A/N: So, I haven't written anything for DBZ in like…three years. And Now, I'm dedicating this little One-shot to LauraNeatO. Without you, Goten, Trunks, and Goku's-freaking-awesome-fanfic-of-greatness-Humored, I would probably not be as nearly into DBZ as I am.
THERE'S A SYSTEM!
It had started when Pan offered to help her Uncle clean up the kitchen. She knew how anal he was about neatness, though looking at him you would never tell. So she made sure to have the dishes rinsed very thoroughly before loading them into the dishwasher.
It was the agreement she made with him after dinner, she would load the dishwasher and wipe down the counter top while Goten put the (surprising fact that there was) leftovers in the fridge and wiped down the table. If she helped him do that, then he agreed to spar with her. She thought it was a good evening exercise. She needed the work out and frankly, so did her Uncle.
She wiped down the counter one last time before she tossed the rag in the sink and wiped her hands on her jeans.
"Okay Goten, I'm done."
He glanced up from pressing the lid of a Tupperware container down and smiled.
"Thanks Panny. Meet me outside, I'll be there in a minute."
The sixteen year old nodded once and turned to walk out of the kitchen and towards the front door. She pulled her right arm across her chest with her left, and started to press it down, stretching in her own way as she glided through the room.
"Um….Pan?"
The footsteps paused.
"Yeah?"
"Could you come back here for a second?"
She sighed and turned around, treading back to where the older demi-sayian was. She placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at the sight before her. Goten was standing next to the open dishwasher, his face contorted in an expression of annoyance and patience as he stared down at the extended racks.
"What's up?"
He sighed once before he looked up at her.
"You put the dishes in wrong."
Pan's shoulders dropped as she shook her head slightly, her brow furrowing up at him.
"Excuse me, what?"
"The dishes." He pointed down at them, as if the sight of the perfectly aligned plates and silver wear would be self-explanatory.
His niece obviously wasn't getting it, because she just stared at him with that blank expression on her face. He felt like he was talking to a statue. He sighed once, and then smiled softly at her. It wasn't her fault. She rarely helped her Mother in the kitchen, and she was still young, it took Goten until he was seventeen to learn the proper way to load up the dishes.
"Okay, watch me, see…"
He began to extract every single item that she had just stored. Pan could only watch as her mouth dropped open slightly in shock. What exactly was wrong with the way she did things? That's how her Mom put dishes in. That's how her Dad did it too. What did it really matter? The ultimate goal was clean plates, and that's what her outcome gave her.
"Now…you need to put the big plates in the front rack, to the left, here see? And then the smaller plates go in front of that. If you have room for a pan, it goes on the far left, behind the big plates, yeah?"
Pan watched with disturbed fascination as he explained all the different areas that were made for the different things. Also, apparently forks weren't supposed to go upside down, and the spoons had to go in the same cup as the knives.
He pushed in the bottom rack and then pulled out the top. She was starting to think that her Father's brother might have some…personal things that needed to be dealt with…mentally. He was actually smiling as he stuck the glasses along the far right wall. He was smiling like…like he was enjoying it. He was actually having fun cleaning. Or he was so very proud of himself for coming up with this system. Actually, now that Pan thought about it, maybe it was her Grandma that came up with it. That must be it; living with three Sayians means a boatload of dishes to wash. She must have rubbed off on Goten somehow.
Her attention switched back to him when he smiled up at her and pushed the top rack back in.
"There, see, that's how you do it."
"But…"
Watch yourself Pan. She thought. If you say this…it might open a can of worms.
"But Goten…does it really matter, so long as all the dishes get clean? I mean, that really is the ultimate goal, right?"
Her Uncle's shoulders twitched and he sighed.
"No, see, if you do it this way, then you can fit more dishes in one load, and then you don't have to go back and do it again with more dishes."
Pan jumped as a chuckle floated through the air behind her. She turned to look over her shoulder and automatically a smile came on her face at the sight of the lilac haired man. He walked over to where his two best friends were standing and shook his head.
"Oh Pan," Trunks smirked at her and rested his arm against her shoulder. "You put the dishes in wrong didn't you?"
She growled under her breath and folded her arms across her chest.
"What is the freaking point? Dishes go in the washer, they get washed, and that's what is supposed to happen. Just cram them all in there!"
Trunks winced as his blue eyes traveled to his childhood prank partner. Goten rubbed his temples, clearly loosing patience with the young girl.
"There is a system." He growled out.
She stared at him, with that same blank expression that resembles watching a car crash.
"Wow…" She whispered. "You have like…so many issues."
He threw his hands up in the air. "That's it!"
"Wait! Where are you going? You said you would spar with me!"
Goten snorted and looked over his shoulder from the entryway.
"And you said that you would help me clean the kitchen."
"I did!"
"Did not. You just threw some stuff together like…like…like you were pushing dust under the carpet of your room and calling it clean."
Pan's angered expression vanished and sprouted into one of confusion.
"Wait, what's so bad about that?"
Goten's jaw dropped as he turned with wide eyes and stared at her.
"Seriously?! Seriously?!"
He froze in utter shock for several more moments, unsanitary thoughts floating through his head before he walked away from them completely.
Pan raised an eyebrow and closed the dishwasher, turning the knob to start it and then leaned against the counter, staring at Trunks.
"What'd I say?"
He laughed and gently slapped her over the head before letting his arm rest around her shoulders.
"Come on, loser." He chuckled. "I'll go and train with you if you want."
The girl giggled and nodded in delight. In her eyes, it was a win/win situation. Goten got his way with the dishes, her Grandma got a clean kitchen, her Grandpa got a full stomach, and she got to spar before she went to waste all her energy on homework.
Yep, in Pan's eyes, life was good.
In Goten's eyes…he was never entering Pan's room again.