The Assassin

By saiyagal

(major AU warning) The unthinkable has happened - Earth has been destroyed. The suddenly orphaned, 10-year-old Gohan must pick up his life from the shambles. And what does he do to accomplish that?

A/N: 0_o Damn, I wasn't expecting it to be so popular! Just the prologue and already 7 reviews (even if one is a repeat!)! Thanks to cory, Jo, SwomeSwan, DemonDancing, Chibi-Goten's-Gurl, and gohans-girl for reviewing - you've got no idea what this means to me!

Anyway, on to actual business.I heard your request for more action, but since I've already written this out to the third chapter, action isn't a thing in this one. It's mainly for explaining how things are, and what's been happening. Okay, read, review, and enjoy!

Ch 1 - Just Business

Eleven Years Later.

Kamisah examined the sword laid before him by a terrified vender. It was of excellent quality, with its titanium blade made samuri style from the realms of Olde Earth. It was a good find, especially since genuine Olde Earth of any sort were hard to come by, let alone the types he liked. He allowed himself a smirk, letting the human vender sweat a little. Privately he was amused by the man's obvious fear.

I wonder why he's so scared, he thought. Ah, must have something to do with my being one of the more infamous bounty hunters in the galaxy.

Aloud he said, "I'll give you 20 klicks for it."

The vender began to protest the severe downprice (it was originally 100 klicks) but seeing his icy glare, hastily replied, "Yes, my lord, your generosity is overwhelming!"

Kamisah smirked again. "Thank you."

He laid the coins down and picked up the sword, attaching the scabbard to his side. He then nodded to the vender and left.

Things hadn't always been this way. He hadn't always been a bounty hunter, his name hadn't always been Kamisah, and people hadn't always said that name with an awed, terror filled reverence. In fact, once nobody had been afraid of him at all.

That was back on Earth. When he was a child, Kamisah had been named Son Gohan. He'd had a family, a home, a life. But when the planet exploded, destroyed by a terrible entity that even the Z Warriors couldn't beat, Vegeta had saved him and knocked him out. Then he put him in the saiyan pod and launched it into the galaxy. His eyes narrowed with supressed rage, remembering Majin Buu, and remembering his helpless anger at the evil creature who destroyed his home.

As a mere child of ten, Gohan had been forced to adapt to life in the harsh planets of the Central Worlds, the main governing body of the Milky Way. There was only two practical ways make a living as an orphaned child, and the first choice - prostitution - he absolutely refused. So he became a bounty hunter instead.

At first, it had been very hard. People had been very reluctant to trust their money and their deeds to a child and he'd had a tough time earning that trust. Even then it had seemed impossible, and made him sick to think about what he was doing - killing most likely innocent people simply for money.

Then came Jacen. He smiled even now to think of that poor soul. That point had been a few years after the beginning and he'd started to make a name for himself. Jacen had been an extremely rich, extremely desperate man, willing to risk his life and fortune on a somewhat useless hope that perhaps this boy would take down Spike, the most famous stalker in the known universe.

Long story short, Gohan had beaten this man, though not without any scars - he'd gotten one that gouged his right eye out, he'd since replaced it with a mechanical one - and had been paid quite handsomely. Jacen had made sure to pass word around about the boy he reverently christened "Kamisah" because he was convinced that no one but a god could have defeated Spike.

Since then, of course, the jobs had been pouring in. With each job there was less and less guilt, so that now, as a 21-year-old expert who had been in the business for over half his life, he hardly cared at all. He'd also made himself proficient in various weaponry methods so that he wouldn't have to depend upon his mastery of ki.

So here he was, on the planet Teleos, studying his opponet. Not his enemy, he never called them that unless it was personal, and he made a point of not mix public business with private agendas. It was part of what made him such a ruthless, dangerous enemy. This particular bounty was on a young woman living here on Teleos. From what he'd picked up, she was a human about his age. This made him more uneasy then usual - he never liked killing off what was left of the humans, since they were now an endangered species - but it made no real difference. After all, it was just business.

Teleos was a relatively newly settled world and therefore was not very developed. As a result there were only three cities, so he'd decided to comb these to gain information. He was starting on the largest one first.

He smiled, a cold expression that scared a few passerby. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," Kamisah whispered. "The Kamisah will find you, Miss Videl Satan!"