Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or any of it's products nor anything associated with it.

Chapter 10

Gohan awoke to the sound of draining fluid and booming laughter. He squinted through the liquid that remained on his eyelashes as he spied Vegeta nearly hunched over from laughter. He's squint soon turned into a glare as the man on the other side of the glass kept laughing.

With a growl Gohan spoke up, "What's so damn funny?"

Vegeta smothered his laughter down to a wide smirk as he answered, "You are so lucky it was me that came in here to get you instead of Bulma or that new girl. Hell I can't even imagine how red you'd both be. I can't believe you got naked to get in there."

"I thought I had to take my clothes jackass", Gohan spat out between his teeth.

"Why? Because I made your father do that back on namek? Hell no, the tanks for the lesser soldiers like myself were so crappy that we had to but the one on Frieza's ship and this here are both way more advanced", Vegeta said smugly.

Gohan's anger turned to confusion as he stared at Vegeta, "Then why did you make my dad do it?"

Vegeta chuckled, "Simple if he was killed while in that tank then I wanted him to be as humiliated as possible. After I started living on this planet though I realized that it was a pointless joke. Your father had absolutely no sense of modesty."

Gohan couldn't help but chuckle at the irony as he climbed out of the tank without even thinking about Vegeta being in the room. He put his boxers on and then went to grab his torn and ruined pants before a small ki blast from Vegeta destroyed them in his hands with his shirt soon to follow.

"The woman has ordered that you be given new clothes and I'm tired of seeing you in those ridiculous earthling clothes. Here", Vegeta thrust a Capsule Corps labeled duffel bag towards him.

With nothing else to say the flame haired saiyan left the room in a rather big hurry. Gohan cast a quizzical look at the door and sat the bag on the table. Opening it he found a new gi. The style reminded him of his father's but the colors were different. The pants and undershirt were both black as ink. The over shirt was loose fitting and was the same shade of gray as the arms bands. The boots were dark gray with black seams. On the front was the demon sign of Piccolo while the back was blank.

"What the heck? Why all the dark colors, and what's with the blank back?", Gohan said as he wandered down the hall to find Vegeta only to bump into Bulma.

"Hey kiddo, you look sharp", Bulma said as she regained her balance.

"Yeah? Thanks but what's with all the darkness and why isn't there a sign on the back? I don't mean to be picky. I'm just curious", Gohan said as he tried his best to remember his manners that seemed to have slipped away during his travels.

Bulma got a twinkle in her eye as she replied, "Well you see there's a few reasons for all that. We're start with the simplest first. I figured you'd need a uniform for fighting crime or whatever it is you Son men do while you stay in Satan city. I had a wonderful costume in mind for you complete with a snazzy helmet and a flowing cape, but Trunks and Vegeta both said it looked terrible."

Gohan released a silent sigh of relief as Bulma continued, "As for the symbol on the back I didn't think you'd want your last name on display as you played vigilante. Also Vegeta mentioned that for all intents and purposes you are a master of your own. Don't let him know that I told you but he respects you a lot and has missed you the last few years. He's alone. Trunks is no saiyan, heck he wasn't even born with a tail. Your father is gone. That leaves just you. He misses having another saiyan around. Now I believe you have a date with a certain blonde lady who is wanting to know your secrets. Now off you go and remember she has to tell you her secret too."

Gohan received a firm shove on his shoulder as he muttered under his breath about traitorous friends. He trudged down the hall as searched for Erasa's ki signal that had became more and more familiar over the last couple of days. He located her in the ground floor living room.

He knocked on the door frame as he observed the blonde pecking away furiously at her phone. Her head jerked up and she put her phone down as she smiled, "Hey! I was beginning to think that you abandoned me hear."

"Nah, I just had to get healed up and get some new clothes. You know fighting and all that sort of ruins them pretty quick", Gohan said with a shrug as Erasa inspected his new outfit.

"Yeah it's nice for fighting I guess but do have anymore normal clothes left for school?", she asked as she picked at his shirt.

Gohan shook his head, "Nope but I'll get some tomorrow before school starts. Anyways, aren't we supposed to be talking?"

Erasa grinned, "I really figured you'd try to avoid it. Well no reason to delay when I can make you spill today."

Gohan sighed as he sat on the couch next to his blonde friend, "Alright but you can't repeat any of this to anyone. My life is literally an entire series of world altering events that almost no one knows about. Understand?"

Erasa was taken aback by the sudden stern behavior from her soon to be confident, "Woah, this is a big change. I wasn't even sure that you could be serious but ok I'll keep your secret as long as you do the same for me even if mine aren't world altering. Okay?"

Gohan nodded as he formed a ki ball in his hand and held it up, "This is energy or what most of the world calls tricks. Before you ask it is not a trick and yes I'll get to Cell games now any questions before I get started?"

"I'll just hold all questions till the end, but this had better be good", Erasa said as she slid away from him and crossed her arms.

Gohan ran his hands through his hair as he began to explain. He was sweating bullets as he explained his father's life before he born. He noticed Erasa started to pay more attention as he told her about the battle between his father and the reincarnated demon king Piccolo. Then they reached the part that had her seeing hearts as he told her how his parents got together at the end of the tournament.

She tensed back up as he reached the part concerning Raditz. She let out a gasp as he repeated his uncle's ultimatum of one hundred human corpses within an hour. Shit if she hates this then she'll be positively sick when she hears about Namek. We all killed their. Vegeta spilled enough blood to fill a pool.

He progressed on to the arrival of Vegeta and Nappa as the night wore on. She handled the part of East city being wiped out in an instant relatively well since it was a quick death. Then they reached the actual battle and the consequent horrific deaths.

Erasa waved her hands in the air, "Okay, time to stop. I believe you now. No one could just pull some shit like that out of the air. I'm certain that I'll have nightmares already so no more just yet please. Shit, how could you even stand to grow up like that? I mean the blood and battles. It's just how could anyone live like that as a child or even as an adult. As much as it already horrifies me I'm guessing it just gets worse?"

Gohan cracked a grim smile, "Oh it gets much worse."

Erasa gasped, "How can you smile about this?"

"It's not that I enjoy any of this its just part of my life. Actually, it's just part of being a saiyan. We are born for battle, we live for battle, and when we die it will probably be in battle. Understand that when I was little I was terrified of fighting like I've been telling you. Now I love the thrill of a good fight. It's not about the blood or even the killing. It's about the challenge. Don't get me wrong, I'm the same as any saiyan when I get pissed off I fight for the kill. We can finish the story whenever you want", Gohan said as he tried to fully explain his reasoning.

Erasa lowered her head, "I guess that means that it's my turn now huh?"

"Yeah it is. If you want a little more time then I'll wait till I'm done with my story", Gohan said.

Erasa shook her head, "No, if I don't tell you this now then I don't know when I'll have to guts to do it."

Gohan sat back and waited for Erasa as she began, "I'm sure that even as much food as you devour that you notice I eat an abnormal amount. That would be because I never have enough to eat. I eat the free lunches at school and that's it normally. I can afford some cheap soup or something for the weekend but that's about it. I guess I should explain why money is so tight. My dad left my mom before I was born and she made sure I was fed and clothed and what not for the first little while. Then when I was around seven it was like she just lost the will to care anymore. She floats between boyfriends and hasn't been home in nearly six months. I've sold just about everything I can to pay the bills. I wasn't going to tell you because I haven't told anyone, but when Bulma examined me she noticed. When we found you guys in the hall I guess she saw a chance to get me my answers from you while having a someone else know.

I'm not saying you have to do anything about it. Please don't tell anyone either. I haven't even told my best friend. She thinks I've just always loved going to her house. The truth is I do love going over there because of all the food they have. Hot water is a plus also. The only person that knows is this one guy from school that's sort of a friend. Luckily, he hasn't done anything with the information. Well that's my big secret. It's not world altering but it has been life altering for me."

Gohan sat stunned as he stared at the blue eyed girl next to him, "You're starving?"

"Well not starving necessarily", Erasa countered quietly.

"You're damn right 'not starving' at least not anymore", Gohan said as his serious tone crept back into his voice, "Now come on, I'm sure Bulma will let you stay here tonight and I'll fly us to school. Come on we'll get someone to find us some rooms."