-1Last Chapter:

Nozomi dove into the world of home improvement, while Piccolo struggled to control his growing perversion, and both rediscovered the joys of stargazing.

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Gohan sighed as the teacher took roll, hoping the rest of the year wasn't going to be as trying as his first five minutes were. He heard the door open, but ignored it as he thought of the public humiliation and teasing he would have to endure because of the teacher's overzealous divulgence of his test scores. There was some excited muttering from around him, along with some catty whispering coming from Videl and Eraser, and he looked up when the teacher cleared his throat.

"It seems we have another new student," he said, dragging his eyes away from the short skirt the girl was wearing to look at the note, "Miss. . . Nozomi Sensono? The Nozomi Sensono?!"

Gohan's jaw dropped as he looked up and saw a familiar, snowy-headed girl. Well, she didn't look like a girl anymore, didn't even look like the girl he'd seen nearly a year ago. Her eyes met his and she gave him a silky smile, beginning to walk towards the seats.

"Last time I checked," she said in response to the teacher's question, her heels clicking in time to the sway of her hips as she walked, watching some of the boys trying to push their friends out of seats to make room, and a few girls giving her nasty looks.

She stopped next to Gohan's seat and put her finger under his jaw, pushing it closed, "Mind if I sit next to you?"

"Not at all," he smiled, scooting over so she'd have room as she pulled an unoccupied chair over, whispering to her, "You're late."

"Well, I guess I'm not as committed to my studies as you," she smiled, "I'm only here because I have no choice."

Gohan chuckled, glancing around and sighing at all the glares he was now getting, "I wish I had that choice too."

xx

"So, how's Goten and your mom?" she asked as they gathered their things to leave, "It's been a while since I've talked to you."

"They're fine," he smiled, noticing she'd gotten taller as they walked side by side. She was now taller than he was in her heels, "How about you? How's-"

"Hey there," Sharpener said, shoving Gohan out of the way and moving into his spot, "What's your name?"

"Unamused," she frowned, stopping to help Gohan up, giving Sharpener a cool look, "If you didn't hear it before, I'm not repeating it."

A short, dark-headed girl with blue eyes stepped directly in front of her, blocking her way, "So you're really Nozomi Sensono?"

"And you are?" Nozomi asked, not seeing Gohan nearly swoon behind her.

"She's Hercule Satan's daughter, Videl!" the perky little blond next to Videl said, "Her father's-"

"I know who he is," Nozomi said with an eye roll, as she stepped around them and kept walking, "He's an idiot."

"Nozomi," Gohan muttered, watching Videl's face turn a shade of red he'd only seen in a crayon box.

"What did you say?!" Videl screamed, reaching out to grab Nozomi's arm and clutching air as the taller girl turned at precisely the right moment to pull a piece of paper off her shoe, effectively avoiding the action.

"I said he was an idiot," Nozomi repeated, remaining blank as she noticed Videl was in front of her again, "He really needs to find better PR people."

"Sill miffed about them calling you out at the last women's tournament?" Videl asked scathingly, "My dad says you were clearly cheating, since there's no way someone your age could possibly win against people he trained."

"Maybe he's just a lousy trainer," Nozomi shrugged, "And I've been trained by the best since I could walk. Is there a point to this little girl, because I have a class to get to. I believe you do too. Hopefully it's Etiquette 101."

"I figured you'd be snotty," Videl said, crossing her arms, "I see I was right."

Nozomi raised a brow, "Funny, I was thinking that you were a complete bitch the moment I set eyes on you. Glad that we could both be right."

She turned to leave again, sidestepping to avoid a spill on the floor and watching Videl fly past her as she attempted to punch her, instead managing to collide with a row of lockers, "For the great Hercule's daughter, you sure are a klutz."

"I'm watching you," Videl said, "Just because you can dodge doesn't make you a good fighter."

Nozomi chuckled, wondering if the girl was really stupid enough to think she'd dodge such pitiful attacks, and saw they'd drawn a crowd, "And obviously being of fighting stock doesn't make you a fighter either. Gohan, I'll see you at lunch."

xxxx

"So how do you know Nozomi Sensono?" Sharpener asked, corning him outside the locker room after gym.

"We're old acquaintances," he said, "Her sensei used to fight with my dad."

"I still don't see why she'd associate with a geek like you," Sharpener continued.

"Well, I guess I can't answer that," Gohan said nervously, wondering if this day could get any worse.

"You're not dating are you?" the blond asked, giving him a threatening glare.

"What?! Me, date her?! NO! I- I've never- I mean- I DON'T LIKE HER LIKE THAT!!" Gohan said nervously, effectively freaking out for the second or third time that day.

Sharpener looked unconvinced, and then his mouth formed an 'O' before he shrugged, "I should have known you were gay."

"Well, you know, when- What?!" Gohan asked, "No, I'm not! Really, it's just-"

"It's okay, it's only natural for a wuss like you to be scared of women," Sharpener added, "But if I ever catch you looking at me in some fruity way, I'll pound your face-"

"He's not gay."

They both turned, and watched Nozomi scowl, the look on her face daring him to question her.

"Really? Well, he just said he didn't like you, that way," Sharpener said, giving Gohan a smug look.

"He doesn't," she said, "Anymore."

Gohan raised a brow, turning pink. How did she know?

"Really? What, he some obsessive fan of yours that you took pity on or something?"

"No, he dumped me," she said, shocking them both, "Didn't you Gohan?"

"Um- I mean- I- Well-" he began stammering.

She sauntered over to him, pouting her lips and looking pitiful, "I cried myself to sleep for months, thinking about how much I'd put you through. How I'd never get to feel your arms around me, or your lips against mine, ever again."

Gohan stared at her, wondering how exactly Piccolo lived with her and wasn't driven to distraction, or murder, as he saw her wink at him. Mr. Piccolo must be some kind of saint, "N-Nozomi."

"I couldn't stand the thought of you with another woman, so I transferred here," she continued, batting her long lashes, "And now I realize how wrong I was to think that you still loved me like I loved you if you can say things like that."

She burst into big, fake tears, throwing her arms around his neck, "Can you ever forgive me? I'll do anything you ask, be your slave, just forgive me for what I did!"

"What are you doing?" he hissed, watching the guys that were filing out of the locker room were stopping and getting the scoop from their friends, and Sharpener was watching it all with his jaw slack.

"Just play along. Tell me you can't, but that we can be friends," she whispered back between huge, melodramatic sobs.

"I- I can't do that," he said, pushing her away and almost reconsidering what he'd pretended to mean when he saw the tears falling from her widened blue eyes, "But, we can still be friends, I just can't be with you anymore. Like that."

She sniffed, pulling a handkerchief from between her cleavage and wiping her eyes, pouting at him again, "I guess it's for the best. Have lunch with me?"

"Sure," he smiled, hearing scrambling behind them as she took his arm and tossed the kerchief behind her onto the floor, making sure they were somewhat alone before he said anything else, "What was that about?"

"Giving you a little social boost," she smiled, "Though unfortunately it also made me a girl that'll be rumored to be vulnerable and on the rebound. Eh, I'm in an ass-kicking kind of mood today for some reason. Can't think of why."

"There you are!"

"Oh, it just came to me," she said dryly, turning around and seeing Videl standing there, "Are you referring to Gohan, or to myself?"

"You!" she snapped, shoving her finger in Nozomi's face, "I'm calling you out! Today after school at the baseball field."

"No," Nozomi said, "I have to meet with the man that's installing cabinets in my kitchen at fifteen after, so I'm afraid I really can't beat you to a pulp today. Maybe some other time, like when you get the stick out of your ass?"

Gohan pinched the bridge of his nose, suddenly wishing someone with more social skills than Piccolo had trained Nozomi. Obviously, it had led to her having an inability to be subtle and restrain her use of sarcasm.

"How about right now?" Videl growled, staring up at the taller girl.

"No, Gohan and I were about to have lunch," she said, "Besides, isn't it against the rules to fight in school? Not a very good example for Hercule Satan's daughter to make, is it? Imagine if it were leaked to the press."

She gave a falsely shocked gasp, "Oh my! What an embarrassment that would be!"

Gohan watched a smirk he'd never seen spread across Nozomi's face. It was maniacal. It was devilish. It was almost evil. Most of all, it was sexy as Hell.

"And it'd all be true," Nozomi had said the last part in a whisper that hinted at scandal, making Videl's face darken with rage.

"You better just watch your back," Videl finally said, stomping off with Eraser flouncing after her.

"If I don't kill her by winter, will you take me to dinner?" Nozomi asked, laughing as Gohan stared at her.

xxxx

Piccolo raised a brow, looking at the clock for the twentieth time, and heaved yet another sigh.

He actually missed her.

Scowling at the thought, he got up to get a glass of water, frowning as the faucet simply hissed at him. The water was still off where the new cabinets were coming in, so he went to the fridge and got a bottle of water, looking around the living room as he re-entered it.

She'd brought a few smaller pieces of furniture from the other house, though they were still large and imposing in the smaller space, making it look like something out of one of those stupid romance books Kosui kept sending. Not that he read them mind you, just that he'd opened one or two to see what was in them. The room looked stuffy and cramped, and he'd heard Nozomi talking with Tholi over the phone about getting new furniture. This was of course after she'd gone over the list of all the repairs that had been done, and what all was left to do.

He walked back to Nozomi's bedroom, looking around at the deep purple walls and up at the metallic bronze ceiling, down to the ebony silk of the sheets against the bronze and black mehndi patterned comforter. Strings of glass, silver, stone, and other beads dripped like icicles from the canopy of her bed, glinting in the sunlight coming in from the single, silk-draped window. The air was heady with a musky, spicy incense, and he felt there was a definite charge that lingered in the room

'Are you in the middle of a harem?'

"What? No!" he said aloud, "I'm in Nozomi's room."

'Ah, I see. I only asked because that was what your senses were telling me,' Nail chuckled, 'It must be some room. I wonder who she'll find to help her break in the sheets?'

"Shut up," he growled, not in the mood to quarrel with Nail and be reminded that she'd be around other people that were more like her than him all day.

'You certainly are on a hair trigger today. What's on your mind?'

"Nothing," he replied, leaving the room and going outside, "I'm just thinking that this is a waste of time, and is interfering with her training."

'Uh huh. Have you figured out that code of hers yet?'

No. It's . . . It's vaguely familiar, but I'm sure it's because it resembles Minami text, he replied mentally, the long pause leading him to believe Nail was suddenly gone.

'It looks familiar to you though?' Nail asked, obviously trying to get him to figure it out, 'As in you should know how to decipher it?'

Piccolo merely grunted, settling down to meditate in front of one of the trees surrounding the house. Nail had voiced what he had been trying to deny; that the text looked too familiar. Yes, Nozomi was intelligent, and had obviously based it off Minami cuneform, but he'd looked at the latter text she'd written and seen it had become different; sharper but somewhat rounder. He'd seen it before, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

xxxx

Nozomi held her pen in her teeth as she scrolled down the list of links, her eyes narrowing as she tried to find one to suit her purpose. Study Hall was proving to be somewhat beneficial after all. It gave her time to look at her notes from the Lookout without Piccolo standing over her shoulder. Clicking on a line of text, she sighed and began reading yet another theory on The Purging myth from the Higashi religion. Higashi was an offshoot of Minami, as were Kita, Nishi, and all of the other ancient religions. The ones that were most documented publically seemed to be Higashi, as it was the one with the least following. There was a struggling Higashi temple not far from Satan City, and she made a mental note to go there on a day when school was out that she'd 'forget' to mention to Piccolo.

There wasn't a lot of information, and there never was on any website she had found, but she was beginning to get small pieces that she could fit together later to make a whole. She leaned closer to the screen and unconsciously bit down harder on her pen as she read.

According to myth, The Purging began due to the large amount of people that renounced the old gods, and began turning to self-love and more often, evil deeds. It was said that Solaria wept for months, and this supposedly caused the floods in the West and created the large swampland there, before she went before the Lord of Demons to ask for his help in punishing the people of Earth, as she couldn't bear to do it herself.

Together, they created the Eater of Souls, which they unleashed upon the Earth to cleanse the people who were not true of heart, sparing those that were followers of the gods and goddesses.

Nozomi frowned. This was obviously watered down, as she knew that the Gods wept for no one, and that no demon would readily agree to help purge all evil from the world. It also seemed unlikely that Solaria and the Lord of Demons, which she supposed was the Lord of Hell, would ever willingly work together for one gain.

The bell chimed that the period was over, and she logged off the computer, jotting down a quick series of notes before she went to her next class.

xxxx

"Open your damn eyes Namek!"

Piccolo did just that, narrowing them at Nozomi, who was standing nonchalantly in front of him, "What."

"I've been talking to you for about two minutes before I realized you hadn't heard a word I'd said," she frowned back, "Distracted much?"

"I was meditating," he replied back, "What do you want?"

"You know what, nothing. Capsule Corp. is only a short ways away. I think I'll just go see if Vegeta wants to train for a while," she said with a small smirk, knowing it was one way to get him going.

"Go right ahead. I'm sure he'd love to train with you," he said back, knowing there was no way in Hell she could get that stubborn Saiyan to agree to do anything beneficial to anyone but himself.

She blinked at him for a moment, and then shrugged, "Alright. I'll see you tonight."

He watched her walk into the house and emerge a few minutes later in her customary summer gi, growling to himself about what an idiot she was as she took off towards Bulma's. He should've just played along with her little game and sullenly stopped what he was doing to cater to her, which is what he knew she was expecting since he'd done it for years. He got down and went into the house, thinking that even if she did get Vegeta to cooperate, she was bound to come back half dead if not missing a limb or two. He spotted her book of coded notes lying on the couch with the other books that had been loosed from her book bag, and picked it up, flipping through it again.

xxxx

Nozomi landed in front of the enormous, dome-shaped building, and looked around for any sign of anyone she knew. A door slid open and two familiar forms came into view, one with mussed lavender hair that began running towards her at full speed, the other with well-groomed blue hair that just stood back with a motherly smile.

"Nozomi!" Trunks yelled, looking like he was going to tackle her once he got close enough.