Things had been surprisingly uneventful since Gohan had escaped Gerova with the assistance of Videl. The young man had fully expected guard units to be pursuing them the moment the jailors realized he wasn't in the cell. Yet, neither patrol nor hungry reward-seekers had hunted him and his current captor. It was relieving and unnerving all at once.

Videl didn't seem perturbed by the development. In fact, he seemed fine without having to fight their way across farmland and fields.

The mountains to the north loomed over them, their shadows reaching out to the dirt path the two travelers walked on, yet never reaching. They were clearly out in the open, not that there was anything they could hide behind since everything was flat. The sun was high and there were birds whistling somewhere off in the fields. It had all the makings of a pleasant, peaceful day.

Still, despite this calming atmosphere, Gohan was reluctant to talk to Videl. Although he would have loved some conversation, there just wasn't much he could talk about to the bounty hunter. "So what are you going to do with the reward money after you've turned me in?" or "Why did you start chasing me?" were hardly acceptable subjects for small talk. Plus, Gohan didn't think he'd like the answers; some things were best left unsaid.

"Keeping going straight."

Gohan nearly jumped out of his thoughts. Looking around himself, the young man found that he and his captor had reached a fork in the road, one that continued east while the other went south. Videl was clearly indicating that they would continue going east.

"Whatever you say," he replied to him. "You're the boss."

Videl didn't acknowledge the reply. He only remained silent for a few moments before he said, "You've been pretty quiet."

"I don't really have much to say," the young man said with a shrug. "There's not much we can talk about."

"Sure there is," Videl disagreed cheerfully. "For instance, you can tell me where you got the bright idea to walk right into the capital city of the Ribbon House. I would have thought that would be the last place you would go."

"Well, I am on the run," Gohan retorted none too politely. "I figured you wouldn't have followed me to a city since I had never been to one since you've been chasing me."

Videl seemed quiet at that, something that Gohan felt a smug satisfaction about. Then the bounty hunter said, "I guess I can see your logic—if I didn't consider that the very people that put a bounty on your head resided in that very city. Oh yeah, I'm wanted by one of the Higher Houses and I'm going to hide in the very one that wants me more than any of the others. That's a very good plan."

That soured Gohan's mood. He really could have done without the sarcasm that dripped with every word the guy said. "I was doing a good job actually," he pouted. "I had even got directions before I was arrested."

"And how did you get arrested?"

Gohan fell silent on that question. One moment he had been talking with that Bear-Man guy, the next the guy had walked off and brought guards with him. Why the guy had wanted guards was beyond the young man; he was nicknamed the Man-Bear for crying out loud! Shouldn't he have wrestled him or something more manly? "I really don't know," he admitted, albeit a fib. "One moment I was sitting with this guy and the next he walks off and tells the guards where I am."

Videl rolled his eyes at that. "You know, since there is a bounty on your head, there are wanted posters of you. He could have recognized you from those."

"But that guy was drunk. I mean, I've never seen anyone drink as much alcohol as he did and be able to think straight."

"Gohan, the only time you've seen someone drunk was…well, you've never seen someone properly drunk."

That made the dark-haired youth frown. The sudden change in Videl's words had seemed off, as if he wanted to stay away from a particular subject. It bore thinking about after he defended his honor. "How would you know that? We didn't meet until last month. I could have done all sorts of things while you weren't around."

"Okay then, how many bars and taverns have you been to in the last year?"

Gohan looked proud as he answered, "Two."

Videl raised an eyebrow as he added, "Excluding this last time?"

"Two."

"So what were you doing there? You don't seem like the type to want to drink."

"Well…I didn't…drink…" Gohan trailed off. The reason why he went to those taverns was so he could hide out. Getting lost in a crowd really helped to get rid of any tails and he had done that twice. And now that he thought about it more, he had pretty much done it as well in Gerova. "I don't think you'd be interested in what I did," he then said in an attempt to brush off the topic.

Videl didn't seem like he agreed with the change. "We've got a long way ahead of us so there's no point in being shy."

"What about you then?" the young man asked. "Have you ever been in a tavern?"

"Yeah," the bounty hunter said matter-of-factly. "It was—wow, it feels like a long time ago."

"So you're not much of a drinker."

"I'm more of a wine drinker than I am beer."

Gohan was taken back by that response. Wine? What's he doing drinking that? Wine was a very expensive drink after all. The nobility were the main consumers of it so it was very rare that a commoner had the opportunity. Yet Videl acted as if he had plenty in his life time. "Who are you?" he blurted out.

The bounty hunter looked to him, an odd expression on his face. It was as if he wasn't sure how to answer Gohan's question, but wanted to give some form of an answer.

However, the lad never got the chance. In the middle of the road that they were walking on was a nice-sized pothole, the only imperfection with the road and surrounding terrain for miles and miles. The chances of actually stepping in it were nil if a person saw it and made sure they moved around it. But as fate would have it, Videl stepped right into it, throwing his balance off and causing him to fall face first to the ground.

Instantly, Gohan reached out to steady the boy. Although he wasn't fond of Videl considering their history, he wasn't about to let him get hurt. It was a life lesson that had been instilled in him somewhere in his forgotten past and it was very insistent that it be obliged.

Grabbing onto Videl's far shoulder with one hand, Gohan placed his other hand on the bounty hunter's chest to steady him. "Careful," the young man said automatically.

Videl blinked his eyes for a moment before using Gohan's assistance to reaffirm his footing. "Thanks," he said genuinely. The familiar warmth from doing a good deed filled up Gohan, causing him to return the grin.

However, that feeling dissipated a moment later when something odd reached the young man's mind. For one thing, Videl's chest felt weird. It wasn't as firm as his was. If anything, Gohan would have said it felt soft and slightly flabby. It wasn't something the dark-haired youth would have associated with a bounty hunter, especially one that seemed quite fit to keep up with him.

Then again, how could he be sure Videl was as athletic as he thought? Just looking at the lad showed he preferred clothes in a size too large. He could have been a bigger person once and managed to lose weight. That had to be it. He just had a flabby chest from losing weight!

"Uhh, are you going to be hanging onto me for awhile, or are you going to let go?"

"Oh, sorry," Gohan removed his hands calmly. The sensation of Videl's chest lingered on his palm. It'd go away eventually, or so he assumed. Once more, the two resumed their walking. Their previous conversation was all but forgotten, leading them into yet another long period of silence.

As fate would have it though, that silence would come to an end as they approached a lone tree that stood on the side of the road. On the opposite side was a bush and in front of that was a man who seemed to be moaning in relief. "Ohhhhhh, yeah. That's much better."

"I told you you should've gone back in that village, but nooooo, you had to be a tough guy and claim that you could hold it," a voice said from the tree. "Some bladder control you have."

"You would think people would have the decency to do that business away from the road," Videl growled with irritatation next to Gohan. The young man only found himself nodding in agreement to that statement. He also found himself—and Videl—slowing down until he came to a stop, watching the man by the bush and his mysterious companion.

"So you think he'll come this way?" the man by the bush asked with an odd-sounding accent, his head turning towards the tree. His long blond hair was held together with a hair tie, the hair hanging limply down his back.

"He better come this way if that villager knows what's good for him. At this, a woman with long, messy blonde hair appeared from behind the tree, her balled up hands placed against her hips. She was looking coolly at her male counterpart as if she was firmly in control and he was just along for the ride.

The man fiddled with the front of his tan pants before turning to completely face the woman. "So who's turn is it to take out the target?"

"Mine, Van," the woman said firmly, her tone clearly indicating that there would be no compromise. "You got to do it last time, remember?"

"You know, I get the feeling they're talking about me," Gohan said quietly to Videl. Although this couple was talking rather loudly, he wasn't ready to make his presence known to them yet.

"Probably safe to say," Videl agreed, eyes focused on the two blonds.

"So…got any ideas to get around them?"

"I'm working on something—just hold your horses."

"You know that last bounty was a disappointment," Van argued. "That guy pissed his pants once he saw us. I didn't even get to shot 'em."

The woman rolled her eyes as she put her weight on one leg, the other one bending out in front of her. This allowed Gohan to see that her closest leg was covered by a pants leg while the other, rather shapely leg was completely bare until it reached the top of her boot. "You know the drill, you shoot one, I shoot one. That's how we've always done it. Sometimes you don't get to shoot."

"You always get to shoot," Van groused disdainfully. Crossing his dark-sleeved arms over his chest, he continued to complain "When ever it's my turn, I'm lucky if I get to shoot and you promised I'd always have a chance to shoot."

"Quit your whining," the woman reprimanded harshly. "You're a professional, so act like one. Sheesh, what if the target shows up and you're acting like a snot-nosed baby? Yeah, he'll be real impressed by that."

While Gohan would have loved to hear more, sudden movement at his side alerted him to Videl moving behind him. "Give me your arms," he whispered lowly, grabbing his forearms and moving them to his back.

"What are you doing?" Gohan asked back, looking over his shoulder as he stared at the top of the bounty hunter's head.

"Making it look like I caught you," the lad replied. Pulling out his belt, he wrapped it around Gohan's arms and tightened it up. "I don't have any rope on me, but hopefully they won't look too hard at it. Now, let's walk up to them and say hi. The sooner they think you've been caught, the sooner they'll stop hunting you. Now, hunch over, hang your head, and act like you don't want to be here."

Upon hearing that, Gohan couldn't help but grumble, "But I don't want to be here."

"That's the spirit!"

With a push to the back, Gohan felt himself being force-marched towards the talking bounty hunters. Doing as Videl had suggested, he bowed his head down, hunching his shoulders up and trying to look as little as possible. Unfortunately, his captor was smaller than him, so it was impossible to be as small as he hoped he be.

Trudging their way to the mystery couple, Gohan could feel his nerves acting up with each step that brought them closer. The two bounty hunters didn't seem to notice them until they were a few feet away. The moment they turned their heads, the youth bowed his head lower, trying his best to obscure his features.

Unfortunately, they had keener eyes than had been hoped for. "Hey, that's the guy!" the woman exclaimed. Automatically, the man pulled out a miniature crossbow and aimed it right at the dark-haired man.

"Hey!" Videl immediately protested, pulling hard on the belt and forcing Gohan to come to a stop. "This is my prisoner, ya hear?"

"Where the heck did you catch him?" the man called Van asked, his eyes narrowed with greed at as stared at Gohan's cringing form. "We've been waiting for this fellow for awhile."

"Caught him outside of Gerova," Videl replied flippantly. It was almost as if he didn't care that there were two people just waiting to kill the young man. That was not a comforting feeling. "I've had to rough him up a couple times, but he's been cooperative since."

"What's your name?" the woman asked, her attention on Videl. She didn't seem to be paying any attention at all to Gohan.

"I go by Vee," the guy replied. "And you are?"

"I'm Hasky," the blonde woman replied before pointing to Van. "And that's Van Sant."

"Nice to meet you. Now I need to get this pest back to Namic so if you would, move out of the way."

"Now hold on a second," Van Sant said, moving in front of them. "We've been waiting too long to see a bloke like you steal our bounty. Hand him over and we'll let you live."

"For once, I agree," Hasky chimed in, also moving in front of them. "Hand over the wimp and get lost."

Gohan felt himself be roughly pulled back as Videl stepped around him and put himself in front of the youth. "He's mine, end of discussion. Now go get your own bounty."

Van leveled his mini-crossbow right at the lad, a shark-like grin on his face. "I don't think so."

Videl glared furiously before muttering something under his breath. The next thing anyone knew, the crossbow burst into flames, Van Sant immediately letting go of it as he yelped in pain. He shook his hand to sooth the burning it took.

"What the hell happened?!" Hasky exclaimed, her eyes wide as she stared at the still-burning weapon.

"Why are you asking me?" Van demanded back. "Must've misfired or something."

"Misfired? How the hell does a crossbow burst into flames when it misfires?!" the blonde woman roared with irritation. "Actually use that pitiful brain of yours."

As Van Sant looked ready to retort something insulting, Gohan sagged his shoulders and sighed. All of this fighting over him? He really must have done something bad in his previous life. No way should people be getting so worked up over someone like him. Deciding that perhaps the best thing to do was to keep moving, he began walking around the two arguing bounty hunters to continue on the path. Surprisingly, no one stopped him, not even Videl, as he walked further away from the argument.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Hasky and Van Sant suddenly yelled at him. Apparently they had noticed his sudden movement.

However, that caused them to look completely away from Videl, who had remained standing where he had been. Once the two blonds had looked away from him, the lad reached up with both of his hands and place one on the side of Van Sant's head and the other on the opposite side of Hasky's. He then slammed the bounty hunters' heads together with an audible crack, the two of them dropping to the ground in a heap. Just looking at them, the stars that formed on their eyes indicated they were not conscious.

"That settles that," Videl commented as he dusted his heads together. Stepping over them, he then walked up to Gohan, grabbed his bound hands, and removed the belt. As he began placing back around his waist, he said, "Let's gets going."

Gohan just nodded his affirmation.


Van Sant, by the way, is the gunman that shot Hercule and Buu's dog in the DBZ canon. He's sillier in this, obvious, but I thought it was worth pointing out since he's not as well known as other side characters.

To Guest: Oh, there's an amount, it's just very, very big. It sorta helps that I have most, if not the entire story written before I post. There's a reason it took five years for this story to start being posted lol.

RyRy tested; MaMa approved