Chapter 3 (Teenagers)

Gohan landed in front of his mountain side home sometime after dark. His clothes were still tattered and bloodstained from his earlier battle with Vegeta. He sighed to himself. "Vegeta doesn't scare me; it's my mother that gets to me… how am I going to explain this without her getting angry?" Gohan took a deep breath, hoping that this wouldn't be his last, and put his hand on the door handle. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground staring up at the stars. He tried to get up and shake off whatever was attached to him, but he couldn't do either. Confused, he looked down only to see little Goten wrapped around his legs, clinging tightly as if he'd been gone for years. "Big brother, you're home!" Goten smiled gleefully. Gohan laughed and sat up, staring at his younger brother, "Goten, I come home every day; you don't need to act like I've been gone for so long." He then proceeded to pat his brother's spiky hair down a few times. Goten's face then became a scene of concern, "Yea, but you're never late for dinner! We were getting really worried…" Goten then noted the clothes Gohan was currently sporting, or lack thereof. "What happened to you?" He asked a bit confused. He knew he didn't hit Gohan THAT hard. Gohan stood up, setting his brother back on the ground. "Vegeta happened… and I don't know how I'm going to explain this to-"His sentence was broken off by a shriek. "Gohan! What happened to you!? You're clothes are ruined! Do you know how much those clothes cost, Gohan!?" Shit. "Uhh…" Was all the poor boy could say before he was cut off again. "You should be focusing on your studies, not getting into fights!" Gohan looked down, "Gee, I'm sorry mother… Vegeta just pushed me a little too far this time…" Gohan tightened his fists into balls at his sides. "Not only that, but because of his mouth and my loss of control, Videl was really upset…" His eyes never left the ground. "That doesn't sound right, Videl is very understanding when it comes to saiyans and fighting, she sees your father and Vegeta trying to kill each other all the time. "Chichi raised an eyebrow in slight confusion as Gohan's shoulders shrugged, "I know, I don't understand it either. I'm worried about her; I didn't mean to scare her." Gohan then took a few steps inside. "I'm sorry about my clothes. I'm going to see if I can at least wash out the blood." He muttered before walking into his room, shutting the door behind him and leaving both his brother and mother stunned. Goku then walked out of the kitchen, picking his teeth with an overused toothpick, "Hey, was that Gohan's voice I heard? Is he home?" Chichi nodded as she led her younger son inside. "He hasn't had a good day. He seems really down and out of it; I haven't seen him this way since…" She cut off the words, Goku understood the rest. The father of both half saiyan boys sighed, "I'll go see if I can talk to him." Chichi nodded. It wasn't often she gave her husband that pillage, giving the boys advice, but she didn't know how to help this time. 'If being a teenager wasn't hard enough… poor boy.' Chichi thought to herself as she rinsed the dishes from dinner.

Gohan took off his torn school uniform and threw on a gi that Piccolo gave him a while back. He sighed to himself as he saw that the clothes from today had no way of recovering, and he proceeded to throw the garments away. Just then a knock was heard on the door, "I said I'm sorry for the clothes mom" Gohan answered to the knocks. "It's me." Goku replied as he opened the door. Gohan looked a little confused, since when did his father try to have a talk? This can't be good. "Hey, dad." Gohan said halfheartedly as he finished putting a shirt on. "I heard you had a bad day, is it school?" Goku sounded a bit confused; he had no idea on what to say in this situation. "No, it's me." Gohan replied bitterly. Goku gave him a confused look, matching his voice. "What's wrong with you?" the young boy sighed, sitting on the bed, "I couldn't control myself today, Vegeta's mouth got the better of me and I snapped. We fought a little bit in front of Videl and for some reason she was…" He closed his eyes remembering the terrified look on his friends face. "She was crying. " Goku then raised an eyebrow, "She didn't get hurt did she?" He asked with more concern. "No, only Vegeta's pride was hurt in that fight." Gohan smirked, his temper from earlier still controlling his words. The elder Son laughed at the comment then walked over to a chair and sat down close to Gohan. "Then why do you think she was crying?" Gohan looked down and shook his head, "I guess I scared her." His face was hard to read at this point and Goku sighed with a little understanding. "We do tend to frighten people when we fight. It's not every day that a person just glows gold and blows up everything in their path. Well... a normal person." He placed a hand at the back of his head laughing a little, trying to lighten the mood. "I wish I were a normal person, life would have been so much better if I wasn't a saiyan." And at that, Goku glared. "You've saved this planet more times than I can count Gohan, if you weren't who you are, the world wouldn't be here right now." Gohan caught the venom of his father's words and nodded. "I know." Gohan's eyes finally rose to his fathers, mirroring the concern in his eyes, "I don't know how I'm going to fix this. I hate that I've hurt her. Even if it wasn't physical." Goku then smiled at his son. "You care about her, don't you?" Gohan then turned a light red that was even visible in the slightly darkened room. "Of course I care for her! I mean she's my friend, the only one I've had my own age that can accept who I am." Goku then smiled even more, poking his son on the cheek, "I know son, and if she's what you've just described, she will be able to face you and tell you what's on her mind. Just give her some space and she'll come to you." Gohan then smiled, "Thanks dad." Goku then stood up, pushing the chair in, "I just want you happy and to be proud of who you are." He then thought for a moment, "So you and Vegeta, huh? Who won?" His curiosity getting the better of him. Gohan then shook his head, "A draw for now. Knowing Vegeta he'll want to spar with me sometime in the near future to 'break' it." Goku laughed, "Be sure to tell me when that is, I want to see that fight!" Gohan nodded as his father walked out the door, shutting it softly behind him as he left. "So, how is he?" Chichi didn't even bother turning around away from her dishes. "He'll be fine." Goku sat down at the table, waiting for desert. "He's growing up and I think the normal teenage life is starting to get to him." He laughed a little and Chichi smiled, humming to herself. Images of little grandchildren running through her head.

Meanwhile….

"Videl! Where have you been! It's after 9 at night and you have school in the morning! I bet you were with that scrawny kid again. I've told you, you can only date someone who is as strong as me maybe, and I do mean maybe!" Mr. Satan scolded his teenage daughter as she walked through the door of the mansion. "Daddy, he has a name and I wasn't with him. I was with Bulma." She closed her eyes out of frustration. "You mean the girl who owns Capsule corp?" Videl shook her head, "No, that's her mother. She works there with her family." Mr. Satan scowled at the thought, remembering Mrs. Brief's husband. "Don't think that changes anything, you're still grounded!" He smirked at the idea of being in control of a teenager. As the moments passed, he opened his eyes to see his daughter wasn't even in the room anymore, 'ugh, why do I bother…' the matriarch of the house hold sighed and went into the other room to watch more recordings of himself. 'Teenagers'