AN: Hey!  I finally got this done.  Sorry it took so long.  I mean it took a looooong time.  I kept trying to write it, but I wasn't at all inspired.  I am currently in…well France.  For those of you wondering, I am from Canada…So I'm across the Ocean right now.  I actually finished this on the 4th of March, but couldn't upload it till now.  Stupid internet….I am currently Internet deprived…going through withdrawal…not fun…I can't even read fanfiction anymore.  Oh well, France rules….wooo…go lots of Mountains!  I am going to school here, just to see what their school is like.  Taking Philosophy, French, and History (their Historical perspective is different from ours)  It's cool, I love it here, but I miss my friends.  Still, I miss the internet (its expensive here, so I can only use it to get email)  Even as I write this I don't know how I'm going to post this…Maybe I'll send it to Zobie, and she'll post it for me.

Oh well…Please enjoy, you've waited long enough.  Oh and just to make up for the wait, it's longer…by about twice as much, compared to the other two chapters.

Disclaimer:  I am ZIM!!!!

A Girl Named Lime

Part 3: Conversations

By Frostbite

As soon as Videl was out of sight Lime turned back to Gohan grinning, happy to be alone with him.  He took a moment to turn back around, staring intently at the spot where Videl had disappeared.  Then he turned back around to face her, and he grinned back. 

"So…" he said trying to star up a conversation.

"So…" she imitated, waiting for him to start.

"Ummm, well, how is you're grandpa?"

"Good, good, he's ok, but not as energetic as he once was."

"Do you two still live in the same village?"

"Yes, but there are four of us.  My mother and father came back to life after Cell was defeated."  At the mention of Cell, a thought occurred to her, but before she could form it into words, Gohan spoke.

"Well that's good to hear"

"Yeah, they run the store now.  I'll probably run it some day."

"Oh."  He paused again, for some reason there conversation seemed empty now, lifeless.

"Gohan," she started suddenly, "We're starting to get wet out here, would you like to move inside somewhere?"  The rain had begun to come down more heavily, and the tree which had at first provided shelter, was now starting to leak. 

"Sure", he replied standing up, and gathering his things.  They began to walk towards the school, which was still open.

"You know," observed Lime as they walked, "it's strange, I think of you as an old friend, but really, if you think about it, I only knew you for a day."

Gohan smiled at her, reflecting upon this.  It was true, they had only met that one day, and yet they got along as if they had known each other longer. 

"I wrote you a letter."  She said suddenly, almost to herself.

"You did?"  he asked, puzzled.

"Yeah," she said, chuckling slightly, "but then I didn't know where to send it, so you never actually got it."  She smiled again, remembering her frustration at the time.  "Silly huh?"

"Nah…What was in it?"

"Well," she said as she began to elaborate, "it was mainly an invitation to come to my birthday party. But you never got it, so you missed out."

"Awwww"

"I know, I feel bad for you."

'Did you miss me?"

"You know that's the weird part, despite the fact that I never sent the letter, I still expected you to come.  I was sure somehow you would know, and would show up sooner or later."  She laughed, "I was quite disappointed when you didn't show."

"Will you ever forgive me" he asked mockingly

"Hey you," she said stopping to look at him, "I will not have you showing me such disrespect!"

"Ho, and what are you gonna do about it?"

"Well…" She paused to think, "I'll think of something later…but that's not the point!"

"Well what is the point?"  he said caught up in the game.

"Well…well…you should know, I mean haven't you been paying attention?"

He laughed, "Oh I know what it is, I just wanted to hear your interpretation."

She raised an eyebrow, "My interpretation.  I see, well I'd tell you, because I do know, but you were being awfully disrespectful, so I don't feel particularly inclined to tell you."

"Oh, well what if I were to apologize."

"No, I'm sorry but the damage has been done.  You'll just have to live with the consequences of your actions."

He laughed, and went to reply something, when there was a sudden explosion from somewhere to his right.  He turned to see smoke rising from a building not to far from the school.  Lime had noticed it too.

"Gee, I wonder what that was?"

"Uhh, yeah, you know Lime; I actually have to be somewhere right now."

She turned to look at him, then gave him a disarming smile. "Going to help aren't you?"

He went to deny it, but then realized he didn't need to.  She didn't know about Saiyaman yet, so it wouldn't really matter if she thought he liked to help out. 

"Yeah" he replied softly, and then turned to run away. 

He had got halfway across the field, and was planning to go into the school and up the stairs to the roof before transforming, when he realized he could simply fly up to the roof.  No one was around to see him, except Lime of course, but she knew he could fly, she had seen him do it as a child.  Relief swept through him, for some reason he liked the idea of someone knowing, he wouldn't have to hide it from her at least.   He took off right from where he was, waiting till he was out of sight to transform into Saiyaman.  He was grinning from ear to ear.  She knew!  She knew, and this was for some reason important.  He wouldn't have to be nervous around her, constantly on edge, holding himself back, watching what he said.  He could be himself.  Even as he flew to the scene, he contemplated the fact that she didn't know about Saiyaman.  But she would figure it out soon enough, she had much more information than Videl, and would put two and two together.  So why not just tell her.  Yes, he decided, he would tell her, and then he would have nothing to hide.  Maybe that's why he felt like she was an old friend; they had a secret, common knowledge.   He smiled to himself, suddenly very very glad she had transferred to Orange High.

When he arrived at the scene, the origin of the billowing smoke, he found that it was a building that had caught fire, due to a gas explosion of some kind.  The situation was soon becoming worse, because of the high winds that were helping to spread the fire from house to house. 

As he flew above the scene he caught sight of Videl, down below among the firefighters.  He decided to see what she was planning to do; hopefully they could cooperate together.

He landed only a foot or so away from her, and startled her.

She turned to look at him, and he smiled warmly at her, about to greet her.  But she sneered at him and said "What are you doing here?" effectively crushing his good mood.  Gohan was stunned into momentary silence, and was thankful for the visor that hid the hurt look in his eyes.  'She doesn't know it's you' he reminded himself.  But it still hurt, and he quickly attempted to hide this; he didn't need her taunting him about being too sensitive. 

Videl was puzzled by Saiyaman's response to her words.  He normally had some stupid cheerful comment to add, no doubt only to aggravate her.  She said as much "What's wrong with you today, no stupid comebacks?" she smirked as she said the last part, and then immediately regretted it, as she saw him flinch.  Why was she doing this?  Why was she always so…so vicious with him? Something about him put her on edge, and made her want to lash out, generally at him.  And he never seemed to be in the least effected by her harsh words, so she had continued to use them.  She suddenly felt guilty.  He was a person too, perhaps an aggravating, stupid, annoying, idiotic person, but still a person none the less, and she was treating him like her verbal punching bag.

But her self doubt didn't last long, because Saiyaman was quick to recover, grinning like the fool he no doubt was, and saying, in possibly the most infuriating voice of all time, "Hello to you too, miss Videl"

She gritted her teeth, and said "Why are you here?"

"Why to help of course." More goofiness.

"Well we don't need help from the likes of you!" she poked him in the chest as she said this, now in her intimidation mode.

It worked momentarily, "Uhh, well," then he glanced over at the burning fire consuming the houses not far away, "It looks to me as if you need all the help you can get."

She frowned, he had a point.  She hated it when he had a point, it was just another thing that was annoying about him, he was often right.

Grumbling, she pointed over to the west side of the burning wreck of a block and said, "Well then can you put out that side of it"

Gohan was surprised by this, he expected her to suggest something small, something she could do, because she refused to acknowledge his superhuman abilities.  He smiled at her lopsidedly (making her want to kick him) and said, "Sure", and took of to find some sort of water container big enough to hold the amount of water it would take to put out the fire.

---

Less than half an hour later, the fire was completely put out.  Mostly thanks to Saiyaman, Videl was forced to admit, if only to herself.

Gohan touched down beside her only long enough to say a quick goodbye (which offended her somehow) before taking off.

She watched him go, all the while thinking, 'if I hurry, I can get to my jet copter in time, and follow him'. But she didn't; she really wasn't in the mood today, nor did she really care anymore.  If she did find out who he was, what would she do?  It would just make it harder to hate him, knowing he had a personal life, an identity.  No, not knowing was just easier.  Easier, life should be easier, contemplated Videl.  She was actually in a bad mood because of what had happened at school today with Gohan, and Saiyaman's appearance had not helped at all.  This is what really got to her; not the actual jealousy, but the reason for it.  She was not supposed to like Son Gohan.  She had decided long ago that he was not her type, and so therefore she was not about to go and start liking him.  She was frustrated her emotions were not following her logic the way they were supposed to.   She was being quite logical about this, why couldn't they?  She was determined, no matter what anybody said, to persist in her not liking of Gohan.  'That's just the way it's going to be', she told herself firmly as she marched towards her jet copter.  She suddenly decided she didn't want to go home yet; she needed to distract herself, get her mind off Gohan, and her stupid non logical emotions.  She pondered what do to, as she looked about her, hoping to find some ideas.  She spotted Saiyaman in the distance, looking at her, with what seemed to be…worry?  She frowned at this, she didn't need his worry.  But then suddenly she grinned again, maybe some Saiyaman hunting would take her mind off things.

She revved up her jet copter, and tore after Saiyaman before he could even blink.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot" Gohan berated himself, as he took off once more from where he had been standing in mid air.  Videl had seemed particularly morose today, and for some reason he had been compelled to wait and make sure she got into her jet copter okay.

He glanced behind him to see she was hot in pursuit.  "Whyyyyyyyyy?!!!" he moaned to the uncaring clouds.

Soon she was close behind him, and it was too late to get away.  He wasn't going at his top speed, far from it, but if he sped up now, he might nock her right out of the sky.  He groaned as she began to yell things out her open widow at him.  No normal person would have been able to hear what she said, but Gohan was certainly far from normal.

He suddenly stopped dead, hoping she would swerve around him, and while she gained control he would make his get away, after all it had worked before.

Videl narrowed her eyes at the familiar gesture, he was trying to pull the same trick twice!  She wasn't going to fall for that again, if he wanted to play chicken, then they'd play.  She wasn't afraid. She sped up, and made no move to swerve.

Gohan's eyes widened as he realized what her plan was, but he was determined not to move.  She would swerve, he knew she would.

As she drew ever nearer, Videl began to doubt herself.  'Swerve, swerve!!' her mind screamed at her, but instead, she squeezed her eyes shut and clung to the steering wheel.  He would move, she would open her eyes and he wouldn't be there. 

Gohan saw her shut her eyes, and alarm bells went off in his head.  'She's going to hit you!!!', but he couldn't believe it.  She didn't really like him, he knew that, but she wouldn't actually try to hit him, not like this.  The alarms in his head continued to sound, but he ignored them.  'She is not going to –

BAM

(The resulting sound from the collision was in fact much more impressive, but was unfortunately quite difficult to describe.  The reader will just have to imagine what a Jet copter traveling at high speeds hitting an immobile demi-Saiyajin sounds like.)

Videl's eyes flew open, her body being jerked around by the reverberations traveling through the jet copter.  Her eyes scanned the sky to locate that which she had hit.  She found him falling towards the earth, plummeting at an incredible speed. 

Gohan was falling not because he was unconscious, but because he was in shock.  She had actually hit him!!  The force of the blow was not enough to hurt him, but it was enough to send him flying.  He quickly realized that if he did not stop himself, he would soon be hitting the ground.  Since he felt he had had quite enough crashing into things for one day, he stopped himself in midair, with very little effort.

Videl pulled up from her dive towards him (she had intended to save him, somehow) when she realized that he was no longer falling and instead pulled up right beside him.  He was just floating there, blinking, not really reacting.  She went to leap out of her vehicle and run towards him to see if he was okay, when she remembered she was currently high in the air.  She paused, at a loss at what to do, until finally she called to him.  "Are you okay?"

He looked up at her slowly, as if he still didn't understand what was going on.

"I mean…are you…oh God, what did I do?  I can't believe I hit you, I, I, I'm sooo sorry, I I" she moaned as she began to cry.

"Oh…What did I do…" she repeated again and again, crying as if completely heart broken.

Gohan was brought out of his shock by her crying, which left him with a sense of panic.  He flew towards her, trying to reassure her.

"It's okay, It's okay, see? I'm perfectly fine."

She looked up at him, sniffling, "Really?"

"Yeah"

She placed her hands on his shoulders, as if to make sure he was actually real. (He had drifted so that he was standing in front of her, in the air)

"You are ok?"

"Yes."

"Oh good." She breathed a sigh of relief, and then she shook her head, as if to clear her mind of certain thoughts.  "I don't know why I did that, I'm such an idiot."

"But you are okay, right" she asked just to be sure.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." 

She stood there a moment, and then suddenly reached out and slapped him.

"Wha?" he said, now utterly confused

"You idiot, you were supposed to duck!!  Why the hell did you do that!  You scared the shit out of me!" she spoke angrily.

"I –I" Gohan almost apologized, then remembered that he had been the one who had been hit.  "Hey YOU hit ME" he yelled, gesturing wildly.

"Yeah well it didn't seem do damage you at all, I mean how could it, you were already an IDIOT!!!" she screamed.

"I'm an Idiot!!??  I'M AN IDIOT?!?! I can't believe you, you hit me, and then somehow it's my fault!"

"You're damn right it's your fault.  You STOPPED suddenly."

"YOU were CHASING me!!"

"Yeah well YOU…." She paused, he was right, she had been chasing him. She continued anyway, "Yeah well you showed up where you weren't wanted!"

"No one seemed to mind my presence but you Videl"

Videl stopped, at a bit of a loss.  She turned back to sit down properly in her jet copter, ready to leave, even on such a sour note, when she saw the damage done to the right side of the jet copter. She spun back around "Look what you did!!"

"You mean what YOU did!" He corrected.

"NO, no, I, " she seemed to lose her will to continue as she sat back down in her seat, looking totally depressed, "Oh fuck, I can't do this anymore." She put her hands into her face, and her let out a strangled cry of anger.

Gohan's anger immediately faded, and he stepped into the copter and crouched down beside her, "Look, I'm a jerk, I'm real sorry.  I…"

"It's not that" she muttered into her hands

"Well then, what is it, what's wrong?" he asked, sounding very concerned, because in fact he was.

She lifted up her head slowly "Well see there's this guy, and, and" Just then, a certain hateful (you'll see why) jet copter decided it had been in hover mode long enough, and clicked right out of it, going straight into a downward dive.  This flung Gohan, or Saiyaman as he was currently attired, out of the jet copter.  By the time Videl regained control of her jet copter, she had also regained her self control.

Gohan, pulled up beside her, "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Ok, maybe you should land…" he suggested

 "No thanks, I'd better be heading home now.  Bye"

"Oh," Gohan sighed, she had been about to tell him something, well at least he thought she had been about to.  Then he had an idea.  He came and sat down beside her, on the right side, despite the fact that it was halfway caved in.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Well I thought we could continue our conversation.  Since you have to be on your way, I figured I'd come with you."


"What conversation?  We were not having a conversation!"

He ignored her comment, "So there is this guy, and…" he trailed off, waiting for her to continue.

"Look I don't need you t-"

"I know."

Part of her was screaming at her to kick out, he had some nerve!  But instead she sighed, and then shrugged, "Oh what the hell, it'll be nice to talk to someone.  It's not like I know you, so I don't have to be embarrassed."

"Exactly."

"Shut up."

"Oh right.  Sorry."

"Anyways, so there's this guy…"

---

Videl had a problem, a dilemma; she was almost home, but she wasn't done talking to Saiyaman.  She would have to land soon, and end the conversation.  And though she wouldn't admit it to herself, she didn't want to end the conversation.  And so there was her dilemma.   She had to find a way to not land, without actually thinking of a way not to land.  It's like trying to win a race without even acknowledging to yourself that you're even in the race.  Not an easy task. 

She was snapped back to reality by Saiyaman saying something.

She turned to look at him, and the fact that she hadn't heard him must have been evident on her face because he repeated himself.

"So who is this guy?" he asked casually

She had been telling about how there was this guys, who drove her nuts.  She basically told him about how she felt about him.  About how she didn't like the way she acted around him, but that she couldn't help it cause he was so annoying, and something about him just got under her skin.  About sometimes she wanted to apologize, but then he opened his mouth, and she suddenly wanted to punch him instead.   About how she probably acted that way because she was used to being the best, and then out of no where, this guy is better.  How it wouldn't bother her if he was…unmasked, a true rival, someone she could confront, or maybe learn from.  But no, she seemed to be beaten by a mask, a shadow, someone who didn't really exist.  She told him a lot, because she didn't care anymore.

She looked at him incredulously, and then said, "You, idiot!"

"Yes, yes, we've already established the fact that I'm an idiot.  Why won't you tell me?"  He though she was saying, 'You idiot!' not that she was saying he was the one she was talking about.

She groaned, slapping her hand to the forehead, and the exclaimed "I mean, it's you idiot."

"Huh? Me?"

"Yes."

"Oh,"

"I think what bugs me the most about you is the fact that you confuse me."

"Huh?" he replied, very confused himself.

"Well I mean I don't know what I'm supposed to think of you, or how I'm supposed to feel about you."

He paused a moment to think, then replied, "Well how do you feel about the police officers?"

"Well, their kinda like my backup, you know?  Their peers, except I'm better at crime fighting than them."

"Well there you go.  I am your crime fighting peer, who just happens to be better than you at certain things.  I am your backup."

"Yeah, well it seems more like I'm your backup."

"Maybe it does, but don't think of it that way."

"Ok, it's just hard to feel that way about some one who doesn't seem very real."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you act so phony, with that voice, and the things you say.  It's all fake.  You aren't very real; you don't exactly have a personality."

"Hey!"

"It's hard to except someone who might be a figment of your imagination, as a peer."

"Oh," then he turned and pointed at the damage done to the jet copter, "Could a figment of your imagination do that."

She laughed, "No I don't think it could." She smiled at him, and then frowned. "Oh jeez, next I'll be falling in love with you."

"Wha?"

She chuckled slightly at his reaction, "It's just there's this guy."

"Another one?"

"Yeah, see he confuses me too, except in a different way.  See I think I like him, but I don't want to like him."

"Why"

"Cause…cause he's not my type."

"Well what's your type?"

"I don't know…but he's not it!"

"I see, so, well you don't even know if you like him, I mean, maybe there's nothing to be confused about.  What makes you think you like him?"

"Well, for one I think about him a lot."

"Oh that, that doesn't necessarily mean anything, I mean I think about you all the time.  But I'm wondering when next you're gonna show up and demand to know who I am."  He laughed at his own joke. 

"Yeah well I think about you quite a lot too, and about how nice it would be to smack you in the face."   She smirked.

"Hey, am I really that annoying?"

"Well, yeah, I mean that whole phony voice really gets on my nerves.  Hey wait, you're not using it anymore."

"Uh, I'm not?" he asked, switching back to his phony Saiyaman voice.

"Please don't talk like that, I can't be held liable for my actions if you do."

"Alright" his said, dropping it once more.

"Look I'm sorry about the whole hating you thing, but, well you know what I mean."

"No I don't."

"What, you've never, just not liked someone, just like love at first sight, but instead its hate, or annoyance."

"No, not really."

This annoyed Videl, and she was about to say something like "Yeah well I guess you're a better human being than me" but he went on.

"I mean, normally I hate someone when: they either are trying to kill my friends or family members, or both, or when they actually have killed my friends, or family members, or both." He explained calmly, "Oh and it helps a lot if they've killed thousands of innocents." He added on an after thought.

Videl's eyes widened, "There sure are a lot of, 'kill's in there."

"What can I say," he replied shrugging, "I've had a fun life."

"Yeah…" she uttered, quite shocked.

He smiled at her, then turned to look at the sky around them.

"Umm, Saiyaman…?"

"Hmmm?"

"Where do you get powers?"

He turned back to her.  "What, don't buy the 'I work out a lot' excuse?"

She smiled, "Not exactly."

"Well, you could say I'm not exactly normal."

"I already knew you weren't your average human being."

"If you could even call me that."

"Call you what?"

"A human being."

"What?! You're not a human?!" this thought hadn't even occurred to Videl.

"Well I am, but I guess you could say I have alien blood in me"

"Oh, I see."

"But I mean, I've always been from earth in my mind, I was born here, and I've always lived here.  Hell, till I was four, I didn't even know was part alien."

"Oh, so like you've never been into outer space then."

"Well actually I have."

"You have?"

"Yup, the year I was five.  But that had nothing to do with me being part alien, at least not directly, it wasn't like going because I was alien."

"So you've never been to, your…err…home planet?"

He laughed, "This is my home planet. I mean I got the alien blood from my dad, and he didn't even know he was an alien.  He always thought he was a human, and probably still considers himself to be an earthling.  But I know what you mean.  My

'home' planet, as you called it, was blown up, not long after my infant father left."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Is that why you wear that helmet? Cause you look different underneath?"

"Wha?  Oh no, no, I look normal, like any other guy.  The...uhh…people my dad came from…looked exactly like humans.  So did he."

"Oh, you know, I could probably use this information to find out who you are."

He shrugged, "I doubt that, besides, for some reason, when you ask, I just answer."

"Oh.  Well, if you look normal under that helmet, why do you wear it then?"

"Keep my identity secret.  Protect my family's privacy."

"Oh, well if I promise not to tell, will you show me."

"Uhh…"  She could see the struggle he was facing in his face.  He actually wanted to tell her, but something was holding him back.  "Sorry, I can't."

"Don't trust me huh?" she wasn't surprised

"No, it's not that, it's just, you'd recognize me right away."

"Really," her face lit up, "So you're someone I know."

"Uhh, no!" he said quickly, realizing his mistake a little too late.  "I…I'm actually some one famous…Yeah, that's why you'd recognize me!  I don't actually know you personally."

"Then why does your voice sound so familiar?"

"Uhh, well you've probably heard me on TV."

"Oh." This sounded logical enough to her.

"So your name is not, for example, Gohan?"

"Bwaa? Uhh I mean…No, that's not my name.  What an interesting name, I've never heard of it before."  Gohan got himself under control before he gave himself away.

 "Oh, well, I guess I'll believe you…for now."

"That's nice, well since your home is right there, and you wouldn't want to pass it once again," she blushed at this, "then I think I'll get out now.  Bye." And with that he was gone.

Gohan had been aware that she had been flying in circles over her house, and hadn't pointed in out because he wanted to continue the conversation.  But once she began to become suspicious about his identity, he knew it was time to get out of there.  Videl of course felt embarrassed, she had been trying to miss her house, and make it look 'accidental' so he wouldn't get the wrong idea.  But he had obviously noticed.  Oh well, she decided she might as well land.

Gohan flew off towards home, with one thought in his head.  'Well that was…weird.'

---

There you are….I finally updated.  Do you like it? Please review!  Quickly before I loose my inspiration, and this ends up abandoned for months.  This is not how I had originally seen the story going, but I like it this way, in fact this story seems to have a mind of its own, because halfway through this chapter, I already had an idea of where it was going, and then it change direction completely.  Don't worry though, it's still going the way I planned, just doing it differently than I had originally thought.  Oh and while you're here, why don't you check out my other fic, "The Fate of the Saiyan Race", I'd really like to continue it, but I have no idea how to continue it.  I have some vague ideas though. 

Oh why don't you go ahead and check out all my fics…well, all of my DBZ ones anyway.

Oh and by the way…REVIEW!!

Please, you have no idea how much it helps, there wouldn't even be a chapter 3 for this story without the many reviews I received!