AN: Yay! I'm back with a brand spankin' new chapter! Enjoy! I'm ending every sentence with an exclamation point! That's very weird! I don't own DBZ! I don't own the Robert Frost poem either! I have about thirty cents in pocket change! So don't sue me! I have no money!

Chapter Six—Videl's Truth

Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee

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

-"Forgive, O Lord," by Robert Frost

Gohan sighed happily, feeling the sunwarmed grass under his back. He was sprawled in the grass on top of a small hill near his house, looking up at the blue sky. For some reason, he had taken to one of his childhood games of trying to find shapes in the clouds. All in all, it was quite comfortable, and he would have been quite content to remain there until the four months were up. But then again, eventually the sun would set, and it might rain, and…well, maybe it would be a better idea to just lay there for the time being, and move when the weather changed. Yeah, that would work.

It had been one week. One week since Goten had made that wish. One week since he had blacked out in the middle of his Lit class, and woken up to find himself back in his seven year old body. One week since he'd gone to school. Which reminded him—his mother had ordered him to fly back over to Master Roshi's sometime in the extremely near future and retrieve the schoolbooks that, according to ChiChi, he had so carelessly left there.

In light of his current…ah, situation, his mother had given in on the subject of his schooling. For the first time in her life, she was being reasonable. Namely, she agreed to call the school and give them a reason why he wouldn't be in class for the next four months. He could have started tap dancing for joy when she said that, but then she reminded him that she expected him to keep up with his studies whilst at home, and his mood had dimmed. A little.

The call had been made yesterday. Gohan had done a little bit of eavesdropping outside the kitchen while his mother was on the phone. He knew that the excuse for him not being in school was supposed to be that something serious had happened, but did she really have to tell them that he had died? Well, she hadn't said that exactly, but the basic gist of her speech was that he was very sick, and chances were that he might kick the bucket. So he was being sent out of the country for a few months to try and regain his health, if such a thing were possible.

After she had hung up the phone, Gohan had gone on a quest to find something heavy that he could repeatedly hit himself in the head with. The only thing he had been able to find was his mother's frying pan, and the very thought of smacking himself with it was too frightening.

But no school for four months! Four months of relative freedom to do what Goten had intended when he had made the wish: Gohan had four blessed, beautiful months to just be a kid. And now that the initial shock had worn off, he had every intention of enjoying this time to the fullest.

Now if only he could do something about his Kami awful hair…

But his attention was suddenly drawn to a figure in the sky. Someone was flying to his house. A quick check on the ki signature proved it to be none other than Videl.

Yet another explanation that Gohan was not looking forward to giving. But that was Videl for you. She always had to know exactly what was going on, or else somebody got hurt. She went after information like Frieza after the Dragonballs.

Gulping hard to try and swallow his sudden nervousness, Gohan got up from his temporary bed on top of the grassy hill—which was a real shame, because it was a very comfortable bed—and took off running in the direction of his house. He didn't want to fly because if she saw him and they met in the air, and she had a reaction like Krillen's…oh, this just would not be pretty.

She beat him there, though, and was greeting Goten by the time Gohan reached his home. The chibi with spiky hair was enthusiastically giving his beloved "big sister" a big hug, and chattering about a mile a minute about something completely unimportant. Fortunately, whatever he was babbling about, it had nothing to do with his brother's situation.

Gohan grimaced. This might not be pretty. But he darted out of the bushes and ran right up to his brother and his best friend. "Hey."

Videl stared at him for a minute, as though sizing him up. This new kid looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. "Hi there." Then she looked back down at Goten. "Is this a friend of yours?"

"Uh-uh," Goten shook his head. "That's—"

"Goten!" ChiChi's voice suddenly echoed from inside the house. "You let your brother explain it! It's his situation, after all!"

Goten looked back towards the house. "How does she do that?"

But nobody knew. Nobody knew exactly how ChiChi did much of anything, though. Nobody knew how she managed to cook enough to keep a walking appetite like Goku satisfied. Nobody knew how she had gained access to the Sacred Frying Pan of Doom and Terror. Nobody knew how she had gained the power to control unruly Saiyans. In short, not much was known about ChiChi's strange, mysterious, and downright deadly powers.

But that was all right. Gohan was contemplating selling the book rights to Stephen King, and letting the master try his hand at figuring out some explanation that would also make the best seller list. Mr. King was going to entitle his book As the Pan Thwaps, or something equally sinister. Gohan had no doubts that the novel would give millions of cowed men nightmares for weeks.

"Videl, it's me," Gohan sighed, deciding that the outright truth would be best in a situation like this. "This is going to sound crazy, but I'm Gohan."

She stared blankly at him for a long moment. "You're…Gohan…?"

"Yeah," he shrugged, waiting for her reaction, whatever it may end up being.

"But…but…" she sputtered, much as Yamcha had upon receiving the exact same piece of news. "…you're…you're a kid!"

"Yup," he assented. "I'm an eighteen year old stuck in my seven year old body. Any questions?"

"Only about a million," she straightened up and put her hands on her hips. A very ChiChi like expression branded itself onto her face, and her blue eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Let's start with the easy ones. Who, what, where, when, why, and how?" She counted the questions off on her fingers as she spoke them, then looked at him expectantly.

He groaned. "Who? Goten. What? A surprise for me. Where? I don't know exactly, but somewhere out here, I guess. When? A week ago. Why? I never got to be a kid, so Goten decided to give me a second chance at childhood. How? The Dragonballs." He also tallied off the responses on his short fingers, then looked right back at her.

She blinked once. Then she blinked again. Then she got down on her knees so that they were eye to eye, and she studied his face. And finally, a big smile grew onto her face, and she actually laughed. "Oh, you're so cute!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around him. Then she stopped. "Wait…did I just use the word cute?" Shaking it off, she took another look at him, and laughed again. "Uh, Gohan…what's with the hair?" But before he could answer, she continued, "That has your mother stamped all over it."

"Wow!" he exclaimed, surprised that she had figured it out. "You hit the Saiyan right on the head with the frying pan!"

"Just smart, I guess," Videl nodded knowingly, obviously proud of herself. "Actually, that's why I stopped over. Just wondering why you haven't been at school for a week. It's not like you."

"Mom was actually being reasonable for once," he whispered, then cringed, hoping and praying that he wouldn't hear that mysterious voice of hers that seemed to be following him around everywhere as of late. But nothing came, so he continued, "I don't have to go back to school until I get wished back to my normal self in four months."

"Wow," Videl said. Suddenly, she seemed very distracted, as though something had just occurred to her. And from the look that flashed across her face, whatever had chosen that instant to pop into her head was not a pleasant something. But she didn't give voice to whatever was running through her mind. She didn't have a chance to; her communicator chose that moment to start beeping like crazy.

With an exasperated sigh, she stood up and pressed the button on her wristband. "Yeah chief?" A bunch of hard to understand words began spouting forth from the miniature speaker on her arm. "A robbery? Again? Good grief…okay, I'll be there as fast as I can." She looked down at Gohan. "That's why I haven't been able to get over here for the last few days. There's been some kind of a robbery or a hostage situation or a hijacking double parking every day this week! I'm going crazy!"

Gohan expressed his sympathies. "Sorry Saiyaman won't be there for a while."

"That's okay. I'll survive," she sighed. "Well, see ya later!"

It was only after she had left that Gohan realized he didn't know what had been bothering her near the end of their conversation. She had really looked upset about something all of a sudden.

Oh well, Gohan decided. If it was really important, I bet she'd tell me.

"Gohan! Goten!" ChiChi appeared at the front door, calling to them. "You two! Come inside and get washed up for dinner!"

When you're a seven year old half Saiyan with a Saiyan's appetite, and you're handed the promise of food, abstract thought takes a poor second. All thoughts of what could possibly have been bothering Videl were erased from Gohan's mind as he raced his brother into the house.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Goten tiptoed down the hallway and eased open the door to his brother's bedroom so he could peer into the room. Through the darkness, he could see the shadowy outline of Gohan's sleeping form curled up on the bed. The deep, even breathing said quite clearly that Gohan was sound asleep.

The spiky-haired chibi tiptoed into the room and shut the door behind him as gently as he could before sneaking across the room. He stopped by the bed and just stared down at his brother. Gohan looked so innocent when he was asleep! But Goten refrained from using the word 'cute.' First of all, that was just creepy to describe one's older brother as being 'cute.' Secondly, Gohan and Goten were both warriors. And warriors were not 'cute,' as some members of the female persuasion had yet to learn.

But Goten's attention soon focused on the reason for his late night intrusion into his brother's room. He smiled. Yessirree, Goten had just been in a very helpful mood as of late, and he was going to do yet another favor for his beloved older brother.

Still grinning, Goten raised a pair of scissors.

Gohan just kept snoring.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning…

Goten pulled on one of his standard orange and blue gis and ran down the hallway to the kitchen, where his mother was already busying herself by preparing breakfast.

"Morning, Mom!" the chibi piped happily.

"Good morning, sweetie," she smiled benevolently, flipping the bacon in the pan. The hot grease jumped and crackled. "Is your brother awake yet?"

"Umm…I don't think so," Goten shook his head, fighting to keep the smile from his face. Oh boy, was Gohan going to be surprised when he woke up and looked in a mirror!

"Would you go wake him up?" ChiChi requested. "Tell him breakfast is almost ready."

"Kay," Goten readily agreed, and darted out of the room, back up the hallway, and burst into his brother's room, making as much noise as possible to ensure that Gohan would wake up. "Gohan! Mom says it's time to get up, 'cause breakfast is almost ready!"

The chibi in the bed half sat up, and propped himself up on his elbows. He looked around the room drowsily, blinking. Then he yawned and said, "Okay, squirt, I'm up. I'll be down in a minute."

Goten lingered for an extra few seconds in the doorway to admire his handiwork. This was a really big surprise! Gohan was gonna love it! Right?

Confident of his helpfulness, Goten scampered back down to the kitchen, where his mother was putting plates full of food on the table. The chibi jumped into his seat and inhaled deeply, breathing in the delicious smell. "Yummy!" he chirped, grabbing his fork. He was more than ready to dig in!

"Not yet," ChiChi admonished, taking her own seat. "Wait for your brother."

About ten seconds later, a scream broke the silence of the little house in the mountains. It was loud enough to send the birds outside scurrying into panicked flight.

ChiChi jumped to her feet as her older son (who was now the same age as her younger) came flying into the kitchen. He was wearing his favorite blue-purple gi and all necessary accessories for training, but that wasn't the problem. He had his hands clamped over his head, and his face was twisted in a mixture of joy and panic.

"Goten!" he yelped. "What did you do to my hair?!?" He had no idea how he knew, but he just knew that his little brother had been the perpetrator of this latest trangression against Gohan's well-being.

Goten grinned proudly. "That haircut you had before was really stupid. It didn't look good." The chibi wrinkled up his nose and shook his head to emphasize his point. "So while you were sleeping last night, I cute your hair."

AN: Ta-da! Hair problem solved! Is everyone happy now? Geez, you people…I know I'm making Goten into the little devil child, but hey—my story, my rules. I hope you enjoyed, and feel free to come back soon, cuz the next chapter should be up shortly!

BTW, does anyone have a guess as to what is bothering Videl? It'll be important, trust me. You'll find out in a couple chapters, but in the meantime, I'd love to hear your guesses. ^-^