A/N:  Well, I'm not surprised by the fact that everyone who guessed got at least a portion of the answer correctly – but you seemed to have forgotten that, like the story itself, the title will usually have several meanings (especially if Lexi makes it into a contest question ^___^).  In this case, the closest answer we got was from Luna's Meow – congratulations!  And congratulations to everybody else as well, because you all did a great job. ^__^  And don't worry – there will be other contests. D

*Insert Pleading Apology* This chapter has been done for a good two weeks, but we ran into a series of complications.  Our beta reader didn't get back to us for awhile (not her fault, btw) and we were having trouble finding time to work on this chapter… *sighs* can we just kill finals? (I just finished went through two grueling days of them, plus spent my entire weekend studying /__\)  But none of this is a good excuse, so we'll all shut up now.  I have a day off tomorrow, so I should be able to find some time to work on the next chapter, though I'm not sure when Lexi will have time. *sighs* Co-writing is so rewarding, but so challenging at the same time. ^_^

Tardy Disclaimer for Book Two:: We are merely two overly-ambitious writers, seeking to explore new plot lines and avoid clichés the tough way – practicing on some other bloke's characters.  In this case, we have chosen to abuse the work of Akira Toriyama, may he forgive us for blatant maltreatment of his storyline.

~Book Two, Chapter Two~

"Slow My Decent…"

"Ko, mi, hae, tei."

"Koa, mee, hi, tay."

"No.  Listen more carefully.  Ko, mi, hae, tei."

"…Ko, mi, hae, tei."

"You're getting there.  Sii, sae, ka, be."

"Sii, sae, ka, be" Gohan frowned in concentration as he carefully enunciated the alien sounds.  Almost finished with their third language lesson, Gohan was having the time of his life.  Things were looking up for him a lot – he hadn't been this consistently happy since he was four years old, riding Kinto'un with his father.  He'd always loved learning things, especially new languages, and having a real teacher sitting there and explaining things was way more fun than trying to figure it out himself.

"Now you know the three hundred and four basic sounds of the Saeoli-jin language.  By next time I want you to be able to recite all of them out loud without difficulty."

Gohan nodded before standing up and giving Xe a short bow of respect.  "Arigato, sensei." 

The two parted ways as usual, and Gohan headed straight down to the training room.  In the past few days he'd formed something of a schedule for himself.  He would get up, train until breakfast, study in his room until lunch, learn languages with Xe, train under one of the others, teach Japanese to Xe, have dinner, and train or study until he was ready for bed. 

Today he could already feel Kitten's ki in the training chamber, and he felt a glow of excitement.  He hadn't been able to train with Kitten yet, partly because he wasn't ready to learn the precise moves that she could teach him, and partly because he would have to be doing so while seriously holding back his strength in order to refrain from harming his friend.  She trusts me not to hurt her, and they agree that I'm good enough to learn her moves… this is so cool!  Grinning like a child who has just been offered a puppy, Gohan fairly bounded into the training chamber.

"Kabe sii, Kitten!"

Kitten looked up in surprise, then an answering smile spread across her face.  "Kabe sii, Gohan.  Sae'ri Xe waztae'hii?"

Gohan laughed slightly as he began to stretch out.  "Sorry Kit, haven't gotten that far.  I only know the sounds and a few basic phrases such as 'good day'."

"I asked if you were learning well under Xe.  You know, not incurring any death threats or anything."

Gohan grinned impishly up at Kitten, eyes twinkling as he continued his stretches.  "Oh, I'm learning very well.  We're getting along just peachy - after training in Saiya-jin language and customs under a jackass of a prince, and spending the first 8 years of my life studying under a frying pan wielding mother, learning from Xe is like being a pampered teacher's pet."

Kitten's eyebrows rose, and a tiny bubble of laughter escaped.  "Xe, pampering someone?!  Kais, that's a disturbing mental image!  I'll make sure to tell him you want him to get harder on you."

Trying to contain his own laughter, Gohan pasted an expression of mock horror on his face as he began to fiercely deny wanting her to do any such thing.  Suddenly a wave of pain flashed through him, and he shuddered slightly.  What in the…

"Well, time's a wastin' - let's get out there sometime this century, ne?"  Kitten quipped, apparently having failed to notice the pain that had flashed through Gohan's eyes.

Gohan grinned shakily in reply as he wrapped up his stretches.  "Ready when you are, Kitten!" he replied with forced enthusiasm.  Because I'm certainly not going to worry you with little things unless I have to.  Besides, the pain is gone now.

The training session went perfectly, and there were no more weird flashes of pain.  Gohan was nothing less than amazed by some of the moves that Kitten was able to flawlessly execute.  Being the weakest member of the group, when Kitten fought she had to make the most of her precious few advantages, one of which was her body shape.  For that reason alone, Gohan knew that he didn't have a chance in the world of learning some of her best techniques, even if he trained his entire life.  Despite that, though, there was still plenty she could teach him.  In a few short hours, Gohan had learned moves that were as graceful and precise as they were entirely deadly.

Never judge a book by its cover - Kitten looks incredibly fragile and her moves look like they could be brushed aside without a thought, yet I think she could kill people with much higher kis than her own.  I hope that I can learn to move like she does…  I've never really gotten a chance to watch females fight before, and it's amazing how they make martial arts look like nothing more than a complicated dance.  Sure, truly skilled males do the same, but somehow it's so much more striking in a female…

Shaking his head slightly, Gohan laughed at himself.  He had no idea where those thoughts were coming from, and he had more important things to ponder.  Like how exactly to teach Xe without sounding like an idiot.

Gohan looked down at the sword in his hands with more than a little apprehension.  He'd learned to use the Western style sword Piccolo had given him as a kid easily enough, but that had been a long time ago.  This sword was different.  It was so light that only his hand around the hilt assured him that he even held it, while he could remember having trouble picking up the other sword while he was learning.  Granted, I am a lot stronger now - but I still have that sword, and I could swear that it's heavier than this one; for all that it's a lot smaller…

"Are you ready, kid?" Dae asked with a raised eyebrow.  The redhead was standing across from Gohan, sword in hand, ready to teach Gohan the intricacies of swordplay.

"Yeah, I guess…" was Gohan's eloquent reply.  Suddenly another flash of pain, so much like the one earlier in the day, swept over him.  It took all of his training to remain calm and poised, when his mind felt as if it were splitting into two.  What in the world…  But the pain had passed as quickly as it had come, and Dae was talking.  I'll think about it later.  For right now, I ought to concentrate on re-learning the sword.  I've dealt with pain before.  But, another corner of his mind whispered sardonically, that pain had an obvious and direct cause, usually battle wounds.

Oblivious, Dae began his lecture.  "First off, don't hold the sword like that.  It's an extension of yourself, not something to fear.  Don't hold it too loosely or it will slip, but you can't strangle it or it won't flow."  Gohan nodded and re-adjusted his grip, pushing out the thoughts about the strange pain.  It was time to concentrate on the lesson at hand.

Two hours later, Gohan was feeling a lot better about learning the new skill, and he had completely forgotten about the earlier incidents with the pain.  Despite his original apprehension, he was finding that it wasn't really all that difficult after all.  Like Dae had said, after a while the sword was feeling more natural in his hand, though he was still adjusting to all the differences. 

"Thanks a lot, Dae-san!  That was a lot of fun."

Dae grinned slightly as he stretched to cool off.  "No problem, kid.  You're pretty good - you sure you've never handled a sword before?"

"Well, I learned to use a different style of sword when I was four, but I outgrew it a few years ago, so I haven't practiced in awhile."

Dae seemed to perk up at that, and immediately began to reprimand his student.  "You should've told me this before!  If I'd known what you already knew, I could've taught you more pertinent things and given you better pointers.  Right now, run and bring me this sword."

Completely baffled by these instructions, Gohan complied.  I wonder why he wants my sword.  Maybe he just wants to examine the differences in styles, though I don't know how that'll tell him more about my past skill set…  Oh well, it's Dae - he has a right to be eccentric.  He reached his room in almost no time at all, and began rifling through one of his drawers, looking for his capsule case.  Where is it, where is it…

Suddenly a wave of pain flashed through his body, much stronger than it had been before.  Gohan whimpered slightly and made a grab for something to steady himself.  Another wracking pain sent him to his knees, shuddering violently.  Oh kami, kami… it hurts!  Kais, it hurts so much!  Wave after wave of pain hit him, unlike anything he'd ever felt.  Finally it was too much.

After waiting for nearly fifteen minutes, Dae was more than a little impatient.  Gohan shouldn't have been more than five minutes even if he had to scour his entire room!  Irritated, Dae sent out his mind toward where he knew Gohan's ought to be.  Poking around, he was slightly alarmed to find absolutely nothing in Gohan's room.  What in the…  Continuing his probe throughout the ship, he found a similar lack of Gohan.

Worry was quickly replacing irritation.  There were very few rational explanations for not being able to sense someone's mind.  One was that they were well shielded - Dae didn't have the talent needed to be able to sense shielding, he could only sense open minds.  The other option was unthinkable - that the mind simply wasn't there.  He can't be…

Suddenly frantic, Dae raced towards Gohan's room.  He slid to a stop in front of the door, and burst through it.  "Goh--!"  His eyes opened in horror, and he took a step backward from shock.  "Kid…"

Lexi: *laughs insanely* Bwahahahaa!  Cliff hanger! 

Kitty: *smirks slightly* And no one will be able to guess what it is without more psychic powers than Dae.

Lexi: *evilly* Enjoy the wait until the next chapter comes out…  We're shooting for two weeks at this point.

Kitty: Oh!  And a short explanation of this chapter – this isn't necessarily all taking place in one day.  It's more to paint a picture of Gohan's gradual change into someone other than who he is in the series, as well as his relationship to the others.  I should also point out that Gohan doesn't know about Dae's other psychic ability (psychometery) because it's never come up before.  Dae usually has the ability "shut off" so to speak, in order to remain sane – otherwise he would be getting flashes of other people's emotions, thoughts, and pasts every time he touched anything.  He only uses the gift when he has a reason to, and, much like the assassination part of the Faceless One's career, they don't think it's terribly important, so they didn't go out of their way to tell Gohan.  For them, it's commonplace, and they would just assume that he would know.  (Shortsighted on their part, I know… ^___^)