Gohan ran through the woods, Goten dodging his heels like a loyal little brother did often, and stopped at the lake.

It had been seven long years sense Goten and moved in with Gohan and nothing had been the same. Gohan acted more like a father then a brother should, but that was okay with the brothers. Gohan still blamed himself for his father's death and did some...unorthodox things that no one of his current ring of friends and family would not approve of, especially his mother. But Gohan kept most of this to himself. Gohan played with his brother most of the morning and during lunch he and his mother talked of things Goten would need, like new clothes. His old ones were getting way to small for a growing boy. Gohan, for the rest of the afternoon, remained outside, building an extra room to the side of the house. Though Gohan was saddened by it, Goten had expressed a wish to have his own room. Gohan being Gohan wouldn't let his brother's wish go and so he built the room. It had two doors and could be entered from the outside and the inside. Gohan was just about finished, all he had too do now was the paint job inside.

Gohan knew that his brother would be happy with the large room he had built. In all truth, it shouldn't have been this large. It was as big as his mother's room up stairs, big enough to fit two people or even more. But that wasn't what Gohan had in mind. Gohan knew that Goten and Trunks were becoming fast friends and that when Goten and Trunks got into the sleepover thing, they would need a place to store both troublemakers.

Gohan entered the house, sawdust covering him head to toe, later that night after the sun had dropped behind the mountains in which he lived. He got a quick shower and got dressed in nightclothes. After eating dinner, he went up stairs to tell his little brother a story. As usual, it was about his father. Goten knew lots about his father and even how died, but not the details of how he died. Gohan, as he usually did when his little brother was asleep, and he made sure he was asleep, and even went as far as make sure his mother was asleep, crept out of the house through his window and ran along the tree line. Suppressing his Ki as he ran toward the small cave several hundred miles into the next mountain area. Once he was there, he walked toward the back of the cave, making sure no one was around.

He moved a rock aside to find several thing mommies and daddies would not approve of. Razors, knives, and other sharp objects were in the small cubbyhole. He pulled a razor out and held up his wrist. With one quick and daft movement he sliced his own wrist. A small cut appeared and he watched the small cut bleed. He felt better after this task was completed and pressed on the small wound, causing more pain. When he removed his hand, the cut had already stopped bleeding. He returned the razor after cleaning it with a black cloth and put the stone back in place. Knowing he didn't have long before Goten woke to find his brother gone, Gohan flew towards home, his Ki suppressed still, and entered through his window.

"Gohan, where'd you go?" Asked a sleepy voice,

"I thought I heard someone outside, I went to check it out, no one was there, go back to sleep little bro," Gohan said, Goten yawned and did as his brother said. What reason did he have to doubt Gohan? Gohan, on the other hand, was lying on his side facing the wall. He looked at his wrist and saw that it was already healing. It would be gone by morning, like it always was.

Gohan sighed quietly and snuggled into his pillow. He could never quiet fathom why he did what he did. He knew how it had started, but he never knew why.

He remembered the first time he had started to cut himself. It was almost five years ago, when he was thirteen, he was surprising his mother and brother by getting up early to make breakfast and clean the house up so they would have a break. Gohan had been thinking about his father at the time and hadn't been paying attention when he cut himself. It was a deep wound and he hadn't even noticed it was there until he had passed out from blood loss. Dende had been brought down to heal him when his mother had found him. She had screamed and Piccolo flying over to check up on him had heard her. He fetched Dende, not risking moving Gohan, and healed him.

When he had woken up on the blood soaked ground where he lay, he was confused. He had explained what had happened and they all understood and his mother never let him near a knife or sharp object for the next three years. But the next day after the incident, he had cut himself again, and it was by pure accident that he had done it. He had been cut when his mother had dropped a glass and he helped clean it up. The moment the glass cut his skin, he felt...relieved somehow. Like something was taken off his shoulders, a large burden. From then on Gohan had made small cuts on his skin, they always healed within a day's time and no one knew about it. Gohan kept his stash hidden and he moved it every month. Just incase someone tried to find out where he went every night if they even knew he went out every night.

The first time Gohan had stolen out of the house it had been to a strange noise outside. He had found a razor; a nice clean brand new razor lying on the cloth he used to clean them. Without thinking, he had cut himself several times before deciding to hide it in an old tree and come back the next night.

Gohan never knew what that strange noise was and he never found out. Every once in a while when Gohan tired to quit what he was doing to himself, that noise would return and Gohan would go seeking to find out what it was, and there the razor would be, as if someone were telling him to keep it up.

Gohan frowned and closed his eyes as sleep over took him. He growled, he would quit and ignore the sounds outside, and that was that...



The man outside frowned, he had heard the boys thoughts and that couldn't go on. He had a weakness against the boy and he planned to use it to his advantage, he would not let the boy quit hurting himself, if he could hurt himself more, he could be controlled. It was simple really, he would use the boy's pain against him, and he would be the perfect revenge.



The next morning, Gohan got up and got cleaned and dressed for another day. He was happy today, he was going to quit and that was that! He made his way to the kitchen to find his mother grinning ear to ear,

"Hello Gohan, remember when you and your brother found that lost group of students last summer? Well I've decided that its time for you to start high school!" Chi-chi exclaimed, smiling broadly.

In three seconds flat all the color had drained from Gohan's face and he had to grip the wall in order to stay upright.

"What did you say?" he asked hoarsely,

"I've enrolled you in Orange star High school!" ...



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So what do you think of this turn in events? I know I'll probably get flamed for writing this, but oh well. I like it and I've finally got a plot! So I'm going to continue to write, seeing as its New Years eve and I want to stay up until midnight. I've got something to do, the next chapter!

Tabi Chan