agree.  "They would have been perfect for each other."

Perfectly matched, as our own parents were.  No-one who ever saw my parents together could ever doubt that they were very much in love, with a special understanding existing between them that no-one else can truly comprehend or be a part of.  Bulma and Vegeta are perhaps a less likely pairing - at least on first appearance - but they too have that intangible bond that they share with no other.  I think that Trunks and Goten have something of this bond, but incomplete, just as they are, alone...

We pass a few minutes in silence, listening to the roar of the waves.  Whoever said that the seaside is peaceful?  For me it sounds like a chaotic battle between the air, earth and sea - an eternal battle that none of them can ever truly win.

"I found out a lot that I hadn't noticed before, over these past couple of weeks.  Thank you for making me see, Bra."

"Is that really something you should be thanking me for?  Most of what you found out is probably uncomfortable knowledge at best."  Her voice is light, but the words and tone reveal her unhappiness.

"At the very least," I tell her, "I will always be here for you."

She focuses her wide blue eyes on me once more.

"You don't have to sit and stew about all the stupid things our families have done by yourself anymore.  You can always talk to me."

She smiles warmly, but in her eyes I see -

"Do you know why I loved your brother?"  I ask her.  She blinks, surprised.  "I loved him because in him I saw a pair of bright blue eyes, and beautiful lavender hair, a gorgeous body and a face to match."

She laughed; but in her eyes -

"I saw a wonderful person who is compassionate and kind, who cares so much about other people before she considers herself -"

"Nani?!"  Her eyes widen even more.

"In him, I saw you!"  I lean forward before I lose my nerve, twining my fingers in her pale hair, and kissing her, tasting her mouth with my own.  She stiffens for a moment, then presses against me, pulling us closer together, her arms wrapped around my waist.

We draw apart for breath eventually, and I gaze into her eyes and see them as bright and joyful as I had once wished her brother's to be when they glanced in my direction.  The depression that had clouded her eyes, much as her brother's, had been banished in a single moment.  Well, a long single moment!

I smile at her; but the brightness in her eyes begins to fade away.

"What's wrong?"  I ask.  Was I wrong to kiss her?  I had thought that it would make her happy, and had seemed to do so...

"You don't love me, Pan," she tells me, shaking her head.  "So don't pretend."  She stands swiftly, and starts to walk away.

I do love her.  I have always loved her!  I just didn't realize, I thought that I loved her brother, until she made me truly see...

"Bra!"  I call out to her.  She stops walking, but doesn't turn around to look at me.  "Watch me,"  I tell her.

She turns her head slightly, enough for me to see her smile, before continuing onwards.

She will be watching, I know; and so will I.