AN: Spring break is here, so I have some free time! *gasp* *shock* *amazement* So what am I doing? Seeing if I can get a little bit ahead on this story, and maybe finish a couple one-shots. But enough about that, I'm updating now! I'm going to take this opportunity to say WOW!!! I love my reviewers!!!

BTW, I might do something about the hair, I might not. Haven't decided yet. We'll see. But I'm writing as fast as I can because there's something that's going to happen that I really really want to get to.

Anyway, on with da fic! I don't own DBZ. Oh, and does everybody like the little Robert Frost poem? Yes, that is the entire poem. Short and sweet. I think it sums up the story quite nicely, since this whole thing could be considered a big pratical joke that Fate decided to play on Gohan.

Chapter Four—Explanation, Please

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee

And I'll forgive Thy great big one on me.

-"Forgive, O Lord," by Robert Frost

Son ChiChi stared down at the small child in front of her. For a minute, she almost thought it was Goten, who had somehow managed to sneak outside, and was now coming back in. But the thought vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The major problem with that hypothesis was the hair. Goten had his father's gravity-defying spikes. But this child had…a…mop…top…and the eyes…

Her eyes widened as she recognized the hair. Not the face, mind you, but the hair. After all, she had been the one to cut and gel that hairstyle into near permanancy. Not even her son's exploits on Namek had been able to disturb that style. Not even when he'd gone diving into an acid filled lake, or gotten swept up into a tornado or tossed around by Frieza. Now that was a sturdy hair style. Millions of people would have gladly paid a lot of money to know what kind of hair gel was powerful enough to last through that.

Gohan waited patiently as comprehension dawned in his mother's eyes. Then he smiled quite charmingly (thankful for his new age because as a child, his smile had been enough to charm the paint off a building). "Hi, Mom. It's me, Gohan."

ChiChi nodded once, slowly. Her hands were starting to shake. A shocked look crossed her face. She tried her hardest to hold out, but it was no use. She just couldn't resist her own nature. And finally, she just gave in and did the truly ChiChi thing for a situation like this one.

Her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed away in a dead faint, ending up flat on her back in the entryway of the little house she had fought so long and hard to keep clean. She did not move, but she made a whole bunch of really funny noises.

Gohan sighed with relief. Well, she had taken that a lot better than he'd expected her to.

Like the conscientious person he was and had been at any age, Gohan stepped carefully over his now unconscious mother into the house. He carefully moved his mother a little further into the house. Then he darted back to the entryway and closed the front door before returning to his mother's side.

ChiChi was out cold. Chances were that she wouldn't wake up for quite some time. Not that Gohan minded much. This gave him a little more time to try and figure out what was going on, and how exactly he was going to explain this to her when she did wake up. He still didn't know what to tell her concerning his current state.

Another thought struck him. He needed to tell Goten what was going on. He was a little worried at the effect this kind of surprise might have on his little brother. Er…well, not really a little brother anymore. More like a same size brother. He had figured himself to be approximately Goten's height, and so he was fairly certain that he was approximately Goten's age as well.

Leaving his unconscious mother zonked out on the couch, Gohan ran down the hallway to his little brother's room. The door was closed, but he could hear a voice inside, which suggested that Goten was playing, probably with his beloved Great Saiyaman and Videl action figures.

Gohan pushed open the door and peered into the room. Sure enough, Son Goten was sitting in the middle of the painfully clean room (the fact that it was painfully clean had their mother stamped all over it; Goten was as disorganized as his father), dancing his little plastic figurines through the air, and making up insane voices for them. Chibi Gohan had to laugh at the overly dramatic baritone that Goten somehow managed to summon up for Saiyaman, while at the same time he had to cringe at the high pitched squeak Goten had elected to use for Videl. His back was to the door, and he apparently didn't notice that there was anyone coming into his room.

But when Gohan closed the door behind him, even Goten couldn't miss that sound, and the spiky haired chibi (as opposed to the mop topped one) turned to see who had dared to interrupt his game of 'Great Saiyaman and Videl Save the City Again Because the Police Can't Do It Themselves.' It was actually a really fun game.

Two pairs of very young eyes locked, and for a long moment neither of them moved.

Then Gohan sighed. "Hey, squirt, It's me. Your brother?"

Goten blinked once. Then he blinked again. Then he did the very last thing that Gohan would have ever expected him to do when faced with a situation like this.

A huge grin broke on Goten's face, and he jumped to his feet and started doing little victory dances around the room. "YAY! IT WORKED!!!"

The limited words of explanation that had been on Gohan's tongue evaporated, to be replaced by acute shock and utter speechlessness. Finally, he managed to squeeze out a couple of syllables. "…it…worked? …what…worked?"

"The wish, silly!" Goten cheered, jumping up and down and clapping his hands happily. "I got the Dragonballs and woke the Dragon up and he came out and I made a wish and it worked!"

"What…wish…did…you…make…?" Gohan squeaked in that infernal soprano voice. Slowly but surely, comprehension was starting to dawn, and he was starting to figure out what probably happened.

"I wished that you were my age again, but that you would still be smart and stuff," Goten explained happily, doing joyous little pirouettes in the air. "And it worked! It really worked! You're my age again! You're a seven year old kid, just like me!" He paused, and studied his brother a little more closely. Then he burst out in hysterical laughter. "You look really funny! That haircut's so dorky!"

Gohan's worst fear was confirmed. It had been his little brother's doing. It had been Son Goten who had summoned the Dragon and transformed his older brother into a half pint. And now the brat…er, kid was making fun of him and his dorky haircut! The eighteen year old trapped in the (as he had finally discovered) seven year old body swallowed hard and tried to remain calm. After all, this could be handled cooly, logically, and without violence.

Yeah, right.

With a high pitched war cry, Gohan dove across the room and tackled his little brother (who actually was his same sized brother now) right out of the air, where Goten had been playing aerial hopscotch. They landed hard on the floor, where they rolled around for a few seconds. Finally, Goten managed to throw his brother, and they both sat there, panting and glaring at each other.

Gohan was about to go for his brother's throat again when he heard his mother's voice coming from downstairs, probably the living room. "You two had better not be killing each other up there! I just finished cleaning!"

The two chibis looked at each other, then dove out the door and ran down the hall to the living room. There, they saw their mother, still unconscious on the couch.

After staring at her for a long moment, Goten said, "Hey Gohan?"

"Yeah?"

"How does she do that?"

"I don't know."

Gohan took a few gasping breaths, and said, as calmly as he could, "Goten…why did you wish me back to being a seven year old? Why?"

He must have sounded angry, because Goten's face fell, and his little chin started to quiver. "I…I did it for you. You said you never got to be a kid, so I thought…I thought I could make you a kid again so you could have fun. I…I thought you'd like it. I wanted to make you happy…I'm sorry. I didn't know it would make you mad…" Tears welled in the dark eyes, and the little face contorted with the effort of not crying. He sniffled a couple times, and just managed to looked downright miserable. He had definitely inherited his father's talent for making people feel sorry for him, that was for sure.

Gohan was stuck between pity, forgiveness, and rage. He couldn't stay mad at that! No matter how bad he wanted to, he just couldn't say no to that face.

With a sigh, he gave his brother a hug. "It's okay, squirt. I know you were trying to help."

"I only used one wish," Goten said sadly, looking truly pitiful.

"Only one?" Gohan snapped to attention. "That means I can get wished back to my normal age in four months. It's really okay now, Goten. In four months, we'll gather the Dragonballs again, and then we can wish everything back to normal."

Goten brightened a little bit. "Okay! That's good!" Then his expression darkened. "Are you still mad at me, big…er, brother?"

"Naw, it's okay," Gohan shook his head. "You were trying to help. Just don't do anything like that ever again without checking it out with me first, okay?"

"Okay," Goten nodded fervently.

"Good. I'm glad we got that straightened out. But now what do I do?" Gohan chirped. "I don't have an explanation for Mom just yet, and I don't know how she'll take it if I tell her that my little brother made me a kid again. She had such big plans for me and stuff…"

"Oh, Mr. Piccolo wanted to talk to you when you got home," Goten supplied, suddenly remembering what his brother's old teacher had said. "You should go see him now. He knows about the wish and stuff. I bet he wants to help you out or something."

"Okay, sounds good," Gohan headed for the door.

"Brother?"

"Yeah?"

Goten's eyes grew wide and pitiful. "Are you sure you're not mad at me?"

I can't stay mad at him when he gives me sad puppy dog eyes like that! Gohan lamented. But he simply said, "Yeah, I'm sure. See ya later, kiddo!" And he ran out the door.

Goten watched his brother disappear out the door, and he watched the front door close. And then, slowly, a devious smile crossed the child's face to replace the sad puppy dogs eyes that had melted his brother's anger. "Hehehe…works every time."

AN: Our little Goten is quite the evil one, no? El diablo! Aw, there's a devil in all of us, isn't there? Hehe…there's no way anyone could possibly be that innocent! Not with Trunks for a best friend and Vegeta for a male role model. No way, Josè! But anyway, that's okay. I'm having a lot more fun with this story than I'd expected. But anyway, thanks a mil to all my wonderful, charming, amazing, beautiful reviewers. Luvs and kisses to you all!

I'm on the phone with Fred the Mutant Pickle right now. We're talking about our fics. I really need to give Freddie more credit, since we always consult on each other's fics, and he almost cowrite, like, half of my stuff. Or at least consulted on it. We trade gags back and forth and give advice and ideas. And now Fred's being really annoying, because I'm telling him what I'm typing write now. Fred, shut up! (Oh, and check out Fred's stories.) Fred, stop singing, dammit! I'm plugging you! Geez…annoying…

Candyland's Fic Pick:

Title: It's A Start

Author: sage

Rating: PG

Genre: Romance/Action/Adventure

ID Number: 761316

Summary: One of the best Gh/V stories I've ever read (and I have read a lot of them, mind you). But it's not your average tale, either. This one is completely original, it's a well-done AU story, and I'm hooked. Put it this way: at one point, there are two Gohans. Tie everything into Majin Buu being awakened…hooked yet? Trust me, you don't want to miss this awesome fic. I swear it on the toaster, my most sacred oath. ^-^