The first time that Gohan noticed the slight shift in his mother's personality was just a week after his father, Son Goku, decided that he wanted to come back to earth just three years after the defeat of Cell. Everyone was delighted, of course. Gohan and Chi-Chi especially just for the fact of being able to introduce two-year old Goten to him. They were once again a picture perfect family. Gohan and Chi-Chi were sure this time nothing could ever go wrong to keep Goku out of their lives again.
Everything was grand up until Gohan started to pay attention to his surroundings other than his homework, meals and the screechings of ill-tempered two-year old Saiyan babies. Usually, Chi-Chi is bold, blunt and quick to anger; as of late her demeanor has changed to quiet, tip-toed, and she usually kept her head down. Gohan figured she was just having an off day, and set it aside after Goku complimented her on her cooking that afternoon, which seemed to lift her spirits.
Ever since that day Chi-Chi's personality has been sporadic. It seriously started to worry Gohan on the days where she'd barely say anything other than, "Come and eat!" or "Study this today, sweetie." or even "Sure, you can go and train with your dad today!" Like it had always been that normal. Gohan wasn't sure what to think about his mom acting the way she did. He would ask her, but he was too afraid she'd get angry and send him to his room for the rest of the evening. So, he decided to approach his dad on the subject.
"Ah, your mom's fine, son!" Goku reassured him. Poorly. "She's probably just trying to adjust herself to be more loose and not so, you know, stuck up."
Gohan wasn't sure he liked that answer. Especially the way Goku enunciated that last part. Figuring that was as good as an answer he was ever going to get, Gohan once again, let the subject go, and went on with his life. A year later, he was attending public school in Satan City. The year after that, he discovered his mother crying one morning in the living room. He went up to her holding an ice pack against her left eye.
Gohan gasped, "Mom! What happened?"
Chi-Chi jumped in response to his sudden presence, "Gohan! Don't scare me like that!"
"Sorry," he apologised. He reached over with his hand. "Here, let me see."
"No." Chi-Chi lightly smacked his hand away. "It's just a small bruise. Nothing to worry about."
"Is that why you're crying?"
"No, son." Chi-Chi chuckled a little. "It just stings a little that's all. Now, come on! You're gonna be late for school. Did you grab your lunch?"
"Oh, no. I'll go grab that right now." Gohan walked into the kitchen and took the wrapped bento box his mom prepared for him and placed it into his bag.
He turned back into the living room and faced his mother, who was now standing. He observed her for about a minute: she looked like she wanted to break down and cry again. Her body was shaking and she couldn't look him in the eye. At age fifteen, Gohan had hit a growth spurt and grew what seemed like two inches every month. He now stood at an average of 5'9" (about five inches taller than Chi-Chi).
Chi-Chi looked so frightened, she clutched the ice pack against her eye tightly and yelped in surprise, immediately detaching the pack from her face. Gohan caught a glimpse of the bruise, though only momentarily as Chi-Chi turned her gaze away, cursing silently. Gohan lightly placed his hand upon her shoulder which she shuddered underneath.
"Mom," he started. "That is not a 'small' bruise."
Chi-Chi scoffed, "It is to me. I've had worse."
"How much worse?" Gohan questioned.
"Excuse me?" she turned to him, fire in her eyes. "Just what are you implying, young man?"
"Mom, I'm not implying anything! I just want to know what happened!"
"If you must know," she spat at him. "I ran into a door."
Gohan looked upon her with a dull expression. "Seriously? That's your excuse? Mom, a door wouldn't have caused that big of a swell. Plus, it looked like you couldn't even open your eye!"
"You are seriously overstepping your boundaries," Chi-Chi hissed at him. "I know what happened to me, don't try to feed me your words to make yourself feel better."
"What?" Gohan was shocked at her words. "I'm not! I'm just - I'm trying to help you!"
"Well you're doing a pretty poor job of it." Chi-Chi turned away from him. She refused to explain herself to a teenager. "Just go to school, Gohan. I promise you it's nothing."
Before he answered, the front door opened. Goku walked in, looking exhausted. He caught sight of Chi-Chi and Gohan standing in front of him looking uncomfortable.
"Hey, guys!" he greeted. "Why the long faces?"
"Nothing, dad," Gohan shook his head. "I was just leaving."
He made his way past both his parents, stopping at the door to glance back at his mother. For a second he almost mistook her expression for one of sorrow, but passed it off as apologetic. As he shut the door, he could hear his dad react to his mother's 'accident'. "Chi-Chi, what happened to you? Are you alright?"
'Maybe dad can get the truth out of her.' Gohan hoped as he jumped up into the air, and took off for school.
All day long Gohan could only think about his mom and her mysterious behaviour for the past two years. That bruise was linked with it, he was sure of that. Unless she fell several hundred feet, and landed her eye on a concrete pole, he didn't see just how any of their household objects could injure her that badly.
The way she was crying; that shook Gohan up. He hadn't heard her cry that hard since he returned from the Cell Games, and had to inform her of Goku's choice to stay dead. She usually had such a strong demeanor, even when faced against dangerous beings. She did her best to show her loyalty to her husband, and raise her children day by day. Revealing raw emotion was rare for Chi-Chi in all aspects. Even her anger was solidified through her stern speech. No one dare cross her, knowing they would lose the argument. Nobody knew that best than her family.
There was an option that still lingered around Gohan's mind. One he particularly wanted to avoid, but it seemed like the best explanation for what happened. Someone had hurt his mother. He didn't know who, or how even. At the same time, he felt like he was jumping to conclusions. There was no way to prove it. Physical evidence: verbal, or otherwise.
The thought of someone physically placing their hands on his mother in the wrong way angered him. He didn't know who it was, but he will find out.
Gohan was too busy focusing on his mother, he didn't realize he broke his pencil in half.
"Hey," Erasa nudged him. "You okay, Gohan?"
Gohan snapped out of his phase. "Oh, yeah. I'm good."
"You snapped your pencil in half with one hand," she pointed out. "How did you even do that?"
"Oh," Gohan opened his hand to reveal his writing utensil broken into three bits of useless wood and lead.
"Here!" Erasa chirped. She reached into her pencil case, and pulled out one of her own. "You can borrow one from me!"
"Thank you, Erasa." Gohan smiled at her. He placed the pieces of his pencil in one of the front pockets of his school bag, reminding himself to throw them away later.
Gohan spent the entirety of his lunch in the library searching for books on the human anatomy. He even grabbed a few that focused on abuse and relationships. As the day went on prior to his research, he began to list people who could possibly be around his mother close enough to leave an impact on her this huge.
Out of everyone who he knew his mother was familiar with, Bulma, Krillin, Piccolo, Goku, Ox King, and himself remained. He chewed on the eraser end of the pencil he borrowed from Erasa, and buried his gaze upon the bullet list of names he had written down.
After a thorough investigation of the books he read, and reevaluating his mother's relationships with their friends, he crossed Krillin and Piccolo off the list. Krillin really only ever came over to talk to Goku, and train with him. He seldom started conversations with Chi-Chi. In fact, he just outright avoided her every chance he got. Same with Piccolo. He only came over to the house if Goku or Gohan invited him over, and he almost always declined. Plus, his mom and Piccolo never liked each other, and never will. But Gohan couldn't see Piccolo hurting his mom because they disagreed on how they were 'raising' the boy.
Bulma was basically Chi-Chi's best, if not only friend. Whenever Bulma had an off day from the lab, she would head over with Trunks in tow to keep Goten busy while she and Chi-Chi caught up with each other. Surely she wouldn't lay a hand on Chi-Chi even if they did have their little spurts. They made up later in the day anyhow. So, Gohan crossed her off.
All that was left in the lineup was the immediate family. Gohan about gave up right then. He couldn't fathom any of the three committing such a horrible act. He knew for a fact that he never hurt his mom. Not ever. Sure they fought more often when it came to how his teachers taught in school, and how she used to. And spending time with Piccolo. And staying out late. And rushing his meals to go out to hang out with Piccolo until one in the morning.
There were times where their fights got so heated, Gohan almost lost control of himself. Broke the house in half one day by ascending to a Super Saiyan. His dad, who was out training with Goten, had to teleport straight in the house to calm him down. Gohan responded by shoving him off, blowing a hole in the roof, and flying off for the rest of the night.
Since he had grown taller than his mom, that sort of gave him a false sense of authority on the grounds, "I'm taller than you, so I don't have to listen to your rules." Again, huge fights; end up yelling at each other; Gohan towers over Chi-Chi; gets pissed and the house gets nearly destroyed; leaves for a few hours; rinse and repeat. For a year straight.
Gohan grabbed one of the books entitled, The Abusive Relationship: How to Recognize It and How to Respond He flipped to the chapter that explained when the abuser uses their body and voice to keep the victim grounded, and afraid to tell anyone or leave them. It was pretty textbook to say the least. They listed keywords and definitions to help the victim realize that they were in possible danger. Gohan scanned the words used, and their meaning. Slowly he put the book down, and could only stare directly ahead of him. He didn't even hear the bell rang signaling the next class starting.
'It's me.' he resolved. 'I'm the one who is hurting mother.'