A few weeks had easily passed since Gohan had begun attending OSH. He was pulling the astounding grades that were expected of him, and he was finally making some real friends. Well, at least Erasa was a good friend. The others...he wasn't sure about them yet.
After the first few days, Gohan realized that Sharpner wasn't exactly the arrogant jerk he appeared to be. Egotistical, definitely. An ass, most of the time no. The boy clearly thought of himself as a god of sorts. A great deal of attention to his body brought bronze muscles from countless hours in the sun, blonde hair that glistened with care, and proud features that really did make him worth noticing. He currently held the title as 'one of the strongest guys in school,' something he took dearly to heart. Did he still make fun of Gohan? Every chance he got, that wasn't going to change anytime soon. However, the one thing Sharpner did more than preen himself for the mass public and ridicule the demi-saiyan was hit on the lovely Videl. Talk about a mystery...
Videl was easily one of the most intelligent young women in all of OSH. Her dark hair was held in two pigtails, framing her soft face and large, sapphire eyes that had a startling intensity. She and Gohan were on civil terms, nothing more, but the few times she had looked at him or anyone else, that same fiery stare always surprised him. Definitely a little firecracker. The girl may be short in stature, but she held a commanding presence that demanded authority while having a sharp tongue for those who royally ticked her off. I wonder how long Sharpner has been going after her...isn't it obvious that the results are less than inspiring? Maybe it's all a game to him...
Finally there was Erasa, the one person in the entire school who had really warmed up to him. Bright, confident, and full of love, the blonde was more than willing to share her opinion and give a hug if a put a smile on the person's face. Gohan felt that he would automatically be an outcast; the person everyone would hate because he was too smart for his own good. Well, people did still hate him for that, but Erasa never batted an eye when it came to his brains. It didn't seem to matter to her whether he was light years beyond the rest or if he couldn't tell the difference between a boy and a girl. That was what had really sparked Gohan's attention. Was the girl truly ditzy, or did she have a strong self-esteem that allowed her to be who she really was?
Insightful? At this hour of the morning? Gohan pondered this as he crawled out of the warm cocoon that was his bed. With half-lidded eyes, the teen pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt that wasn't wrinkled, heading down to breakfast like he had since he was a little chibi with a 'mop top.'
As usual, Chichi Son stood over her domain, reveling in the fact that it was one of the places that she positively felt home at. Once the arrival of Gohan was made known with a wide yawn, the mother immediately smothered him with love and enough food to feed his entire homeroom.
Across from the still dozing teen was Goten, shoveling food in his mouth as if there was no tomorrow.
"Morning, Squirt," Gohan greeted with another yawn, eyes brightening at the emergence of food on the table.
"Hi Gohan!" the chibi called through a mouth of food.
"Goten Son! You swallow all of your food before talking! Just imagine what your wife will think when she sees you inhale food faster than a vacuum cleaner!" Chichi shrieked, leaving a wide-eyed Goten to cower before her earth-shattering voice.
"I-I have a wife? How come I've never seen her? Do I have to kiss her and do other mushy stuff? I haven't finished breakfast yet!" Goten cried, working himself into a state of frenzied hysteria.
Gohan heaved a sigh before starting on his own breakfast, though with more tact than his sibling. I wonder what Goten will turn out like when he gets to my age? Will he be the same as dad was? Gohan mentally shuddered. He definitely resembles the man, but lets hope that the looks don't indicate similar mental states. Gohan loved his dad and brother with incomparable emotion, but that didn't mean he had to be blissfully ignorant to the fact that both had shown signs of childlike innocence that would never grow out.
"No, Goten. Mom was just implying that you will forever be judged by another woman, be it your mom or wife. Don't take it personally, it's the destiny of all men to be controlled with an iron fist. It's unavoidable," Gohan murmured sagely, taking one last bite of egg before grabbing his book bag to leave.
"Gohan Son!" Chichi yelled, but said teen already dashed outside, the name of a certain cloud already on his lips that would aid in his successful escape from the wraith of Kami. A.K.A.: Chichi Son.
"Big brother," came the squeaky voice of Goten as he joined the other on the flying cloud, "How could you leave me like that? I was so scared," the chibi grimaced, "She just gave me a look that said 'Goten Son! What your brother said was absolutely right and don't you ever forget it!' Traumatizing, I tell you, traumatizing..."
Gohan snorted, rolling his obsidian eyes skyward.
"Squirt, you don't even know what be manipulated like a woman is like. Not yet anyway. Just don't worry about it, it will still be a few years before she starts hammering down on you like she did to me. Enjoy the years you have left, Goten, for they are the last ones you will spend a real man," Gohan coached, proud of himself that he had aided his brother by giving him a priceless guideline.
Too bad Goten had been fast asleep as soon as the word 'manipulated' came into the picture.
"Wake up, man! I'm trying to save your life. This is how you repay me? Disgusting." The teen shook his head as if finding Goten a hopeless cause.
"Huh?" Goten muttered, "Did you say something? OH!" the chibi cried unexpectedly, "Are you going to help us?"
"Help? With what?" the older brother questioned.
"The prank, of course. What else would I find remotely interesting in life?" Goten asked.
Eh, I can think of plenty of things you would find interesting. The teen began to count down with mental fingers. Food, fighting, sleeping, food, playing...food. Heh, a saiyan is ruled by his stomach...
"Nothing, nothing at all. What do you want me to do?"
"Nothing as of yet. True genius takes time and patience, Gohan," the chibi advised.
Time? If this kid's waiting for intelligence to come rushing at him with open arms, he's going to have to learn how to sit still for a very long time.
"Oh, definitely, Goten. You're so smart," Gohan humored.
"No need to remind me," the other responded, sticking his head up loftily, "I know...I know..."
"Hey there, cutie!" Erasa welcomed, glomping on to him as soon as he sat down in class.
"H-hi, Erasa," he wheezed, desperately trying to bring oxygen into his lungs.
"Ease up. He'll lose brain cells if he suffocates," Videl instructed, gently pulling the other girl's arms away.
"Nah, let her at it. It's not like he needs to be so smart. Losing a few cells will even out the playing field for us smart people," came Sharpner, thoroughly enjoying the sight.
"Hah, not like you were ever on the field anyway, Sharpie. That's reserved for people who can actually pass a class," Gohan retorted, rubbing his sore throat.
Videl and Erasa let out a laugh, enjoying the look on Sharpner's face.
"Ladies, do you have a problem?" Mr. Broder said, the rest of the class turning around to see what was happening. The class had apparently started ten minutes ago.
"No sir," Videl apologized, but was stopped when the screeching of her watch reverberated through the room.
"Chief, it's Videl. What's the problem?"
"Videl, there are some men threatening to bomb the bank! We need you here ASAP!"
"Roger, I'll be right there." Videl clicked her watch shut as she leapt from her chair towards the door.
"Sorry, Mr. Broder," she called as she dashed away without waiting for a reply.
As soon as the door shut, Mr. Broder calmly turned back towards the board as if nothing had occurred. Waiting a few minutes, Gohan put his book away.
"Mr. Broder, can I use the bathroom?" he asked.
"I would hope so," the teacher replied without turning around, "I'm no doctor, dear, so you might want to see the nurse if you're having issues. I'm not too clear on female anatomy."
"I'm not a girl," he moaned, but the antediluvian man would never seem to accept it. "May I use the bathroom?"
"No," he said simply.
Gohan sat back, watching his fellow peers either cradle their heads in their arms for sleep or converse quietly with their neighbor. What do I do now? How can I leave? The only way I could leave is if I had to see the nurse, and I'm definitely not going to pretend I have 'feminine problems' like he seems to believe I have.
Looking around for any possible answer, the dark-haired man saw Erasa use a file to shape her sharp-looking nails to perfection. Wait...maybe. That just might work. It'll have to be really hard, though...Clawing through his bag, he found a fake spider Goten left. Kami was really looking down on him.
Storing away his pride, Gohan acted as if nothing was normal, pretending to take notes like he usually did. There! He saw her hold out the hand closest to him to admire her work. With a stealthy flick of the wrist Vegeta would be proud of, the rubber gag fell right on the arm she was holding out. Squealing in undisguised fear, her arm jerked involuntarily, her hand lashing out and catching the first thing it caught. With a calculated angle of the head, Gohan leant towards her slightly as her almost claws swiped his cheek, leaving three, red marks burned into his skin.
He hissed slightly, but the pain was hardly troubling. Now shrieking, Erasa was being soothed by Sharpner until she noticed the gashes she had inflicted on her friend.
"Oh my! I'm so sorry! Mr. Broder," her focus changed to the teacher, "Can Gohan go to the nurse? I'm afraid I hurt him!"
"No cat fights, ladies. And yes, Gohan can go, but be quick."
"Thank you, sir," Gohan said with a nod and gathered his stuff up. Seeing Erasa look at him with teary eyes forced him to sit back down again.
"Look, Erasa. It's just a scratch, see?" he said in what he hoped was a casual tone, "I'm fine. I may not look it, but I'm tougher than you think. I'll just get a band aid and be right back, ok?"
With a loud sniff, she nodded, which gave Gohan permission to leave.
Without a second thought, Gohan raced through the sky as Saiyaman, cursing himself for taking so long to get out of class. I hope Videl's alright...but she's strong...but there are bombs...oh Kami...
Reaching the bank in record time, the teen saw the tell tale swarm of policemen and their cars surrounding the premises. Flying straight through the front door, he saw Videl deliver a wicked right cross to man with the cliché ski mask.
"Am I too late, or did you leave some for me," he quipped, kicking another man in the gut that sent him barreling into two others.
"Hah, I could handle this on my own, you know," she growled, twisting out of a headlock to knee the man in the groin.
Both the robber and Gohan winced as he bent over, clutching himself in agony.
"Of course you can, Miss Videl. I have no doubt," he almost squeaked, hoping he was never on the receiving end of that move she seemed to use often. These events were quite often in the city, so it was common knowledge that Videl had teamed up with the mystery hero dubbed 'Saiyaman.'
"You there!" screamed a man holding a rifle of some sort. He was too far away to be exact.
"Where's the bomb?" Videl ground out, moving into a defensive stance.
"Like I'm gonna tell ya right out. I think I'll have a little fun 'fore I reveal anything!"
With that the robber cocked his rifle and aimed at the head of a policeman held hostage.
The shot burst through the air with a painful blast. Gasping in horror, Videl ran up to the armed man, hoping she could knock the gun out of his hands before he shot again. Other cries of terror rang out in varying degrees of terror, hoping that some miracle would occur to save the innocent man from a rather painful head-shot.
In this kind of situation, though, Gohan sprang into action as smoothly as taking a breath of air. Phasing out like so many times before, Gohan was planning to grab the man and move him away so neither he nor the man were shot. One downside to this idea, however, was that there were others behind the victim, so even if one man were moved away, another would be shot in his place. It's times like these when you're glad you are considerably stronger than the average human is. Or any human for that matter, Gohan thought, I'd like to see Yamcha attempting this...
Placing himself directly between the frantic victim and the bullet, Gohan held his hand in front of his body, hoping that this would work. I wonder if saiyan's can stop shot bullets with their bodies...only one way to find out...
With a thud, the bullet was forcibly stopped by a hand adorned in white fabric, the owner of this handing closing his eyes in relief. Unfortunately, even though the bullet ran into a dead end, it was still rather hot, burning a hole through the glove.
"Gah!" Gohan yelped, dropping the bullet and yanking off his glove.
Petrified by the sheer act of unknown power, the rifled man cried out in astonishment, running away straight towards the protective net of police officers. Having witnessed this as well, the rest of the robbers ran out scared, leaving all the victims alive and well, once again.
"Saiyaman!" Videl ran up to him and grabbed his hand, looking at the seemingly steel palm. A great bruise had started to swell, the edges burned by the bullet's heated head. Nonetheless, the hand looked better than it should have been.
Unbeknownst to Videl was a blushing Gohan, his reddened cheeks hidden by the visor on his helmet. Is this the wrong time to notice she has really soft hands?
"Uh," the superhero stuttered, pulling his ungloved hand away, "I r-really should get going. Important business to attend to, you know."
Taking a step back, Gohan powered up to leave for school, but a sudden thought stopped him.
"By the way, the bomb's on the second floor on the right side of the building. I trust that you and your men are capable of dealing with it."
With that off his mind, he shot into the air, realizing that the period he was supposed to be in would end quickly.
She watched him soar through the air until he was a speck on the horizon. What the hell...how could he have blocked that shot with little more than some swelling on his palm? I need clues to prove who he really is! I must know!
Shaking her head, she started to walk out to her jetcopter, vaguely noticing a team of men race in to dispose of the explosive. After the rush disappeared, it was a certain white glove on the floor that was trampled to death by the large group of men that caught her interest. Saiyaman's glove! Perfect...this is exactly what I'm looking for...
With a look of faked innocence, Videl nonchalantly strolled towards the glove, picking it up and quietly placing it in her pocket. She would worry about the glove later. At this moment, she was more worried about a big test in her next class.
A/N: Lame? Boring? I hope not, and I apologize if things seem to be moving really slowly. I'm just trying to ease into things. It's not like Videl is suddenly going to become mushy or Gohan suddenly become this bold hottie. Anyway, hope you really like it and I want a lot of reviews...or at least some cause I'm getting the implication that no reviews equals no one wanting to read...which means pointless updating...hope that's not the case!
Also, if anyone is actually reading this, I'm going to be gone for roughly three weeks so...yeah, that's why I'm sending this out early since I'm leaving tomorrow. I really hope you enjoy...reviewing too.