Brother, my Brother

Disclaimer: I don't own the original Dragonball Z characters, if I did, I probably wouldn't be writing a fanfiction…

Chapter 1: The boy beside me:

Gohan's tenth birthday was coming up, and he couldn't wait! He walked into the house only to find his mother cooking dinner. "Hey mom, what's up?" he asked as he walked near her.

"I'll tell you 'what's up'. Your father is late for dinner again! He's training like always…" she answered clearly agitated.

"But mom, dinner doesn't look ready yet," Gohan tried.

"It's been ready, but I want to have a nice family dinner for once. Is you homework done?"

"Yeah, I finished it a while ago,"

"Good, go upstairs and study while I wait for that father of yours," she ordered still steamed.

"Yes ma'am," he sighed as he went to his room to study.

***

Goku walked into the house a little while later to find ChiChi still stirring her food. He sighed in relief, maybe dinner isn't ready yet. "Just where have you been?" ChiChi asked her husband who flinched.

"I was just training with Vegeta," he answered hesitantly.

"You're always training with Vegeta,"

"But this is important ChiChi!" Goku whined.

"How!? I don't know what that kid from the future or whatever said, but these 'androids' aren't here yet. Until they get here, I want a normal family dinner! Is that too much to ask!" she shouted as her ire rose.

"Well, no…I guess," Goku muttered.

"And besides that, I don't want you teaching Gohan that all life is, is fighting! I need him to know that education is the most important thing in life!"

"Education is more important than saving the world?" Goku asked innocently.

"Yes!" she shouted as she put her stirring spoon down.

"Well that doesn't seem right, but if you're sure…"

"Which I am,"

"Then I'll have a talk with him," Goku replied as he went running upstairs.

***

Gohan sat at his computer desk listening to his mother chew out his dad. He wanted to help him save the world from the androids, but his mother would never let him train. By the time they came round, he just wouldn't be ready. Gohan sighed and stood up, going over to the ladder that led to the attic. He started to climb up as he heard his dad coming up the stairs. He quickly stood up on the platform and started walking through the dustiest room in the house: the attic. Sneeze after sneeze he went through some old things of his parents' past and found an old photo album he had never seen before. Trying but not quite succeeding at pulling the little book open, Gohan went back down the ladder to find his dad sitting on his bed. "Hey dad,"

"Hey,"

"I found this up in the attic, does it look familiar?"

Goku looked at the photo album before shaking his head. "Nope, never seen it before, but maybe your mom has,"

"Good idea,"

"But there is something I need to tell you,"

"Yeah, I heard. You came up here to tell me that my education is more important than fighting like mom wanted you to,"

"Well, I wasn't going to, but maybe that's a good way to keep me out of trouble…" he pondered as his son left the room to go down into the kitchen.

"Hey mom?"

"Yes?"

"Does this look familiar?" Gohan asked as he handed his mother the book.

"No…why, should it?"

"I don't know, I just found it in the attic, and I couldn't get it open,"

"You shouldn't be up in that old attic, it's dusty and dangerous!"

"Aw come on mom, I've been in worse situations!"

"No Gohan, I don't want to hear that my little boy has gotten some sort of sickness. Never go into that attic again,"

Gohan sighed. "Okay mom,"

"Good, now go get your father and let's have some dinner!" ChiChi said with a smile.

"Great, I'm starving!" Gohan replied as he went upstairs to retrieve his father.

***

The next morning, Gohan watched Piccolo and his dad fight from his window when he was supposed to be doing his studies. He hated that his mom didn't let him train, but he loved her and would respect her wishes. He swiveled in his chair to face his bed. Underneath which, laid the odd album he had found the other night. Gohan stood and made his way over to the bed. Kneeling down and lifting the bed skirt, he took out the little blue book and tried to open it again. Not succeeding, he decided to let someone else try. He walked outside at went over to his dad stopping him mid-attack. "Dad?"

"Yeah son?"

"I need you to open this for me," Gohan said sheepishly.

"What! No interruptions!" Piccolo shouted impatiently.

"It's okay Gohan, I'll open it real quick and it'll be fine," Goku replied lovingly as he took the photo album from his son's hand. He tried, gently at first, to open it, but when it wouldn't budge, he tried harder. Still getting nothing, Goku tried even harder, but still to no avail. He kept trying with all his might, but the cover stayed closed. Piccolo started to get very irritated as he walked over and snatched the book strait from his grasp.

"Here, let me try," he said as he pulled at the cover. Again, nothing happened. He tried with all his might, but it still stayed shut.

"Sorry sport, that thing's glued or something," Goku joked half-heartedly.

"That's okay. Maybe there's some sort of spell or something," Gohan joked back.

"Take it to see Kami," Piccolo tried.

"Why?" Goku and Gohan asked together.

"I think you're right Gohan. There's something weird about this book,"

"But I was just kidding,"

"Well I'm not,"

"Alright then," Gohan replied as he flew towards the look-out. He didn't want to disobey is first trainer. Soon Gohan landed on the platform of the look-out. "Hey, Kami?"

"Gohan?" he heard as Kami stepped into view. The good side of Piccolo was getting older, but he always had Mr. Popo with him for help when he needed it. "What is it young Saiyan?"

"It's about this old photo album I found. I was wondering if you could open it for me," he answered. Quite frankly, Gohan felt like an idiot.

Kami raised an eyebrow, but made no comment as he walked forward and took the book in hand. "Interesting, there seems to be a spell holding it shut…"

"Well, you are the guardian of Earth, do you think you could dispel of the…well, spell?"

"I guess I could try, it seems fairly weak," Kami replied as he started to chant utter nothings to the book. Soon, Kami simply opened it. "Here you are my boy, do come and visit soon?"

"I'll try, and thank you!" Gohan shouted as he flew back towards earth. He got to his room with no trouble from his mom, thank goodness for shopping, and started flipping through the album. There were a few wedding photos and pictures of his mom during pregnancy, but nothing too interesting. That was, until he got to the last page. He tilted his head with a gasp of confusion as he stared down on at the picture of him as a newborn. The baby beside me looks identical…

**Okay, that's my first chapter. I may not be able to get to this one for a while, because I'm visiting my old next-door neighbor in New Hampshire and staying there for six weeks. I'm so excited! I might be able to update while she's at school or something, but if not, I'll see you all then. Tell me what you think and read my others!**