Fanfic by Cloud/Narlan, or however you know me as on what website.

Sailor Moon©Naoko Takeuchi

Dragonball Z©Akira Toriyama

Just trying to get as much done before my vacation next week. :)

Chapter 10

Know Your Enemy

"Wow, Trunks. You sure know how to treat a lady!" Chibiusa said as she wiped off the creamy syrup off her face. Trunks, as promised the night before, bought her breakfast, but was quite surprised she ate six of them. Trunks shrugged and smiled at her as he slowly finished his pancakes. Chibiusa just giggled as she watched him shyly.

The day after Setsuna visited them, Gohan decided to get to work immediately the following day. Right after another tough day at school, he headed straight to the library, just as Sailor Pluto said the archive of the Noire Empire may be. He spent a few hours just scanning the bookshelves for what he's trying to find, but he had no luck.

It was already sundown, and he still had no luck finding the archive.

"Gohan? The library is closing." Hotaru said across the aisle of books he was floating in. Gohan gasped for a moment and was shocked realizing he was so deep into finding the book, he even flew a little to get to the upper shelves.

"Sorry, Hotaru. Looks like I got a little carried away, hehe..." Gohan chuckled a bit and landed.

Hotaru giggled, "Come on, lets go home for tonight." She smiled as he nodded.

Gohan and Hotaru took the main hallway leading out to the front entrance. The academy and library was already closed about an hour ago, by the looks of it.

"You two studying late tonight, hm?" A mysterious voice rang from behind them. They both turned around, and found Professor Tom following them.

"Oh, hey Professor. Um... Yeah, we were." Gohan said and shivered a little. Hotaru stayed silent for a moment and looked at him in deep thought for a moment.

"No, it's not a problem at all. Please do be aware, next time, staying here at the school this late is prohibited." Professor Tom said in a serious manner.

"Yes, sir." Gohan and Hotaru said at the same time.

"Very well, carry on." He said as he head back to the hallway towards his office. He seemed to be the only soul other than them in the entire building and campus.

Hotaru opened the door, but noticed Gohan was still standing in the same spot, watching her.

"Everything okay?" She asked him.

"Um... Hotaru..." Gohan said nervously, "I was wondering if... You'd like to go out for some..." He began to sweat. What would his mom say if he went on a date during his studies? Did he even plan ahead to ask her out right now? He blurted it out, "Tea?"

Hotaru blushed a little and smiled at him, "Oh, of course, Gohan. I could use a cup after a long day's work." She nodded and smiled as he followed her out the door.

They noticed the sun began to set on the campus, which looked quite beautiful. There were still a few kids in the family park having a good time, and there didn't seem to be any trace of the Neru ambush from the day before. The lights of the city began to turn on, and the night life of the city began. It was crowded on the walk there, but Gohan managed to find a decent-looking teahouse along the way in one of the less crowded parts of Tokyo. He took Hotaru's hand through the crowd, and they went inside.

There didn't seem to be a lot of people, which was good, he thought. The place was clean, too, though there wasn't really much inside other than a few mats and short tables. They both kneeled on the mat, as somebody brought them a fresh pot and two cups. Gohan took the pot and poured some tea into Hotaru's cup, and then his. They both took a sip simultaneously, and smiled at one-another.

Hotaru giggled, "You're quite a gentleman, Gohan, did I ever tell you that?"

"Um, no, I don't think so... Hehe." Gohan blushed a little as he saw her giggle.

The two were rather silent as they slowly sipped their tea. Gohan noticed Hotaru put her cup down, and stared into the water. For about three minutes, he just saw her look down at her reflection in the cup. He then put his cup down, and stared down at it, too, at his own reflection. Now he was in deep thought, about who this enemy could be. Where could that archive of all the information on the Noire Empire be? But above all, Gohan thought about Hotaru... He waited and thought there for five minutes, not saying a word to Hotaru.

He gasped, suddenly, "Hotaru?"

She gasped, too, "Gohan?"

They both calmed down and caught their breath, and finished the last of their tea in the cups.

"What's wrong?" Gohan asked.

"Tell me, Gohan. Do you ever look at someone, and think they look like somebody you know or love?

He thought about her question for a moment. He remembered when that Saiyan named Turles kidnapped him as a boy, and looked almost identical to his father. Gohan didn't want to explain the story to her, though, because it could scare her.

"Not really, no... Why?" Gohan looked at her. She had her head down.

"Don't worry about it," Hotaru replied and turned her head away and blushed a little, "How about you?"

"I just have to find that archive. If that one man who went on board their ship and back knows so much about them, our best hope in learning about them is with him. Starting tomorrow, I'll really need to find it." Gohan stood up for a moment, but forgot to lay his cup down and accidentally spilled some on his school uniform pants, "Gah!"

Hotaru giggled softly as she watched him react. She then nodded, "Let me help you, too. I'll work full-time for the next few weeks if I need to."

Gohan turned to her with his eyes wide open. She didn't have to, he thought, but it was for his own advantage he gets the help. They smiled at one-another, again.

He took some yen out of his pocket, and felt grateful he exchanged his zeni right on time before. Gohan went over to the monk preparing the tea, and left the money in front of him. The monk smiled and nodded to him, and resumed the ceremony. He headed outside, now, where Hotaru was waiting for him. She seemed a little tired and weak, and began to lean on him as soon as he reached her.

"Thank you, Gohan. I'm ready to go now.." Hotaru said a little faintly. Gohan wrapped his left arm around her.

"Don't mention it," He smiled and replied, "Lets go home." She smiled back and closed her eyes as they headed for home, with Gohan holding her.

Tokyo at nighttime was simply amazing, Gohan thought. Hotaru was holding onto him tightly so they wouldn't separate in the crowds of people. It was rather noisy, too, but Gohan didn't mind when he was holding the most beautiful girl in the world.

A couple minutes later, they finally arrived at the apartment complex. Hotaru slowly opened her eyes to him, and blushed a little. She held his wrist as they went up the elevator, and laid her head against his shoulder, tired. When they arrived at the floor they were both on, Gohan took her hand to her apartment door. She took out the key and opened it, and noticed Chibiusa was already asleep.

She turned back to him, "Thank you, Gohan. Tonight was... Nice." Hotaru said and smiled.

"It sure was. You sleep well, alright?" Gohan nodded and smiled back. Hotaru nodded and slowly closed the door.

"Goodnight," they said simultaneously. Hotaru shut the door behind her and blushed, "No, tonight was wonderful." She said softly and went to her bedroom to prepare for bed.

Gohan went into his room a little after. He thought about her for a moment, and was just amazed how great tonight was. He noticed Trunks was fast asleep on the couch, which shocked him.

"I guess he's going to be staying for a while..." Gohan said to himself as he headed towards his bedroom. He pulled off his school uniform polo and slipped on his night shirt. Tomorrow would be the day he'll really need to find that archive. He just couldn't let that monster destroy Earth, like it did to the world Hotaru came from...

The next day, Gohan went through another rough day at school. He went straight to the library after his last class to meet up with Hotaru to find the archive.

"Okay, we have only have a few hours here. So lets make use of it." Hotaru said. Gohan nodded in reply.

The library was rather quiet, so Gohan took the advantage by flying around the shelves to see if there was anything useful. Hotaru took any chance for a break from checking out books to help Gohan out, and even looked through the catalog from time to time to see if anything related was there.

They ran out of time really soon, though. It was already sundown and they had to go leave the library. They met at the front entrance of the academy.

"I didn't even go through half the whole library, yet..." Gohan said and sighed.

"There's always tomorrow," Hotaru smiled a little, "The whole school year for you, in fact." She said and giggled.

Gohan laughed a little and nodded in agreement, and they headed back to the apartment complex.

The next day was the exact same routine, only it seemed longer to the both of them. Hotaru would pick up a book for checkout and flip through the pages before actually lending it to the person to borrow. It took Gohan at least one hours to go through one shelf of material, but found nothing. More than half of the books in the library were college studying material and reference with little labelling, so there was nothing obvious he could or couldn't pick.

Before they knew it, it was nighttime again. They had to head for home and try again the next day. Another day went by, with the same routine and still no luck. Hotaru began to ask for later work hours so she could help Gohan longer. Eventually, Friday came, and there was still no luck. They had the weekend to relax and spend some time with Trunks and Chibiusa, but were still anxious to find that archive.

"Are you sure Setsuna-sama was right when she told you that archive was in the library?" Chibiusa said as she took a sip of her soda.

"She is the only one we can look up to now... I'm sure she knew where we need to find it." Hotaru said as she placed her fork on the table.

Chibiusa, Hotaru, Gohan, and Trunks, were all at a local cafe in the city, enjoying a nice dinner after a hard week, especially for Gohan and Hotaru. The four were just finished enjoying a nice plate of desserts.

"So what have you and Chibiusa been up to, huh?" Gohan asked Trunks. He noticed Chibiusa blush a little.

"Uh..." Trunks said and shivered. Chibiusa leaned on him.

"We were flying!" She hugged Trunks really tightly and nuzzled his arm.

"Yeah... I took her all the way to Paris today." Trunks said and nodded slowly.

"Wow, Chibiusa-chan! Looks like you got yourself a new boyfriend." Hotaru said and giggled a little.

Trunks shook his head nervously and whispered to Gohan, "I swear, she's not my girlfriend..."

"Sure, she isn't..." Gohan laughed happily with Hotaru.

The weekend went by slowly. Gohan and Hotaru resumed their search in finding that archive in the library for that week. In what felt so short a time, it was Friday again. The days began to get harder for Gohan as schoolwork piled up on him more. Instead of doing his homework, he would spend more time in the library searching for the research. He would end up going to bed at one o'clock in the morning due to so much searching and finishing homework. Hotaru received little overtime for working her later hours, too. She always walked home with Gohan very exhausted, and he would even have to carry her home some days.

Three weeks have gone by. By now, Gohan already searched the whole library, and Hotaru found not a single book related to the Noire research. Their only other option now was to find the man in the school who went on board the spaceship.

Those four weeks of looking for the archive were very exhausting. Gohan was asked in the morning to report to the lecture hall for a special class by Professor Tom. He got to school on time, and headed through the hallways to find the lecture hall, and went inside as soon as he found it. Gohan looked around and barely paid attention to the large room, which was round with seats and desks surrounding a small lower stage in the center, but all the students who were wide awake and socializing. He felt miserable that morning, and he remembered being told the class would last all day. He took his seat and watched Professor Tom as he took the stage in the center of the room.

"Now I hope you all know, everyone, that there is life beyond our own atmosphere, correct?" Professor Tom asked through the microphone on the stage.

"Correct!" All of the students in the surrounding seats where Gohan was said altogether.

"Yeah..." Gohan said tiredly and yawned.

"Very good. Now behind me, please observe this holographic 3D model of the planet Saturn." Professor Tom said as he clicked on a button on a remote he was holding.

From behind him, a holographic projector displayed an enormous 3D image of the planet Saturn. The students suddenly widened their eyes in awe by its amazing detail and design. It was the size of nearly a quarter of the whole room. Everybody seemed fascinated with the image, except Gohan who now had his head on the pullout desk in front of him.

Professor Tom stood their for an hour teaching the students the components of the rings of planet Saturn and its atmosphere. The other students were taking notes, while Gohan closed his eyes and began to take a nap.

"Son Gohan?" Professor Tom suddenly said in the middle of his lecture to all the students in the hall. He was still sound asleep, while all the students surrounding him began to stare at him.

Gohan then felt a paper ball strike the back of his head. He raised his head slowly and yawned, looking down at Professor Tom on the stage.

"Mhm, yeah Professor?" Gohan said drowsily.

"Late night again, hm? In the library?"

"Yeah..." Gohan mumbled and yawned again.

"If you enjoy working late in the library, would you like to study late in detention, too?"

Gohan's eyes suddenly widened, "Um, no sir!"

"Simon, please escort Gohan to the library. I will meet him there shortly." Professor Tom said and turned back to the rest of the class, "Now then, the amount of helium present in the planet's atmosphere is..."

Gohan couldn't hear him finish the sentence, as he heard all the older students in the lecture hall beginning to laugh and ridicule him on how he fell asleep in class. He didn't care at that moment, he just wanted to sleep right now, and especially meet up with Hotaru again that night. So he just followed the student, Simon, to the library in hopes he doesn't get in any more trouble.

Gohan took a seat and picked up The Firefly book from his backpack, and began to read it. He looked up and saw Hotaru at the checkout desk, noticing she was really busy at the moment. He looked back down, feeling guilty that he got detention.

"Ah, there you are. Why don't you follow me for a moment, Gohan?" Gohan suddenly heard Professor Tom from in front of him. He looked up, and noticed he had a serious look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Professor... I really shouldn't have stayed up so late studying here." Gohan said and nodded a little.

"Just hope that this detention teaches you an important lesson." Professor Tom said and headed into the deeper parts of the library. Gohan followed him.

Gohan remembered looking through this part of the library while looking for the archive. This wasn't a typical place for detention, though, he thought. It was the first time he ever had it, anyway. But Gohan was really scared of what his mom might think if she ever discovered he got detention today.

"Here we are." Professor Tom suddenly stopped. He took a few books out of the shelves, and began rearranging them. Gohan looked around him and noticed there were no people around, as in zero. Suddenly, a crank from the ground surprised him. A giant hole with a stairway suddenly appeared in the floor of the library!

"Come on, we have no time to waste." Professor Tom said as he made his way down the steps.

Gohan seemed a little nervous for a moment, but he followed him down the stairs slowly. It was really dark, and noticed there were cobwebs and spiders along the way. He didn't like the feel of the place. How could such a fancy and expensive-looking school have a room like this, he thought?

They finally reached the bottom of the stairs, which seemed like a long time, where there was a room with about four bookshelves.

"Here we are. You seem to have speed-read every book in the library, so why don't you give some of these a try? It will help you." Professor Tom said to Gohan and smiled a little.

"Help me with what? The exam next week?" Gohan asked.

Professor Tom chuckled a little, "You'll find out." He made his way back up the stairs, and noticed the trapdoor he came in through began to close!

"Wait a minute, Professor, don't just leave me down...!" It came to a complete shut, and the room was almost pitch dark now, only with a candle as a light source. What kind of room is this? He shrugged and went over to the bookcase, and pulled out a book.

"Gohan?" A sweet and gentle voice said. Gohan suddenly jumped and turned around.

"GHOST?" Gohan's eyes widened in frighten, but noticed when he shined the candlelight at it, it was Hotaru standing there. "Oh, Hotaru... It's just you. How did you get down here?"

She giggled, "I came down right when the Professor came up. I work here and I don't even know about this place." Hotaru smiled and walked over to him.

Gohan smiled back at her, and slowly opened the first page of the book. His eyes suddenly widened again and his jaw dropped.

"What is it?" Hotaru asked and looked over his shoulder.

Notes of the Noire Kingdom, Vol. 1. A Story of the Aliens of the Dark, it read.

"Hotaru..." Gohan said and picked up another book, this time it read The Noire Behemoth, the Incarnation of Hell Itself. "We've found it."