Author's Note: ACK! Look! An update! Haven't seen one of those in forever. Blame it on the finals. Anyway, HOPEFULLY I'll have updates up sooner than this one, but *hinthint* only reviews will tell… Enjoy!

Chapter Three: An Explanation



"Videl, I'm sorry, but, I can't give you anymore flying lessons." A pause. "Why? Well, uh…umm…" he scratched his head and turned from his mirror, picking up a shirt and pulling it over his head. This wasn't working. Why couldn't he just tell her his mom said no? If he couldn't tell the truth to his mirror, he certainly couldn't do it to Videl herself.

He didn't want to let her down! She'd been so happy when they'd flown to her house, almost a child-like euphoria. He didn't want to take that away from her, but then… how to keep teaching her and still obey his mother? He grabbed his backpack from his bed and decided to think about his dilemma on the way to school.

A knock sounded on his door just as he was pulling on his bag. "Gohan?" came his mother's voice. "Are you about to leave?"

Gohan opened the door to see his mother and Goten. "Yeah, Mom. You just caught me. Need something?" ChiChi pushed his younger brother in front of her.

"I've got to go into town this afternoon and I don't want to take Goten along; I know he wouldn't have any fun wandering around town with me, so I arranged for him to spend the day with Bulma. Do you think you could drop him off at Capsule Corp. for me on your way to school and pick him up on the way back?"

Gohan nodded. "'Course, Mom." He bent down and lifted his brother onto his shoulders as his mother exited the room. The two skipped down the stairs and out the door, with the sunlight streaming onto the boys' faces. "Now, how shall we get there? Nimbus…or piggyback?"

Goten's eyes lit up with the glee only a young child could possess. "PIGGYBACK!" Gohan smiled; Goten sure was the spitting image of his father, from his hair to his effervescent personality.

The young boy slid down from his brother's shoulders until he was safely situated on his back, clutching Gohan's neck. "Ready?" Gohan's back shook, confirming that yes, Goten was ready. "Hang on tight!" Gohan lifted into the air with more speed than he had revealed to Videl the previous evening and sped towards Capsule Corp., on the western edge of Orange Star in the West City section.

Goten yelled with glee as the wind blew his hair back behind him. "Faster, Gohan! FASTER!"

Gohan smiled and pushed ahead. At the rate Goten was pacing them, the CC building shortly loomed before them and Gohan slowed down as he began the descent. Once his feet touched the ground, though, Goten jumped off and zipped up to the door, banging to be let in.

After a few knocks, a small boy Goten's size sleepily opened the door, then lit up in recognition. "Mom! Goten's here!" the boy known as Trunks called. "C'mon, you two. Mom'll be out in a minute." He led his friend and Gohan into the living area of the building.

"Oh, hi Gohan!" came a voice entering the room. "I see you dropped Goten off."

"Hey, Bulma! Yep, Mom asked me to so she wouldn't have to make an extra trip. Is that ok?"

"Sure, kid. No prob." She ushered the two small boys into the back room. "Vegeta said if you two were gonna be around here all day, you may as well get some training in." Trunks and Goten disappeared into the bowels of the building in search of the Gravity Room. She turned back to Gohan. "Can I get you anything? Coffee? Milk?"

"Oh, no thanks, Bulma, I gotta head to school anyways. I'll be back to pick up Goten afterwards, ok?" She nodded and they said goodbye. As he exited the building and lifted into the air, he heard faint yelling below him. He turned and noticed two small figures hanging out of a window, waving wildly at him.

"Bye Gohan!!" shouted Trunks and Goten. "See you when you get back!" Gohan waved at the two and zipped off into the sky, bound for Orange Star High.

"Man," Trunks lamented dejectedly, leaning back from the window. "I wish your brother'd stick around sometime and play." Goten nodded sadly, agreeing.

*****


Late, late, late, Videl was going to be late! She threw her books that lay strewn about her desk into her already overstuffed backpack. The seams bulged with the weight but held firm. She slung the pack over her shoulder and rushed up the stairs to the heli-pad on the roof, where her jet-copter awaited a pilot.

Videl jumped into the cockpit and threw her pack into the passenger seat, firing the engines and shooting into the sky. She lifted above the clouds, hoping to make better time by avoiding the commercial air traffic which was now flying below her.

Once safely on her way, Videl allowed herself a chance to relax and take a breath. She did this too soon, though, she realized, as through her rearview mirror, who should she see moving up from behind her but Gohan!

Videl's eyes lit up as she slowed down to pull up beside him.

Gohan had noticed Videl's copter a ways back, and was wondering whether or not he should pull up beside her, when his question was answered as she slowed down to his pace, recognizing him.

"Gohan!" she yelled over the roar of the engine as she tried to steady the copter to stay beside him. "Hop in!" Gohan nodded and adjusted his flight speed to match hers, easing into the seat beside her.

"Thanks," Gohan said, then neither spoke a word for a few minutes: Videl was concentrating on flying, and Gohan… well Gohan was still thinking of a way to break the news to her.

"So, uh, Videl, sleep well?" As soon as the words left his lips, Gohan wanted to be able to hit someone. Preferably himself. 'Sleep well?' he thought. 'What kind of an idiot would use that line to start a conversation?!'

Videl snickered. "Uh, yeah, I guess so. You?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, me too." Another few minutes of awkward silence passed; it was Videl who broke it this time.

"So, we still on for this afternoon?" she questioned cheerfully. "I made arrangements so my dad won't freak if I stay late today. I'm supposedly studying with Eresa for midterms." Gohan slid down in the seat, a very guilty look on his face. Videl immediately noticed this action. "Gohan? What is it? What's the matter?" Gohan sat up and began rubbing the back of his head, trying to figure out what to say. As if expecting the inevitable, Videl added, "And I want the truth, got it?"

Gohan looked up at her and turned a pink tint, an innocent expression on his face. "Heh, of course Videl! Would I tell you anything other than the truth?" Videl frowned.

"Don't tempt me to answer that rhetorical question, and just tell me what's going on."

"Well," he began tentatively, "you see, my mom's always been big on my staying ahead in school, and she—well, she doesn't really like the idea of my staying after school with a girl. She thinks it'll bring down my grades, or distract me, or something like that."

"Oh… so that's it…" she muttered.

"It's not your fault, believe me, Videl. I tried to explain to her what was going on, about, you know, your situation, but she wouldn't let me get a word in, and once she's made up her mind, she's impossible to turn."

"No… no, it's fine." She waved it off and put on a smile. "Really, I understand."

Gohan, ever the naïve one, smiled also, relieved that Videl wasn't angry with him. But something was nagging him from the back of his mind—he knew deep down he'd disappointed her. She'd really wanted those lessons. Oh—why did his mom have to do this to him?

Videl eased the copter down through the clouds and settled onto the school roof, spraying gravel around the landing area. She hopped from the pilot seat onto the roof, and after walking a few feet from the machine, she placed it into its capsule, pocketing it, then descended into the school building, with Gohan following.

Through the whole day, Videl hardly spoke two words to him. It wasn't an angry silence, he could tell she wasn't mad at him; it was more of a sad silence, like she had nothing to say to him, or nothing she would say to him. Their morning classes passed, and Gohan again found himself marching across the field to his tree, with no sign of Videl.

"She must've gone back to Eresa's and Sharpner's table," he said to himself, and set down his materials by the great trunk, then sat down himself. As he was unwrapping his first sandwich, though, something hit him on the head and bounced onto the ground by his feet. He picked up the small object and examined it; it was a nut, much like the one's that grew at the top of the tree—

Gohan quickly whipped his head upward. "Videl!" He dropped his sandwich and made his way up into the branches, coming to a stop on the branch beside hers. She was staring up through the branches into the sky above them.

"Thinking again?" he questioned sadly. She smiled weakly and shook her head, not averting her gaze from the clouds billowing above.

"Nah… I've done my thinking already. Had plenty of time. And I'll have some more."

Gohan wanted to say something, anything, not just sit there in silence. He'd done far too much of that already. Far too much… "Videl, you know that I really do want to keep teaching you—"

"It's not that, Gohan. Not anymore."

"Well, be that as it may," he said determinedly, "I swear I'm gonna talk to my mom, I'll fix it, you'll see, and we can keep going!" He pasted on his normal happy-go-lucky grin, and she looked over at him, and smiled a bit more sincerely and not as sadly. "It'll work out."

*****



That left Gohan with the rest of the school day to figure out just how it was going to work out. He made a decision while flying home, and it was only the knowledge that a positive outcome would make Videl happy that made him go through with the plan: he was going to actually CONFRONT his mother. Talk to her, and try to change her. As he tried to recall all the people who had been successful at carrying out this task, he drew a blank.

Quite possibly the strongest human woman in the world, his mother was not one to be messed with. She had always been the omnipotent matriarch in the Son household, even when Goku had been alive.

'Dad…' Gohan thought. He knew his dad would have let him teach Videl. He had always understood how Gohan felt, as if the two had a mental link. Gohan smiled, remembering his father. 'Maybe it's a Saiyan thing.'

So distracted was he with his dilemma, that he had sighted his home and had almost touched down on the front lawn when a faint thought skittered across his mind, like he had forgotten something…

GOTEN!

Gohan almost lost it with fear, nearly falling to the ground, but managed to catch himself; that would've been real good, start talking to ChiChi only to have her intervene and ask where Goten was. Real smooth.

He blasted off toward Capsule Corp. and landed within minutes on the front door step of the huge dome. The door was opened after a knock by Bulma herself.

"Hey Gohan, I almost thought you'd forgotten little Goten." He grinned sheepishly.

"Me? Heh, no, just had to talk to one of my teachers about a project I'm working on…"

"Oh, ok then, he and Trunks should be coming out of the Gravity Room soon." She led Gohan inside into the living section. "The minute Vegeta saw you weren't here at four o'clock sharp, he jerked those two back in. I tried to tell him you were on your way, but then, you Saiyans…" she trailed off, then mentioned that she was going to get some snacks for the boys when they emerged and disappeared into the kitchen area.

Gohan sighed and took a seat on the couch in the center of the living room, relaxing for a moment and trying to form his argument for his mother. He was right in the middle of mentally explaining the pros of his teaching Videl how to fly, when his concentration was broken as a loud gasping sound from behind him reached his ears; he whipped his head around and saw the Goten and Trunks, panting, with a surly looking Vegeta looming over them. Well, not really looming, since he wasn't all that much taller than the two.

"Pah, weaklings, I barely worked up a sweat in there, and you two look as if I nearly killed you."

"Y-Y-Y—" Goten tried to choke out between breaths.

"Y-You almost did, D-Dad," Trunks managed to fill in. Just then Bulma walked into the room, nearly dropping the tray of refreshments she had gathered.

"OH MY POOR BABY!" she gasped, gathering up Trunks in her arms. "VEGETA!" The Saiyan prince feared absolutely nothing in all the universe, but if he was forced to admit that he trembled just a bit for anything, it would be his mate's yell.

"What, woman?" he asked defensively.

"DO YOU SEE OUR SON?! What have you DONE to him?" She directed her cares to the boy, still cradled in her arms and putting up quite a fight.

"M-Mom! Put me down! Lemme go! Goten's gonna see…"

"But you're—"

"The boy is fine, and so is the brat," Vegeta interjected. "I'd be too embarrassed to let it be known that my son couldn't handle my training routine. I'm sure Kakkarot would feel the same way," he finished, shooting a smirk Gohan's way.

Bulma let her son slide down from her grasp. "Are you sure you're fine, Trunks?" After both of the young demi-saiyans vehemently announced that they had survived the training with minimal injury, she released them from her care. They were about to wreak havoc in other areas of the building when they were sharply reminded by Vegeta that the only reason they had stopped their training was because Goten had to leave.

"Aww!" came the simultaneous pleas of the boys.

"Silence!" was the Saiyan's answer, stifling the whimpers of the boys. "Now I want all half-breeds out of my home this instant!" Trunks grinned evilly.

"Ok, Dad!" he exclaimed, and began merrily marching towards the door with Goten skipping along behind him. He was stopped however, as Vegeta grabbed him roughly by the collar of his shirt, yanking him backward.

"Not you, boy. You get to stay and train. Now get back to the Room!" Trunks's face fell, and he bid his friends goodbye as he slunk back to the Gravity Room, his father pushing him from behind.

Bulma said a more formal goodbye and the two were finally off, racing through the air to get back home. Goten had to hold on extra tight and made a mental note to opt for Nimbus the next time he had to be flown somewhere.

The sun had just touched the horizon, and dusk was creeping over the landscape when they got home. ChiChi already had her suspicions.

"Another girl, I'll bet," she accused. Since he didn't have to lie—well, maybe he could lie a little—Gohan had no trouble explaining the situation to his mother.

"No, honestly, it wasn't a girl! Vegeta just kept them longer than usual training—"

"YOU LET THAT MAN FIGHT MY GOTEN?!" She nearly collapsed.

"It's ok, Mom!" Goten saved. "Me and Trunks had fun! Can I go again tomorrow?" ChiChi breathed a sigh of relief, but continued to eye Gohan suspiciously.

"We'll see," she allowed. Food was hurried onto the table, and Goten was sent to bed after a long bath, during which ChiChi tried to wash off what she had come to call the "Saiyan smell" since both Gohan and Goten seemed to forever reek of it after a long day's training. When cynically asked if she had ever sweated when she trained, she answered, "Women don't sweat, we 'perspire.'"

With Goten safely off to dreamland, Gohan decided now was a good time to confront his mother. Maybe she'd be less likely to yell at him with the possibility of waking his brother looming over them. He approached her quietly as she sat on the couch in the den, knitting contentedly.

"Mom?" he called tentatively.



Sage=Evil


Yes, MWAHAHAHA! The long awaited "talk" with ChiChi won't be happening until next chapter, but it WILL happen, I promise. Next chapter. And I have some good news! I've actually got a real plot formed for this story! So, as long as I don't develop amnesia, we're all set. Now, all I need is the time to write…