Konnichiwa! Well, okay, I know I said before that this fanfic would only take three parts, but... well, what I've got in mind is a wee bit too big for just three parts. The fourth part will be the last. Just consider this a buildup to the climax ^_^ And I'm sorry that I make Gohan go through so much in my fics, I only do it 'cuz I like him! And now on with the fic.

IT'S A GUY THING, PART THREE!

by Kitsu

Son Gohan flopped down onto his bed, spread-eagled on his back across the mattress. Grunting a little, he reached over and caught hold of the strap of his backpack and hauled it up onto the bed with him. He gave it a shake, and several golden shapes fell out, landing on the bed. One bounced, then rolled off. Narrowing his eyes, Gohan reached over and seized hold of the object, then sat up and held it up to eye level.
The five-star dragonball glinted back at him, the early morning sunlight making the inside of the ball look like it had a small fire lit inside it.
It had been two days since he'd first set out to get the dragonballs together, and he'd been very successful so far. As of now, he had six out of seven dragonballs. Most of them hadn't been too hard to get, except for the three-star dragonball, where he had to barter like mad for it at some little old lady's garage sale in West City. Eventually, he'd paid much more money than it was worth for it, but then again, bartering had never been one of his strong points in his life.
And she seemed like such a nice old lady... he thought to himself.
Oh well. Once he got that last dragonball, he'd be able to get rid of this girl's body. Grimacing, he looked down. It had rained that night, as Gohan was coming in, and he'd been too tired to bother changing back.
"GO-HAAN!! BREAKFAST IS READY!!"
Gohan leaped off of his bed, grinning ear-to-ear.
"OKAY!! THANKS, MOM!!" the half-saiyajin bounded down the stairs two at a time, suddenly realizing how incredibly hungry he was. Dashing into the kitchen, he plunked himself down in one of the wooden chairs surrounding the table. Chi Chi looked over her shoulder at him from her position at the oven, flipping pancakes.
"Hungry, Gohan?" she said, amused. Gohan grinned sheepishly at that, when he thought about it, he must've looked like an over-excited puppy or something. Chi Chi smiled at him.
"Don't worry about it. You need to get your strength up to go get that last dragonball, so you can marry Videl." Gohan's face flamed bright red as Chi Chi handed a plate that had a small mountain of pancakes on it to him.
Goten darted in and plunked himself down next to Gohan, looking even more like an eager puppy than Gohan had. Chi Chi smiled again and handed Goten his plate, which had a stack of pancakes almost as tall as Gohan's.
"Thanks, mom!" looking over at Gohan, Goten grinned.
"Hey, you're a girl again!" Gohan nodded briefly as he poured syrup over his pancakes and began to scarf them down. "Does this mean I should call you onee-chan now?"
"?!" was the only response that Gohan could make with his mouth full.
"Goten, don't tease your brother. Here, Gohan, I'll get you some hot water." said Chi Chi, walking towards the sink.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Goten sprang from his chair and ran towards the door.
"I'LL GET IT!!!"
There was a pause, then some laughter, and then some footsteps.
Videl came into the kitchen, followed closely by Goten, just as Chi Chi was about to pour a cup of hot water over Gohan's head.
Gohan froze with a chunk of pancake halfway into his mouth.
Videl smiled brightly at him.
"Hi Gohannah!"
"...Gnah?" responded Gohan intelligently as he hurriedly swallowed the chunk of pancake, without chewing.
"Hello Videl!" said Chi Chi, hurriedly putting the cup of water onto the kitchen counter.
"Hi Chi Chi-san! How are you?" said Videl cheerfully. Gohan coughed, his body rebelling against him not chewing his pancake.
"Oh, I'm fine. You?"
"I'm fine. Um... why were you...the water...?"asked Videl curiously. Chi Chi laughed and made a dismissive gesture with her hand.
"Oh, that was nothing, nothing at all..." Gohan went into another fit of coughing. Videl walked over and pounded him solidly on the back, a bit harder than was really necessary, causing him to spit out the offending chunk of pancake. Goten grimaced.
"Eeewww..." Gohan blinked, as Videl leaned her face sideways so she was at his eye level.
"Wanna go shopping with me today, Gohannah?"
"?!" was, again, the only response Gohan could manage, but this time it was because of surprise, not a chunk of pancake lodged in his throat.
"C'mon, it'll be fun!" insisted Videl, still smiling brightly. Gohan gave his mother a desperate look. Chi Chi shrugged in response. Gohan looked back at Videl, eyes wide with shock. What was going on?! He knew Videl, and if she was suspicious of you, she didn't go and invite you to go shopping, she blackmailed you or something! But then again, what could he do? He couldn't refuse…
…So he nodded.
Videl grinned, seized hold of Gohan's arm, and proceeded to drag him out of the kitchen.
"Ah-whuh?!" managed Gohan. "W-wait! Videl!!"
"Come on, Gohannah!" said Videl. "No time like the present! At this time of day, the stores won't be very crowded."
"…Oh…okay then…" said 'Gohannah' helplessly.
And with that, Videl dragged Gohan out to her helicopter, which was waiting on the front lawn, and they were off.

Videl looked away from her position at the wheel (okay, I don't know if helicopters have driving wheels, I've never been in one, I'm just using poetic license!) to stare at Gohannah for a moment. Gohannah was staring out the window, looking slightly puzzled. The corner of Videl's mouth quirked up a bit, it was no wonder she acted so puzzled. Videl wasn't the type to forgive and forget so easily, and Gohannah seemed to know this, although she didn't know how.
Videl narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Gohannah. Hopefully, during this little jaunt in the city, she would be able to get some information out of Gohannah about her connection to Gohan. True, Videl could've just bullied Gohannah into spilling the beans, but… well, for one reason, she knew that Gohan would think less of her if he found out that she was bullying his cousin. Also, for some reason, she didn't really want to bully Gohannah in the first place. Maybe it was because she reminded her so much of Gohan…
Suddenly, Gohannah looked right at her. Videl hurriedly went back to piloting.
They look so much alike… she thought to herself. But… his cousin? If she's really his cousin, then why hasn't Gohan mentioned her at all? She knew that Gohan wasn't the type to just forget to inform Videl about a family member, he talked about his family all the time. What's she been doing, hiding in a closet for all these years?
This was just too weird. There had to be some connection between the two, one that wasn't just family… When Gohannah appeared out of nowhere, Gohan disappeared off the face of the earth.
A guy thing, my ass! Once he gets back from… from wherever he is, I'm gonna-
Videl's eyes widened. Hey! Why hadn't she thought of this before?! She could just try to sense Gohan's ki! Gohan was still in the process of teaching her how to do it, and she wasn't very good at it yet, but it was worth a try!
She flicked a few switches on the dashboard of the copter, setting it to autopilot, then released the wheel and put both hands on her lap.
"V-Videl?" said Gohannah. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you be piloting this thing?" Gohannah didn't get an answer. Videl closed her eyes, her mouth became a thin-lipped line from concentration.
Gohan's eyes widened. He knew that look!! That was the exact same look she got on her face when she tried to sense somebody's ki!!! But who… Oh crap, ME!!! What do I do?! What do I do?! I may be a girl now, but my ki's still the same!!!
Gohan immediately began lowering his ki like mad, dropping it all the way down to zero. Then he took a deep breath. Desperate times called for desperate measures…
"VIDEL!! WATCH OUT FOR THAT SEAGULL!!" he screeched.
Videl's head snapped up, eyes wide with surprise.
"Wha…?"
"THE SEAGULL!! THE SEAGULL!!" Gohan continued screeching. Videl quirked an eyebrow and took a good look outside, then glared at him.
"There aren't any seagulls out there…" she said in a tone that implied she was trying to keep her temper under ropes.
"Oh, aren't there?" Gohan said, trying to look innocent. "I'm sorry, I thought I saw one. It must've been a cloud."
"Well, don't screech my ear off about any more clouds…" Videl grumbled. Damn. She hadn't sensed his ki at all… it was probably due to Gohannah's screeching, and the fact that she wasn't very good at sensing ki anyway…
Gohan breathed a quick sigh of relief. That was a close one… but this meant that he had to keep his ki all the way down for this entire trip…

"So, which store do you want to hit first?" said Videl cheerfully as she and Gohannah walked down the busy streets of Satan City. Despite what Videl had said about the stores not being crowded in the morning, the streets were packed with busy shoppers. They practically had to body check people just to make their way across the sidewalks.
"Um… how about… there!" Gohan jabbed a finger at a random store across the street that seemed to be relatively deserted. Well, not deserted, but it wasn't crammed to the brim with shoppers, which was good enough for him. Anything to get out of this crowd.
Videl quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Sister Sally's House of 'Marital Aids'…?" Gohan squinted and got his first good look at the store. He immediately turned a deep shade of red.
"Nonononono!! I…I meant…the one next to it!! That one!" he cried, pointing wildly at any store that wasn't Sister Sally's.
"What, the sports store?"
"Yeah! I… I need some new cleats." Said Gohan lamely.
"Oh-kaay…"

Gohan looked around the sports store in wonder. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been in a place like this. The walls were almost overflowing with more sneakers than he'd ever seen in his life. Numerous sports jackets hung from racks around the store, and the far end of the store was crammed with sports equipment.
"Whoa." Said Gohan simply. Videl quirked an eyebrow at him.
"What, you've never been in a sports store before?"
"Of course I have, I just-"
"Hey, Videl!" came a voice from the cashier counter. Videl turned around to respond to whoever had called her name.
"Sh… Sharpener?!" Gohan turned around, eyes wide with surprise. Sure enough, there was Sharpener, leaning back in a reclining chair at the cash register with his feet up resting on the counter. He looked exactly the same as when they had graduated from high school, his long, blond hair still hung down his back, he still wore that muscle shirt and baggy pants, and still had that same smirk that he always wore.
"Long time no see, babe. Where've you been?" Videl rolled her eyes.
"Nowhere near you, obviously."
"Well hel-lo there." said Sharpener, seeing Gohan for the first time and grinning lopsidedly. "Who's this, Videl? Friend of yours?"
"This is Gohannah. She's Gohan's cousin. I'm showing her around town for the day." Gohan sort of grinned and did something with his wrist that could almost be called a wave. Then his eyes narrowed. Something on the counter was glinting at him, but he couldn't see what it was, because it was covered in paperwork…
"Hey, she's cute! Unlike her cousin. Are you still with him, Videl?"
"Sharpener! Don't be rude! Gohan's a hell of a lot cuter than you, for one thing!" Videl snapped. Gohan didn't even notice the tirade going on around him; he was staring at the shiny thing under the paperwork.
"What's that?" he interrupted, pointing at the stack of papers.
"Hm? Oh, this old thing." Said Sharpener, shoving the papers out of the way and holding up the shiny thing.
"I found it lying under the stairs to my house. I had it with me when I got this job, so I keep it around for good luck."
Gohan couldn't force himself to reply, he was staring at the shiny thing.
It was the last dragonball.
Sharpener grinned at him.
"Cool, isn't it?" Gohan stared at the dragonball for a few more seconds, then walked right up to Sharpener, folding his arms over his chest.
"How much do you want for it?" he asked abruptly. Gah! Gohan, no! Don't barter! Don't barter! Remember that little old lady?! A little voice in his head screamed at him.
"Want for it…? Hmm…" said Sharpener, looking Gohan over. "We-ell…" Gohan crossed his fingers for good luck, hoping that Sharpener wouldn't ask for too much, he didn't have a lot of money left because of the old lady incident.
"Well, for a cutie like you, I'd say…"
"Sharpener!! Quit flirting with her, just name your price!" snapped Videl.
"…One date."
Gohan stared at Sharpener, bug-eyed. Did he just say what he thought I heard him say…? He asked himself in a dazed tone.
"…One…one…wha…?" he stammered, turning bright red. Sharpener grinned at him again.
"One date. Tomorrow night, at 7:30. Ristorante El Mondo."
"Sharpener!!" said Videl angrily. "Be serious!"
"I am serious." Sharpner stated. Turning back to 'Gohannah', he grinned a third time. "One date tonight, and I'll give you this thing." He said, idly tossing the dragonball in the air and catching it in his other hand.
"Uh…Uh… lemmethinkaboutit, I'llgetbacktoyouonthatone!!!!" cried Gohan. He promptly bolted out of the store. Videl gave Sharpener a dirty look, and then ran after Gohannah.
"See you there!" shouted Sharpner.

Oh my Kami-sama… Sharpner was hitting on me!! Gohan thought wildly to himself as he stopped to catch his breath in an alleyway a few doors down from the sports store. That…that…argh!! I can't believe he hit on me!! Gohan sighed and slumped down against the brick wall, sitting on the ground with his knees up around his ears.
It's all because of this stupid body…but if I want to get rid of it, I have to go on a date with him!!! Talk about the cure being worse than the disease…
"Gohannah?" Gohan looked up and saw Videl standing over him. "Don't mind Sharpner. He's a bit of an idiot." Gohan grinned a little bit.
"You don't have to go on that date if you don't want to." Videl added, sitting down next to him. Gohan sighed again.
"Thanks for the moral support, but is there any other way I could get that dragonball from him?"
"Hmm… well… other than beating him up, I can't think of any at the moment. Sharpner may be an idiot, but he's also an extremely stubborn idiot."
"Yeah…" A minute later, Gohan stood to his feet. "Well, thanks Videl. I've just got to think this over a little bit." Taking a quick look around, just to see that nobody was watching, Gohan closed his eyes and floated a few feet off of the ground. Seeing Videl staring wide-eyed at him, he grinned.
"It runs in the family. Ja ne!"
With that, he zoomed off into the horizon.
Videl stared after him for a minute or so, then narrowed her eyes. Runs in the family…? But…hey, no it doesn't, Chi Chi can't fly!!
How'd she learn to…? Wait a minute, has Gohan been teaching her behind my back?! But…but that would mean… he wouldn't… Videl's eyes widened.
…He can't be cheating on me!!

A lone, green skinned, pointy-eared figure sat cross-legged underneath a large birch tree. Actually, he sat about a foot off of the ground, since he was meditating.
One ear twitched.
"Any luck with those dragonballs?" Piccolo said as Gohan landed in the clearing beside him. Gohan grinned and put one hand behind his head, in typical Son-family-sheepish-grin-style. He'd come to see Piccolo, mostly because his mother would completely freak if she found out that he was dating somebody other than Videl, and Krillin would probably tease him to no ends, not to mention he didn't want to be on the same island as Kame sen'nin with this body.
"We-ell… sorta…" Piccolo looked up for the first time and blinked.
"Oh, you're a girl again. What do you mean 'sort of'? Do you have them all, or don't you?"
"When you put it that way, no, I don't have them all."
"So what are you hanging around here for? I thought you wanted your regular body back."
"There's a slight problem with the last one…" Piccolo quirked a brow ridge.
"How so?"
"Sharpener has it…and…" Gohan trailed off, sitting down in the grass across from the Namek.
"And…?"
"And I have to go on a date with him in order to get it!!!" he blurted out. Piccolo's eyes momentarily bugged out of his head.
"You WHAT?!"
"He's go the last dragonball, and he won't sell it to me, and he wants me to go on a date with him tomorrow night in exchange for it!" Gohan wailed.
"Why don't you just whack him one, get the dragonball, then leave?"
"Piccolo! This guy used to be in my class in high school! I can't just whack him over the head and dump him in an alleyway!"
"I don't see why not." Gohan sighed and got to his feet.
"Nevermind…"
There was nothing else for it. He was just going to have to bite the bullet.
Seeing the expression on Gohan's face, Piccolo's eyes widened.
"You're not actually…" Gohan nodded. The expression that Gohan had on his face was one of extreme determination that he usually reserved for death-defying situations, like going one-on-one with a monster in order to save the world.
"If it's the only way, I'll do it." He said gravely.
"You're that desperate?" Gohan nodded solemnly.
"Well, I'm off. See ya, Piccolo." he said, first floating a few feet into the air, then zooming off into the horizon with a burst of ki.
Piccolo stared after him (her?) for another minute or so. Then, one thought ran through his head.
Yeesh… The Namek leaned back against the trunk of a tree. This ain't gonna be pretty…