fic disclaimer; i don't own dragon ball z so please don't sue me, i don't
want to lose my brand new dvd player that i just figuered out how to
work.

author disclaimer; All opinions expressed herein are my opinions and in
no way represent those of my family, friends and other such individuals
(or me-tomarrow)

author's note; ok since I got a 5th review before I posted the fifth
chapter here you go. That doesn't mean stop with the reivews. I am now
officially labeling myself a review junkie. Tell me what you think of
the fic, how I'm writing, what you might like to see me write or not
write *even suggestions for new stories in other categories (opinions
will be CONSIDERED). I know I rush in parts the way I just did
skipping ahead but that's just the way I write (this one at least). I'm
getting the Queen of Random to help me with that. I've got another
Trunks/oc fic in the works that I'm having trouble with so if you ask
her real nice then maybe...(note to the Queen-I know you work VERY
hard so don't strain yourself too much.)

random rant; 0 boyfriends=many flirt buddies

random quote- "I don't have low self esteem, I have low esteem for
other people." -Daria


Over the next couple of months Gohan built a spare room for Lazandra and they began a
tradition of watching a movie after dinner and ChiChi frequently fell asleep and Gohan would
take her to her room. Slowly Lazandra began to open up to them. It was on one of the nights
where ChiChi fell asleep that Lazandra got her old nickname back.

"Why didn't you tell us that you sing?" Gohan asked as he walked back into the room
after laying ChiChi in bed.

"I don't."

Gohan raised an eyebrow as he sat down. "If that wasn't singing then I can't fly."

"I was just humming along with the song..."

"Sure." He said sarcastically, then his tone turned serious. "You've got a pretty voice."

She blushed a little at his remark.

"Oh, so she can be embarrassed!" At this her cheeks pinked even more. He grinned at her.

"Brat." She muttered under her breath.

"My mom used to call me that all the time."

"I'll bet she had good reasons too."

He gave her a hurt look. "I always thought I was a good boy."

"You're delusional too."

"Hey!"

She just looked at him innocently.

"Cute angel face, but I see those horns holding up that halo." They both began laughing.

"And here I thought my angel face was full proof." She said with a big smile.

"Well..."

She looked at him a little cluelessly. "Well what?"

"You never did finish telling me about your hobbies the other night."

"Yeah I did." Then she grinned at him. "You just fell asleep before I finished."

He looked at her a little impishly. She picked up a piece of folded paper and was about
to crumple it up and throw it at him but refolded it and made a paper fan out of it instead.

"Is it always this hot?"

"Only during the middle of summer." Then an idea popped into his head. "Do you know how
to swim?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Has my mom given you anything you can swim in?"

She looked at him suspiciously. "Why?"

"Come on just trust me."

"She didn't give me a bathing suit but I think there's something in there. Now are you
going to tell me why?"

"Go get it then, we're going swimming."

She looked at him as though he had just told her the stupidest joke in the world. "Now?
You want to go swimming now?"

"Why not? It'll help cool us down, and it'll be fun." She still looked at him a little
doubtfully. "Besides I'm going to be leaving tomorrow."

"What!"

"The androids just did in a couple more cities, I'm going to see if I can find any
survivors."

"Let me go with you."

He looked at her blankly as though she spoke a language he'd never heard before.

"Earth to Gohan."

"No."

Blink, blink. "You're not even going to consider it."

"What if the androids show up?"

"I can handle it." Again he looked at her strangely. "When 17 got me last time there
were...extenuating circumstances shall we say. I can handle them this time. Remember when we
met. I can hurt them from a distance too, I don't have to touch them."

"Yeah but you don't know how much you can hurt them. Besides what if one of them sneaks
up behind you?"

She saw his point. "But I want to help."

"I'll tell you what, when I come back I'll start to train you."

"To fight?"

"We'll see if you can use your power and hurt them with it."

"You promise."

He grinned again. "Only if we can go swimming."

She grinned. "Fine. It's been too long since I've gone swimming anyway." She got up and
went to change. Within minutes both were dressed and ready to go. "So how are we going to go?"

"Well, it's about a forty-five minute walk, and a ten to fifteen minute flight. You
pick."

"I want to swim now; fly." She said wrapping her towel around her so he could pick
her up.

Once they were up in the air, "So?"

"What now?"

"You didn't finish telling me about your hobbies."

"I used to go swimming at least once a week."

He quirked an eyebrow, "Your parents let you go off alone?"

"I wasn't alone." Not that he would have cared either way, she thought. "My brother was
with me."

At this he was surprised. "You have a brother?"

"Had." She corrected.

"Sorry."

"Why? It wasn't your fault." She said with a small wry grin. "You know, he was a little
bit like you."

"Really? How so?" That's exactly what I wanted to be, you brother, the thought shocked
him.

"You're kind, always willing to help someone." He glanced at her and thought he saw a
rueful smile. "Though people didn't usually want him to help."

"Why wouldn't somebody accept help when they need it?"

"We were the society pariahs, so to speak." He raised an eyebrow. "Because of our power.
My brother and I were twins and both had the same abilities. He had a better harness on his
power though. He tried to teach me, but all I was ever able to master was to keep my emotions
from 'bleeding' all over the place."

"Bleeding?" he questioned.

"Try to think of it this way; the emotions that flow through me also flow out of me,
but I am able to control that to a degree. You see, now my emotions flow out only when they
have somewhere to go."

"Into another person right?" she nodded her head. "So your telling me that without that
small bit of control your emotions would 'flow' out anyway."

"Pretty much."

"So you and your brother were outcasts because you were different?"

She nodded. "The village we lived in was small; like most of the minds of the people
that lived there. They feared anything that was different or new. My brother and I were the
former and my mother was both."

"So what was it like, having a brother?"

"He was always there for me, he protected me from the villagers who were more than a
little enthusiastic in their dislike. He was the typical big brother I suppose." She wore a
small smile, knowing that he never had the opportunity to know what it was like to have siblings.

"I thought you said you were twins?"

"We were, but he was born first and he never let me forget it either."

"There it is." He said nodding in the direction of a sparkling surface she assumed was
a body of water. They descended to the ground and he put her down on her feet. She walked
towards the water and dropped her towel on the ground behind her while she tested the water
with her foot.

She glanced back at Gohan and saw him standing where he landed smiling. She walked back
over to him. "Is there something I should know about this water?"

"No." He said still smiling. "I'll race you to the water." He took his shirt off and
crouched like he was going to jump from where he was.

Making sure that he didn't stay behind she turned and slowly began walking towards the
water. She stood poised on the water's edge, and before she could even consider turning around
and threatening Gohan in case there was anything unpleasant in the water a blur shot past her
left side and she felt a gust of wind as Gohan jumped in the water.

She held her arms out in front of her trying to shield herself from the water that
splashed out from his cannonball. She lowered her arms from her face and grinned down at him.
"Feeling a little childish are we?" She said, hands on her hips.

He gave her what ChiChi had told her was the inherited Son grin. "It's been a while
since I've gone swimming."

Without warning she joined him in the same fashion, making sure to splash as much water
in his direction as she could. When she surfaced she smiled sweetly. "I know exactly how you
feel."

Hours later when they were done splashing around they floated next to each other
staring up at a velvet black sky littered with diamond stars. A wave of melancholy swept over
her. "The last time I can remember being like this was the last time I was swimming with my
brother." Gohan looked over at her, her eyes were shining with unshed tears. "That was the
night before the androids came. I miss him."

Gohan let his body sink into the water so that only his shoulders and head floated
above the water and turned to get a better look at her. "I know." He said. "When my dad died
I thought I'd never be able to get over it, never be able to get passed the pain. But after a
while it got less, and I realized he wouldn't want me to live the rest of my life mourning for
him."

She let her body fall into the water and faced him. "It hurts." She whispered and
turned form him. She swam towards shore quickly but clumsily; Gohan looked after her a moment
then followed. She finally stopped when she was close enough to shore to sit down, still in the
water. Once the water was shallow enough to stand in he waded over to her, stood there for a
moment then got her towel he picked it up and went to her. Wrapping the towel around her he
lifted her and set her down on the grass next to the water. She looked blankly out over the
water.

"I didn't want to think about it. I wanted to forget." Then the tears began to flow;
slowly at first then faster, until she felt as though she couldn't stop them.

He looked at her wanting to comfort her but knew that he couldn't touch her. "Don't
forget; grieve. The pain is the price that you pay for all the memories, the times you two
shared; to forget the pain would mean forgetting all that."

She looked at him silently, letting her eyes say everything about her pain. "At least
when your dad died you knew he wasn't in any pain."

Gohan dropped his eyes. "There was someone else," He said quietly. "Her name was Videl,
I went to high school with her. We went out a few times and were just starting to get serious.
At graduation the androids attacked, she was a good fighter but she didn't stand a chance
against them. During the attack I was knocked unconscious, by the time I came to they were
gone. That was the first time I cleaned up after the androids. The only person I found alive
was Videl; she died in my arms." And it's only been repeat performances until I found you, he
thought.

She nodded in the silence; that was almost exactly how it had been with her brother,
only when she found her brother he wasn't alive. She was both grateful and regretful, grateful
because she had been spared from having to hear her brothers last breath and regretful for not
being able to comfort him. Even though she hadn't been there she had known the moment he died,
she had felt it. The feel of death was not something she would ever forget.

He put his hand on her shoulder and they sat there together watching the sunrise. Gohan
looked down at her when he felt her move. He turned in time to see her jerking her head up. He
smiled, "Tired?"

She smiled back. "Yeah, I guess I am."

He stood up and held his hand out to help her up. "Come on Lazandra, let's get back so
you can get some rest."

She wrapped the towel around her hand and placed it in his hands. He pulled her up and
heard her mutter something.

He gave her a confused look. "What?"

She readjusted the towel around herself and repeated what she had said. "I said Zandra.
You can call me Zandra, it was a nickname my brother gave me." She paused looking up at him, a
little shyly. "I was never close enough to anyone else for anyone but my brother to call me that.
But I wouldn't mind if you and ChiChi used it."

He smiled again. "It would be an honor." He put his shirt back on grabbed his towel
picked her up and lifted to the sky; by the time he touched down in front of his house Lazandra
was asleep. He opened the door with one hand and proceeded to Lazandra's room. He laid her down
on her bed and pulled the covers over her. He moved to the door and stopped, he took a good long
look at her then went to his room. He peeled his wet clothes from his body and threw them in a
corner then picked up a towel and took a shower. He thought of what had happened near the lake
and was a little amazed at himself, he had never spoken to anyone, not even his mom about what
had happened at graduation day, nor had he spoke much of his father. He well and truly cared
about her; he wanted her to know everything about him. He was falling in love with her, even
though he knew he would probably never be able to touch her. The revelation hit him hard and
in a way he was glad to be leaving now; he knew if didn't he wouldn't be able to hide his
emotions from her for too long, especially one this strong. He walked back into his room and
changed; he wanted to be gone before his mother woke up and that was going to be soon. As soon
as he was dressed he left a good-bye note on the refrigerator and flew away from his home.
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Once again people, if you can help me think of a title, because I'm relly
coming up emtpy handed.