It's A Start

by Sage of Angst

Chapter 14 uploaded; The point of no return has been reached, and Gohan makes his decision: but what is this 'feeling' he speaks of, and why does Videl seem to fear him so...?

4. Can We Talk?

Author's Note: Ok, this chapter is much longer than usual (almost twice as long, in fact), mainly because I wanted to go ahead and get the plot kinda started. But even with it being this length, I only begin to HINT at the plot at the very end, so watch for the next chapter up soon (I'm on a roll!), and you'll get quite a few questions answered.

Chapter 4: Can We Talk?

 
"Mom?" he called tentatively.

She looked up from her work. "Yes, honey?" Gohan walked over and took a seat across from his mother.

"I...I need to talk to you about something." Immediately, horrible visions flooded Chichi's mind. Talk? Was he having trouble at school? Grades? Teachers? Girls? Her mind was drawn to the last choice. "Oh, it's nothing about me, though," he assured her, seeing a panicked look cross her face.

She took a breath and calmed down, setting aside her knitting. "Alright, what about, then?"

"I—I want your permission to teach a girl at my school how to fly."

Chichi did a double-take. "You—what—?"

"It's why I was late coming home from school last night," he explained. "Our lesson ran long and I didn't realize the time."

Crossing her arms, Chichi said, "So you want permission to fritter away study-hours with some 'girl' from school? Is that it?"

"No! It's not that, it's—it's—hard for me to explain."

"Then make an effort to, Gohan, or I'm afraid our talk is done."

He sighed. "I want to help her...she's confided some secrets in me, and I think this training will really help her."

Chichi furrowed her brow. "How so?" Great, his mother sure wasn't making this easy on him. His nerves were starting to act up, so Gohan stood and paced the room in front of her, explaining as best he could.

"Her name is Videl and... I fight crime with her. Well, you know, not me really. Saiyaman fights. The other day she was in a...situation...where she and many others could have been hurt or worse. It scared her, she told me all about it. So I thought if I could put her in control of these situations, then...it'd help her." He fell silent, sending out a silent prayer that his speech hadn't fallen on deaf ears. Stopping his pacing, he turned to gauge her reaction. Much to his surprise, she wasn't fuming, but sat staring at her needlework, deep in thought.

Chichi looked up at her son. Nearly full grown, he was everything she'd hoped he'd grow up to be: smart, handsome, studious, powerful, brave, caring, suave...well, maybe not so suave. All this...her baby boy wasn't a baby. Not anymore. He carried the weight of battles fought and won on his sturdy shoulders—a weight no teenager should have to bear. While others were worrying about what they would do over the summer to keep busy, he had been worrying about how he would defeat some new threat to the Earth. He'd missed out on anything resembling a normal childhood. And here he was, asking permission to be with others his own age...

"You care for her, this Videl, then?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, of course I—" Then he remembered how much his mother wanted grandchildren. "It's not like THAT!!"

"Really now?" she questioned slyly. "We may just have to fix that..."

"MOM!"

Chichi laughed, breaking the tension which had settled over her and her son. "I think I see what this means to you."

Gohan's mouth fell open. "Y—you do?" She nodded.

"But: I want to see what you're pushing yourself into. Before any of this training starts, I want to meet this young lady. And only after that will I allow you to teach her, understand?" He nodded vehemently. "Good. And if your grades drop, so does the training." Gohan lunged forward and lifted Chichi into the air in a huge hug.

"Thanks so much, Mom! I promise, school won't be affected at all! I'll study extra hard in my time off! Promise!"

"F-fine!" Chichi gasped, wiggling out of her son's grip, and pulling air into her nearly crushed lungs. "That'll be fine as long as it stays that way. Now," she stood and shooed her eldest away from her in the direction of the stairs, "Get to bed." Once he was up the stairs, she sat back into her chair and resumed her knitting.

"Hmm...Mrs. Videl Son...nice ring to it, I think," she mused.

*****

He'd done it! Done the impossible, conquered the unconquerable, convinced his mother to change her mind!

He twisted and flipped in midair, doing barrel rolls and loop-de-loops, frightening a flock of migrating geese and giving a private plane pilot the thrill of seeing a flying man.

Then he saw it. "Wow, she must live right on my flight path; this is the second day in a row I've run into her." Seizing the opportunity to spill, and barely able to contain his excitement anyway, Gohan effortlessly pushed forward until he and the copter were neck to neck. He reached over and tapped on the window to get Videl's attention.

"AAAH!!" The jet copter bucked wildly from side to side, plummeting down, then shooting up again until Videl finally regained her senses and control and punched a button on a panel in front of her, opening the passenger side door. "DON'T SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT!" she gasped, shaking. "Scared the living...can't believe...honestly…"

"Geez, I'm sorry Videl, I didn't mean—"

"Well normal people don't expect people to knock on their windows five thousand feet up!" she huffed.

"But I thought you knew I could—"

"That didn't mean I was expecting it!"

Gohan frowned and looked at the floor of the copter, then brightened as he remembered why he'd caught up with Videl in the first place. "Well," he stated knowingly, "if you're going to be mad, then I guess I can't tell you."

Not about to be baited, she nonchalantly replied, "Tell me what?"

Gohan, of course, couldn't be so blasé about his news, and blurted out, "I DID IT!"

Videl slowly turned her gaze to focus on Gohan. "Congrats, Gohan, but...did what, exactly?"

He grinned. "I convinced my mom to let me teach you!"

Her face lit up like a light bulb. "S—Seriously?!" she exclaimed, disbelief clinging to the word. He nodded, satisfied. "Th—that's great! That's—it's just—wow!" She sighed happily and looked at the sky in front of her. "So cool..."

*****

It wasn't until lunch that Gohan remembered Chichi's stipulation that she meet Videl before any training could start, but this fact didn't seem to deter Videl in the least.

"Your mom? Should be nice!" She seemed, rather, to be floating on air, figuratively for now.

"I've known Videl for a long time, and I've never seen her like this," Eresa commented during their English lesson. "She's like a totally different person, so agreeable and happy." She teased Gohan, "So what's going on between you two that's got her this way, huh? I've seen you during lunch. Yesterday it seemed nothing would cheer her up and today...well, look at her! So, what is it?"

The demi-Saiyan's face turned beet red. "N—Nothing!" he blurted out, garnering a glare from the teacher. "Nothing!" he repeated in a whisper. "You know that!"

Eresa merely giggled and turned back to her sentence diagramming.

After the final bell rang, Videl suggested that she just follow Gohan to his house in her copter, to which he agreed. "I told my dad I'd be studying at Eresa's again tonight, since I didn't last night, so I'm free for the night." With that, the two set off from the school roof when most everyone else had left for the day.

"Lead the way," she said, and fired the engine to her copter. Moments later, the two were zooming through the air towards the distant mountains.

*****

"M-Mom!" Goten whined through wipes of the wet cloth over his face. "I'm clean!" He grinned and added, "Don't you know us Saiyans are allergic to water?"

Chichi stood up and glared down at her younger son. "Funny, I don't remember your father mentioning that one. Now you stay clean, Goten. Don't you want to look nice when Videl gets here?"

The evil gleam faded from Goten's eye as he thought about this "Videl" person. "Who's that? Is that Gohan's girlfriend? Is she pretty? Is she gonna be my new sister? Is—" Chichi sighed and tuned out the hyper youngster, finishing tidying up for dinner.

As she walked through the living room into the kitchen, a far off whining sound reached her ears, growing steadily louder: an engine. "That must be them now; Goten, why don't you run outside and greet them while I finish—" But he was already out the door in a blur of orange and blue before she'd finished the sentence.

The copter landed gently in the front field of the Sons' home, and Videl slid out of the pilot's seat as Gohan alighted beside her. "Can't wait 'til I can do that," she commented, and he led her to the front door.

"This," he held a hand out to the house, "is home."

"GOHAN!!" The same orange and blue blur that had so recently left Chichi's side now tackled Gohan, sending him reeling to the ground with a heavy thud. After a moment, he managed to right himself and stood back up, with the blur now firmly latched to his neck.

Pointing, Gohan revealed, "Videl, my brother Goten. Goten, meet Videl." The blur moved from Gohan's neck to stand in front of Videl, gaping.

"Wow, Gohan, you're right...she's pretty."

Gohan's face could have boiled water with the heat it gave off. With an embarrassed laugh, he clamped a hand over the boy's mouth. "The things kids say these days!"

Wiggling out from his brother's grasp, Goten suggested, "Let's go inside! Mom's almost done with supper!" Videl barely managed to suppress a laughing fit, covering her face with a hand and following the lead of the younger Son into the house.

Wonderful smells hit her the moment she entered the domicile: rice cooking, bread warming, vegetables simmering, meat browning. A veritable feast.

"Mom?" Gohan called through the house, his face now a bit less red.

"In the kitchen, honey—is Videl here? Just make yourselves comfortable in the living room."

A minute and a few new smells later, Chichi slipped out of the kitchen to greet Gohan's guest. He stood, gesturing toward Videl, "Mom, I'd like to introduce Videl Satan. Videl's the girl from school I'd like to train."

A small gasp escaped Chichi as she looked from Gohan to Videl, and back. "Satan?" She looked pointedly at her son. "As in Hercule's daughter?" Videl nodded, impressed her father's fame reached out so far. "Gohan...does she—"

"NO! No—uh, no MOM," he stated through clenched teeth, winking. "She DOESN'T. Got it?" Chichi sighed and nodded.

Videl glanced from Chichi to Gohan, confused. "I don't...what?"

He turned to her quickly, giving an embarrassed explanation. "She—She just wondered if you lived out here; you know how some celebrities are: they don't like living in the big cities, with all that attention."

Videl gave a small "hmph." "My dad's so bloated on fame, he'd die if he weren't surrounded by fans all the time. Sometimes I wish he hadn't beaten Cell, just so he wouldn't be this way."

Goten looked on, with child-like confusion. "But, Gohan, I always thought—"

For the second time that evening, Gohan had to slip a hand over the younger boy's mouth, silencing him before any damage was done. "You're right, Goten! We do usually eat as soon as I get home. Right, Mom?" Chichi caught the meaning and led Videl into the dining area.

Goten was about to follow, when his brother's hand on his shoulder held him back. Gohan squatted down to eye-level.

"Hey, Goten," he said in a softer voice, so the two women couldn't hear.

"What's wrong, Gohan?"

"Squirt, while Videl's here, we're gonna play a game, 'k?"

The younger demi-saiyan's face erupted into a wide grin. "A game? What kinda game, huh? What kind?"

"Well, we're gonna pretend that Videl's daddy beat Cell, ok?"

Goten's grin lost some of its brightness, "But Trunks said—"

Gohan waved it off. "I know, I know, but while Videl's here, we're gonna pretend, ok? It'll be fun!"

Goten's face turned serious for a moment, as tiny gears began to turn in his head, then he smirked and looked up at his brother. "Ok! But only if you promise to play with me and Trunks tomorrow!"

Gohan laughed, "You've definitely been around Vegeta too much! You've resorted to blackmailing people! It's a deal, though!" And the two brothers shook on it and joined Chichi and Videl in the dining room.

Thankfully for Gohan, Goten remembered the promise, and the meal passed relatively uneventfully. Well, apart from the look of shock plastered on Videl's face at the boys' eating capacities.

"What can I say?" Chichi sighed. "They're growing boys."

Videl thanked the Sons for the wonderful meal and said goodbye. "Hope we can start training again tomorrow!" she called as the copter lifted off, then was gone.

Chichi looked at her older son out of the corner of her eye as the Videl disappeared. "I think she'll make a good wife."

Gohan nodded, still looking at the tiny dot that Videl's copter had become. "A good—WHAT?!"

She turned around and walked back into the house to begin clearing the table, with Gohan following . "You heard me, Son Gohan." He quickly tried to change the subject.

"So, can I do it?"

Chichi lifted a stack of dishes into her arms and carried them over to the sink, calling back to him over her shoulder, "It's fine with me—how else are you two going to get together?"

*****

"So, where?" she asked him excitedly, balancing on the branch across from him.

"Where what?" Gohan questioned back naively, unwrapping a sandwich.

Videl let out an exasperated sigh. "Where are we gonna train? Or have you forgotten? I overheard that the softball team was going to use the baseball field today, so we can't do it there."

He had forgotten. "Oh, yeah, I remembered. Um, I guess we can go back out to my house then, unless you've got somewhere at your place where we wouldn't be disturbed."

She shook her head. "Dad's hosting a party tonight, it's gonna be packed."

"Well, there are acres of empty land around my house, so we'll be fine."

"Ok, then, see you in a few hours!" With that, she slipped off the branch to the ground and walked back over to Sharpener's and Eresa's table, smiling all the while.

*****

BAM!

The gunman was now curled up on the ground in a fetal position, moaning in pain thanks to a well-landed kidney-punch from Videl. Another lay beside him after being thrown back by some "mysterious" force when he'd tried to attack Saiyaman from behind.

"Gohan," Videl grunted between hits as she took care of a few of the remaining criminals. "There's got to be a better way for you to do this."

"I know," he countered, lightly blasting another few who'd tried a sneak attack.

"You can't keep using the same excuse to get out of class." She took out the final thug with a roundhouse. "You know," she suggested, dusting off her hands, "you could just let me take care of the crime around here myself like I've done for years, Mr. Saiyaman."

Gohan's mouth turned up in a classic Saiyan smirk. "Can't," he said, "having too much fun." He then added in a lower voice, "See you after school."

Seconds later, panting, a harrowed Gohan burst through the gym doors, only to become the center of attention. Swallowing hard, he walked slowly through the crowd of his classmates toward the teacher.

"Again? I warn you, one more tardy, just one more interruption of my class, and it's straight to the principal's office; am I understood?"

"Y-yes, sir," Gohan answered hesitantly.

The coach frowned. "No use dressing out, class is nearly over anyway. Just sit over on the bleachers."

Gohan trudged over to the bench and sat down. Great, yelled at again, for saving the city! What else could go wrong?

Didn't he know you're never supposed to ask that question?

"Hey, Gohan!" came a voice from the court. "Think fast!" The demi-Saiyan looked up, but not quickly enough to dodge. While he had been moping, Sharpener and his cronies had chosen him as their target of daily ridicule, courtesy of a dodge ball straight to the face.

It didn't hurt at all, really, and Gohan didn't show any signs of being injured, but it was enough that the hit landed square on his face to cause the group of boys below to erupt in laughter. This infuriated him so much that, before he knew it, he had snatched up the ball and lifted it over his head, ready to retaliate and exact the revenge his mind was asking for.

NO! He couldn't do that! He struggled in his mind for a moment—only half of his brain wanted revenge for their wounding his pride. The other, more level-headed, human half knew he could kill them if he followed his instincts.

Per usual, logic prevailed over his primal Saiyan side, and the laughter eventually died down. Gohan heaved a mental sigh: crisis averted.

A shrill whistle sounded, and the coach informed the boys that they could dress back in, then he walked over and stood in front of Gohan.

"Son," he began, "I know you're a good kid. From what I've heard, you're at the top of all your classes, and your feats in this one are certainly nothing to laugh at. But, that being the case, I can't just blow off these tardies you keep getting."

Gohan nodded and looked up at the man. "I know, sir, and I understand."

"Then, why do you keep doing this? I wasn't kidding earlier when I said I'd have to send you to the principal's office next time. Is there...something wrong? Some...trouble?"

Gohan answered with a vehement, "No! No, nothing like that!" Now it was his coach's turn to sigh, relieved. "I've just got...a lot of things going on at once, and I'm finding it hard to juggle them all."

"Oh...ok then. As long as it's nothing, you know...serious." Gohan shook his head and smiled. "Ok, just, make an effort NOT to be late again."

"Yes, sir."

*****

Videl leaned over the rooftop railing, glancing around the empty school parking lot.

"Ok, all clear," she informed Gohan, and walked over to the waiting copter. "Shall we?"

He nodded curtly. "Yeah, but first we need to stop by Capsule Corp; Goten spent the day playing with Trunks again, and I've been elected to pick him up on the way home."

"Capsule Corp?"

"Uh huh."

"As in 'Briefs?'"

"Uh huh."

"As in 'Bulma Briefs?'"

"Uh huh."

"...."

"Why?"

Videl slapped a hand to her forehead, shocked. "You KNOW her? You know Bulma Briefs, the greatest inventor of all time?"

"Well...yeah. She's been a friend of my family's for the longest time, since before I was even born."

"How did—never mind, let's just go." The two shot into the air, with Gohan leading the way. Shortly, the domed building loomed ahead, and the skids of Videl's copter had barely touched the grass, when, not one, but TWO blurs rushed out the door and grabbed both of Gohan's hands.

"Time to play!" the two blurs announced, with almost maniacal glee. Gohan tried to resist being yanked inside, but two half-Saiyans make a whole Saiyan, and—usually—a whole Saiyan is more powerful than any demi-Saiyan.

"Play?" Videl wondered, smiling in spite of herself at the panicked look which had replaced Gohan's normal happy-go-lucky mien.

"GOTEN! TRUNKS! Just WHAT do you think you're doing?!" questioned an angry female voice as the two boys wrestled an unwilling Gohan into the building, followed by a very confused Videl.

"Videl," Gohan grunted from the ground, "Meet Bulma Briefs. Bulma...Videl."

She smiled at Videl, then turned her attention back to Goten and Trunks. "Get off him, you two!" she yelled again, and immediately both released their prey. Gohan scrambled to his feet and dusted himself off.

"Aww, Mom! We were just playing!"

"Yeah!" Goten confirmed. "Gohan said he'd come by and play today, so we were ready!"

Gohan's face washed over with recollection, and Bulma and the boys looked over at him. "Really?" she asked.

"Remember, Gohan?" Goten tried to jog his memory. "Remember, last night, you said if I pretended that Vi—" This time three hands were clapped over the younger Son's mouth.

"A game we played after supper," he quickly explained, then turned to the boys. "I'm sorry, guys, I completely forgot I'd said that! I promised Videl I'd start teaching her to fly today."

Two small faces grew sad, and their gazes fell to the ground. "But—I promise: you're my first priority tomorrow, ok?" They brightened a little, but he knew they were still sad he'd neglected them.

Bulma urged them to take the opportunity to leave then, before Vegeta returned, to which Gohan agreed.

"I sent him to the store," she explained, "which may or may not still be there by the time he gets back." They said their goodbyes, and Gohan, Goten, and Videl walked out to the front.

"Hey, Gohan?" Videl asked as she climbed into the cockpit. "Who's the 'Vegetable' guy Mrs. Briefs was talking about?"

Gohan had to surpress a smile, "Oh, he's her—" but he was cut off by the beeping of Videl's watch.

"Yes, chief?" she answered. The police chief's voice came in, frantic, over the radio in her watch.

"Videl!" he called over the speaker. "We need you downtown right away! Four men dressed in black suits have just broken into the First National Bank and are attempting to make off with all the money. We need you now!"

"Right, on my way!" she turned to Gohan. "Looks like our lesson's been delayed. Coming?"

He nodded and reached for a button on the side of his own watch.

"So that's how," she mused. "I always wondered."

Videl had fired the engines and Saiyaman was ready to go, when Bulma, panting hard, ran out holding a phone.

"Y-your mother j-just called. Said y-you need to come home."

Gohan frowned, worried. "Huh? Why?"

Bulma glanced over at Videl, and spoke in a lower voice. "Piccolo's there." He nodded and walked over to Videl.

"Hey, can I get a rain check on the lesson for today? An old friend dropped by my house, and...it's kinda important."

"That's fine," she answered. "I'll handle the guys at the bank."

"Sure; see you tomorrow!" He recapsuled his Saiyaman outfit and headed home with Goten, while Videl returned to Orange Star.

*****

"Mr. Piccolo!" Goten exclaimed, spotting the tall Namek standing under a tree next to the Son home.

"Hey Goten," he greeted gruffly.

"Goten," Gohan called gently, "why don't you run inside and let Mom know we're home, ok?" Goten nodded and skipped inside, calling his mother.

Gohan, seeing his brother make it into the house, turned to his former mentor. Piccolo usually wouldn't come down from the lookout unless something important was happening; he wondered what it was.

"Is it about...Dad?" he asked hesitantly.

Both to his relief and dismay—relief his father wasn't in trouble, dismay he wasn't coming back—the Namek shook his head. "No, Gohan, this time it's about you."

"Me?"

"For the past week, I've been getting strange feelings from you." Gohan looked a bit worried, until he added, "Not from you, really, from somewhere around you, as if…some other force was acting on you. I can't pinpoint it, it's far too vague. It's like...someone's watching you, tracking you." He moved from under the tree into the waning sunlight.

"Tracking me? But—why?"

"I don't know," the Namekian confessed. "I'm not sure if the force is friendly or not, but until I can figure this out, I want you to watch your back. You may be in danger."

Gohan nodded solemnly, and Piccolo took off into the sky, headed back to the lookout.

"What did Piccolo want?" Chichi asked when Gohan came inside.

"N—nothing," he said softly, making his way into the living room. She stuck her head out of the kitchen to look at him.

"Something wrong, honey? Where's Videl? I thought you two were going to train today."

He sat on the couch. "Oh, something came up in town, and she couldn't make it out." He glanced down at his watch: he still had time. He could go back into town and get her, he still had time...

But...he was tired, very tired for some reason. He had, in no way, exerted himself, so why...? He rubbed his temple and closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the quiet.

Wait...quiet?

"Mom, where's Goten?"

"Oh, I think he went up to the room." Gohan mounted the stairs with some effort, surprised that such a simple task should be so hard, then knocked on the closed door of the room he and his brother shared.

"Goten?" he called, opening the door.

"Hey Gohan," his brother called from the floor, zooming a toy car around and crashing into imaginary buildings. Gohan sat down beside him and picked up another car,

"Listen, bro, I'm sorry I couldn't play with you and Trunks today, but we'll train extra hard tomorrow, I promise."

"It's ok, Gohan."

"Well, tomorrow, you may be regretting you ever asked me to play." He winked and added, "I can be worse than Vegeta, y'know."

Goten looked over at his brother and smiled, giggling. "Thanks, brother."

"No prob." He ruffled Goten's already unruly hair and stood back up, swaying on the spot, a bit disoriented. Holding onto a bed post, he asked Goten to tell Chichi he was going to bed early, that he wasn't feeling well.

"What about supper?"

"I think I'll go without for tonight." A Saiyan refusing food? Even Goten was starting to worry...

Gohan stripped down to a tank top and light pants, then slipped underneath the sheets, closing his eyes and sighing. Poor Trunks and Goten, they'd really wanted to train today. And Videl, she wouldn't be getting her lesson tomorrow either. He was getting harrowed at school for slipping out so often, and now Piccolo was dropping hints about some invisible stalker—he felt like he was being pulled in a thousand different directions, unable to please anyone. And that event during his gym class earlier that day had been one in a series of his nearly losing control of his emotions.

Troubled, he very slowly drifted into a dreamless sleep.

*****

"So, Gohan's feeling a bit stretched? Let's see what we can do about that," a hidden voice stated. "Be careful what you wish for, Son Gohan…"

End Ch. 4