Tail

"Thanks again for helping out with dinner Videl," beamed a gleeful Chi-Chi.

"It's…no problem…Chi-Chi…!" the young fighter strained. With a large crate of vegetables in hand, Videl sauntered through the door before dropping the wooden box, panting. "Geeze…isn't this a bit much?"

"Sweety, when you have to cook for three saiyans, you learn quickly that what you may think is enough, is only the first course."

With a groan, Videl trotted to the sofa, rubbing her sore muscles. "Can we take a small break first?"

"If you want to, that's fine by me. We have to wait for the guys to get back with the meat and other groceries anyway."

"Good…!" While Chi-Chi retreated to the kitchen, Videl plopped down onto the couch, letting herself sink into the cushions before stretching her arms out. Unfortunately, she'd end up knocking something off the nearby desk. Scrambling to pick it up, Videl laid eyes on what appeared to be an old family portrait featuring a young looking Goku carrying a toddler sized Gohan in his arms (think the DBZ eyecatch pose), Chi-Chi by their side with all three of them waving at the camera.

"Is that…!?"

"Gohan was so adorable back then~!"

"Kyaagh-!" Videl shrieked dropping the picture yet again, this time with the accompanying sound of shattering glass. "Uhhh…oops?"

"No, no, that one's my fault. I shouldn't have startled you like that," Chi-Chi apologized. "Still, not an issue. Goku would break quite a few of these from time to time so I have a LOT of spare frames. Be right back."

Videl giggled before picking the photo back up. As she studied the boyhood Gohan in the snapshot, her attention was caught by something long, slender and furry poking out from Goku's arm in the picture. Once Chi-Chi returned with a spare frame and a broom, Videl asked, "Hey, what's this thing in the picture?"

"What thing?"

Videl pointed out the furry strand, and Chi-Chi gave her a bewildered look. "Are you talking about Gohan's tail?"

"…Gohan's WHAT!?"

"Oh! Right, of course you wouldn't know about it. Gohan used to have a tail when he was little."

Videl could only gawk in disbelief as she continued inspecting the photo. "Is…is that some kind of Saiyan thing or is Gohan just that kind of special?"

Chi-Chi crossed her arms. "Both actually. It's definitely a Saiyan thing cause Goku had a tail when he was a kid too. Though strangely enough, neither Goten nor Trunks had one when they were born."

"But…how…what…?"

"Look sweety, if you're that curious, you'll have to ask the guys when they get back. For now why don't you just take a seat and rest before we have to continue," Chi-Chi urged.

[Moments later]

Videl and Chi-Chi could be seen flipping through an old photo album. Though the former had her share of questions, she held her tongue for the most part, focusing on the pics of younger Gohan from infancy to kindergarten age, as those pics featured him with his tail. After a while however, they'd come across pictures of Gohan still at kindergartener age, without a tail. The sudden shift (among various other family photos) drew a lot of questions for the curious young flyer, questions she'd have her chance to get answered as the front door opened revealing the father-son Saiyan trio.

"Yo! We're back!" Goku announced.

"Hey Mom, hey sis!"

"Hey guys," Chi-Chi greeted.

The three saiyans halted upon seeing the two women burying their noses in a book. The ever-curious Gohan stepped forth and asked, "Hey what are you two reading?"

"Oh just flipping through an old photobook," Chi-Chi replied.

The trio gathered around the two and after a brief examination, the adolescent hybrid shrieked out. "Hey those are pictures of me!"

"Oh yeah, I remember these!" Goku grinned. "This one's from after we first named you!"

"Wow Gohan, you're smaller than me!" teased Goten.

"Okay I get it, I was cute. Can we make dinner now!?"

"You're still cute, you know," Videl teased.

"You're not helping…" he pouted.

"Still, Gohan's right. You three go tidy up, and I'll get dinner started."

While the rest of the family scrambled away, Gohan and Videl remained in the living room. Once the former replaced the album back in it's spot, he was halted by Videl. "Hey Gohan…there's something I've been wondering."

"What is it?"

"What…did happen to your tail?"

Flinching, Gohan released a calming sigh. Of course she'd learn about that considering she'd seen pictures of him as a kid. Guess there's no reason to not answer her. "Honestly…I can't exactly remember."

"What do you mean you can't remember?"

"It happened back when I first started training with Piccolo. I was alone one night, think I fell asleep, then it was just gone when I woke up the next morning. I had a new uniform and sword too, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say Piccolo took it off."

"But why?"

Gohan hesitated, avoiding eye-contact. From their previous experiences, Videl could tell that Gohan was hiding something from her. "Gohan, what aren't you telling me?"

A sweating Gohan glanced back and forth from Videl to the sides of the room. Sensing her rising irritation, Gohan once again took a breath before beginning his explanation. "You know having a tail is a Saiyan trait, but I don't think you know…the function behind it."

"Function? It's a tail right so obviously you guys used it as a kind of third limb, right?"

"Yes, but that's not what I'm talking about…" Gohan's speech slowed.

"Gohan, why do you sound so…freaked?"

"If you want to know the full details, you'd probably be better off asking Vegeta. I think all I can say is that 'third limb' hides a crazy but dangerous power," Gohan replied forebodingly.

"Dangerous power?"

"Oh, you mean the giant ape transformation?" chimed in Goku.

"The giant what!?"

"Dad?"

Sure enough, the couple's private conversation was interjected by Goku who gave the teen couple an incredulous look. "You were talking about Saiyan tails, right?"

"Yeah but…"

"No, no, go back Goku. You said something about a giant transformation?"

"Yeah. Saiyans who still have tails transform into giant apes whenever they see a full moon," he explained casually.

Videl only stared at Goku flabbergasted before turning back to a stammering Gohan. "Okay…I'm drawing the line there. There's no way that's true!"

"It is, just ask Vegeta," Goku replied.

"…Yeah. Dad, Krillin and I actually had to fight Vegeta in that form way back when."

"Really!?"

The conversation was once again interjected by an eavesdropping Goten. "Yeah. This was WAAAY back when your brother was younger than you."

Goku proceeded to detail out the events of their first battle while Gohan filled in any blanks much to the intrigue of Goten and Videl. Discord only happened once they recounted Vegeta's encounter with a sports-ball sized Spirit Bomb.

"What happened after Vegeta got hit with the Spirit Bomb?" asked Videl.

"I…actually don't remember," Gohan added. "I think I just finally passed out at that point."

"Actually Gohan, you were the one who saved the day," Goku stated.

"What?" said the three youngsters.

Goku proceeded to tell how Gohan's tail conveniently grew back at that moment and the artificial moon Vegeta had created let Gohan transform into HIS giant ape form and stomp out Vegeta before it was ultimately cut off.

Pondering back to when he finally awoke from that battle, Gohan had a massive realization. 'That…actually explains quite a bit…'

"Well…I hope everyone enjoyed storytime cause dinner's ready now!" Chi-Chi announced.

"Sweet! Let's go eat!" While his father and brother zoomed to the kitchen, Gohan stayed behind with Videl.

"You know…every time I think I know everything about you Saiyans, you keep coming up with new ways to blow my mind."

"Yeah well…this is something I'd have preferred was kept in the past."

"I can see why, but still sounds like having a tail was pretty handy…aside from…you know…."

"It kind of was actually, although not worth the hassle cause it also happens to be a Saiyan's weakness."

"Wait, what?"

"Hey! Are you two gonna talk about biography all day, or you wanna come eat!?"

"That's 'biology' Dad!" Gohan called back strolling to the kitchen.

Videl only chuckled and followed after glancing back at the photo that started the whole trip down memory lane. 'You know…I wonder if he'd look this cute if he still had his tail today?'