A/N. thank you to everyone who reviewed. Last chapter I also forget to tell you who the teachers are so I'll do it now. The PE teacher was Gorobei Katayama, from Samurai 7, same with the mentioned Kanbei Shimada. The other samurai will be mentioned or featured in this fic, I'll just see where they can fit in. Kaoru Kamiya, or Kaoru Himura because I made her married in this fic is from Rurouni Kenshin. Other characters from RK will be included as well, as in this fic, Hajime Saitoh (who was a real person in life) will be the school principle. Kaname Chidori is from Full Metal Panic, and I intend to have her husband Sousuke Sagara (in my story their married) in here as well. Kaname and Kaoru will sort of be like adoptive mothers to Gohan and Videl. Also the teachers Izumi and Kido are Izzy Izumi and Joe Kido from digimon, which I have absolutely no intention of developing. As to why I'm using characters from other anime well I couldn't really be bothered creating whole new characters from scratch. Using these characters gives me the basis of their personalities rather than make up completely random ones. I will however be making some original characters. Hope that clears a few things up for you. Also I'm not really a Goku hater; it just works well in this story. I'm still debating on whether I should have Goku redeem himself in Gohan's eyes, or condemn himself further. You guys let me know what you think. And I feel I should add a disclaimer, even though there's one in my profile.
DISCLAIMER: I, Ash or Zephyr of the Shadows as I call myself, do not own any of the characters featured in this story.
Pride.
In Christianity, pride is one of the seven deadly sins. The others include lust, gluttony, wrath, greed, envy and sloth. But what some people see as sin, I see as nature. If a man sees a beautiful woman, isn't basic instinct that he should want to 'mate' with her? If he is hungry, then shouldn't he want to eat, in order to survive? If he is hurt and offended, then shouldn't he release his anger, to at the very least, make himself feel better? If he has little, or someone has more, then shouldn't he be jealous of those who have more and crave it? If he accomplishes something, then shouldn't he be proud of himself.
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As Gohan and Videl walked into the lunch room, the previously very noisy student population immediately shut up and stared at the young mercenary and the champion's daughter. Videl stopped and looked over the student body with a worried face. Gohan on the other hand just kept walked for a few more paces, before realizing that Videl wasn't following him anymore. Turning around he asked. "I'm not psychic Videl, and I don't have a map to your friends,"
Videl just looked at him. "Doesn't it bother you, everyone staring like that?" she asked.
Gohan looked at the right side of the room, then the left, and then glared hard at the other students. This glare sent everyone else back to the daily business. Turning back to Videl he said, "There are you happy now,"
Videl just looked at him. Then she sighed. "You're not very social, are you?"
Gohan shook his head smirking. Videl sighed again and walked over to where Erasa and Sharpner were. As soon as Erasa saw she waved and smiled at her best friend. Sharpner gave his own little wave, but stopped when he saw Gohan. Gohan and Videl sat opposite to the two blonde, "Gohan," said Videl "This is Erasa and Sharpner. Guys this is Gohan."
Gohan gave a small nod in their direction, while Erasa looked somewhat worried, and Sharpner just stared at the young man. "Videl, why is he sitting here? I thought you hated him," said Sharpner finally.
Videl blushed a little. She then explained to the two about what Gohan did for a living, and why he was at the school. By the end of Videl's story, Erasa felt her worries were justified but Sharpner looked at Gohan intensely. This started to annoy the demi-Saiyan "Anything I can help you with Blondie," snapped Gohan, making Sharpner jump a bit.
The blonde man just glared a little at Gohan before saying "You should join the martial arts club," he said then added "Or the wrestling or boxing club,"
"Are you in either," said Gohan.
Sharpner nodded. "I'm in the wrestling club, but that club is dominated by a bunch of jerks, mostly the Edo family,"
"The Edo family?" queried Gohan.
Videl shuddered a little at their name. Sharpner continued. "There are a large, wealthy family that flaunt their wealth around like flags. Eight of the kid's still go to school here, but I hear there are four that have left school and another three in primary school."
Gohan's face fell slightly. "Fifth teen kids, what are their parents? Some kind of mutant rabbits?" exclaimed Gohan.
Sharpner sniggered a little. "Better not let them hear you. Family pride and honour is a big thing with them,"
Gohan just leaned back a little and put his hands behind his head. "Let the dumb asses come. I'm not afraid," then Gohan was struck with a thought. "Hang on a minute. Do you mean Edo as in Tokyo Edo, the wealthy industrialists?"
Sharpner nodded and with that nod, the young mercenary smirked. "Well I wouldn't worry at all about that then,"
The three students looked at the mercenary. "What do you mean," said Videl.
His smirked widened as Videl noticed a nasty glint in his eye. "Let's just say the saying 'Behind every great fortune, is a great misdeed' applies to the Edo family," he said.
"I haven't heard that saying before," piped Erasa.
Gohan shrugged. "I may have taken a few liberties with that quote. The point is that the Edo fortune was not made completely by legal means,"
Once again Sharpner just stared at him. 'Something tells me life is going to be interesting with him around' thought the blonde. As the students continued talking, a huge rush of students ran to the outside.
Videl stopped one of the kids. The boy seemed afraid to be so close with Videl Satan. "What's going on," Videl growled as the boy's eyes wondered to where they shouldn't.
"There's a fight going on outside. Saitama Edo is beating some kid up," said the boy, who bolted when she let him go.
"I'm assuming this Saitama is a son of Tokyo Edo," said Gohan, earning a confirming nod for Videl and Sharpner.
"Should we go see what's happening," asked Erasa.
Videl was about to say no, but not before Gohan interrupted her. "Yes let's go say hello," he said, following the crowd.
Videl shook her head and followed Gohan. Erasa and Sharpner, who didn't want to be left out, followed their friend.
&&&
As the four students approached the growing crowd, they could hear harsh words being yelled. Gohan assumed that they were directed at the victim. "Can you see anything," asked Gohan to Sharpner, who was slightly taller than him.
Sharpner shook his head. Gohan growled. "Alright then I'm gonna have to do this the hard way," he said sweeping his jacket and started pushing through the crowd.
Videl and the two blondes merely looked at each other and followed him. As they got through to the front, they saw a skinny and frail boy, maybe about sixteen, with curly blonde hair being pushed around by a much more muscular boy, probably eighteen. Behind the bigger boy were two other kids laughing at the boy on the floor. A girl wearing a short skirt and white shirt and a boy who was a little bit smaller than the one fighting. They all had the small kind of black hair and green eyes. Gohan turned to Videl. "So who are all these people," he asked.
"The one fighting is Saitama Edo, and the two behind him are, Sendai and Kitakyushu, his brother and sister," said Videl.
"And the nerd?"
"That's Brian Johnson. He's top of his year, and will probably graduate with high distinctions or something."
Gohan nodded, as Saitama began yelling at Johnson.
"Look, have you learned your lesson or what," Saitama practically yelled. He was putting on a show.
Johnson trembled in fear. "W-w-what lesson?" he stuttered.
Saitama picked up Johnson, and then threw him back down. "The lesson of respect. You really shouldn't have bumped into my sister like that," he said.
Gohan's eye twitched. "He bumped into the wench? THAT'S what this is about," he said out a loud.
This got the attention of the kids in the centre. "What did you say punk," growled Saitama.
Now everyone, including Videl, Erasa and Sharpner, looked at Gohan. "I'm just saying, don't you think your overreacting a little," he said.
Saitama glared at the mercenary. "What's your name, punk," he growled.
"Gohan, it's my first day here," Gohan replied. "Do you take pride in beating someone like Johnson here up?"
"What?" Saitama just looked at him weirdly. He then looked at Johnson and said "Sure,"
Gohan nodded with this answer. He then turned to Johnson. "Do you lift weights, Johnson," he asked the boy.
Johnson shook his head. "No,"
"Do you exercise for strength or for health?"
"Health,"
"Do you do any physical activity outside of walking to places?"
"No,"
"Is there a point to these questions," interrupted Saitama, not happy at being ignored.
Gohan turned back to the wrestler. "Certainly," he said. Gesturing to Johnson he continued. "You think that beating someone like Johnson is something to be proud of, correct," Saitama nodded.
"Are you proud of yourself when you beat up a person who could in no way fight back?" Saitama nodded again.
Gohan just sighed. "I see," he said simply.
Before Saitama or anyone else could react, the young mercenary disappeared and re-appeared with his hand around Saitama's throat. The boy's cocky attitude had vanished and was replaced and awe. Similar thoughts were going through everyone's head. How could anyone be as fast as to not only catch a wrestler like Saitama Edo off guard, but move faster than the eye could trace. Gohan glared at the wrestler he held. "Look at him," he pointed to Johnson who kneeled on the floor picking up his books. "What do you see?"
"I-I-I see a-a geek, a b-b-bookworm," stammered Saitama.
Gohan nodded, not lowering his glare. "He couldn't beat you in an arm wrestler, let alone a full blown fight. Now don't get me wrong, I honestly don't care what you do to the kid, it isn't any of my business. But there is no pride to be taken in defeating an opponent weaker than you; there is no pride in squashing insects," growled Gohan.
The demi-Saiyan let go of Saitama's neck, but not before giving him a hard shove. As Gohan turned to walk away, Saitama got up and spat out some dirt "So you think you tough shit now, don't ya," snarled Saitama.
His siblings, who had been rather quiet throughout the encounter, rushed to aid their older brother, glaring at Gohan the whole way. He just stopped walked and turned his glare to Saitama. "As I said," began Gohan. "There is no pride in squashing insects,"
Throughout the crowd there was a mutual gasp from everyone, save Videl. How could anyone talk down to an Edo in such away? Kitakyushu Edo was the first to recover. "How dare you?! Do you who our family is?" screamed Kitakyushu (who shall now just be Kita).
"Of course," chuckled Gohan, mockingly. "I probably know your family better than anyone else here. Your father is Tokyo Edo, a man who has made his fortune by owning a chain of factories, mostly cars and other large machinery."
Kita smirked at his little speech. "You know a bit about our father," she said arrogantly. "Good, then you'll know what will happens to people when they get in our way,"
Gohan shrugged, and looked at Kita in a sleepy manner. "Oh I reckon I'm fairly safe," said Gohan. Seeing Kita's and Sendai's curious looks he continued. "I know more about your father than you think, such as certain machines he shouldn't be making, and how they go to certain places they shouldn't be going."
Gohan smirked as soon as the faces of the Edo children fell. They knew what he was talking about, which made things easier. Moving closer so only they could hear him he said "Leave me alone, and I won't show the police the nice little file that could put your old man away for quite some time,"
Glaring at him, the Edo's helped up their elder sibling, and made their exit, as Gohan merely smirked. "I love being me," he said to himself.
As the crowd died down, Videl, Sharpner and Erasa came up to the young mercenary. "What was that about," said Erasa.
Gohan just continued to smirk and tapped the side of his nose. Finally he said "Let's go finish lunch,"
&&&
Math and Science went by without major incident. Unless you counted Gohan trying to kill some smartass for calling him homo sexual. "It's not that being gay is bad, I just don't like the thought of making out with other guys," he had said during lunch.
Videl smiled as she watched him eat. Gohan was definitely making an impression, even though he was unconcerned with what people thought of him. She supposes that's what she admired about him. He hated everyone equally, though he seemed to warm up to her. She could tell from this day, that her school life was only going to get more unusual with Gohan here, as opposed to dull and boring. Videl smiled again. Despite Gohan being arrogant asshole and a pervert jerk, she'd rather have him livening things up, rather than dull and boring.
And the more she thought about it, she came to realise that having her first kiss stolen by Gohan, really wasn't that bad.
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Hajime Saitoh looked around and surveyed the teachers gathered. In total their was five, Kaname Chidori, history, Gorobei Katayama, PE, Kaoru Himura, English, Izzy Izumi, math and Joe Kido, science. As they took their seats, Saito began. "Anyone want to know why I've called you here," he said.
"I assuming it has something to do with the new student," said Izzy.
Saitoh nodded. "Yes, I just want to know what the boy is like,"
"He seems very smart, though has the attention span of a dead goldfish," said Joe.
All the other teachers nodded in agreement, except for Gorobei. "He probably just finds you guys boring. Without a doubt I can say that he would much rather fighting," he said.
Saitoh's eyes narrowed. "Yes, I heard about the little incident. Dislocating his own arm, Gorobei? What hell born thing possessed him to do that?"
The gym teacher shrugged. "Who knows, but I remember a certain principle doing something very similar in Jehol," Gorobei knowingly smiled.
Saitoh narrowed his eyes further. "The circumstances are quite different, Gorobei, you know that. I was a soldier trying to survive,"
"So is Gohan."
"Yes, about that," began Kaoru. "How does a fourteen year old become a mercenary?"
"I'm not sure," said the principle. "The Administration was only willing to release so much information. This is either because they don't have it, or could be damaging. All I can tell you is that several days ago, Gohan was one of the most highly paid mercenaries working for the Black Syndicate,"
Kaname and Kaoru gasped. The men's eyes widened as they took the information in. "The Back Syndicate? They would hire a teenager," said Joe.
Saitoh nodded. "I was wondering that myself, but found out nothing. Carrying on, the Syndicate sent thirty odd men to kill him. I think the end result is self-explanatory. Seizing the opportunity, the Administration employed him, and sent him here primarily to control him."
"Rather irresponsible, to hire a boy so young," said Izzy.
Gorobei shook his head. "Gohan probably has a lot of information on the workings of the Syndicate, which the Administration is hoping to exploit that information. Not too mention his skill. I have fought men who have trained all their lives, yet they would come no where near Gohan's level of skill and ability. His age is irrelevant," he said.
Saitoh nodded in agreement. "He may not be here by choice or for the purpose of his own education, but we are still to give him a proper education," and with a little smirk he add "Even if we have to shove it down his throat."
Gorobei smiled as the others just looked at him. "Sadistic as ever, eh Hajime,"
Saitoh swung his chair around so he was looking outside his window. "You can all go now, except you Gorobei,"
The others got up and made their way to the door. Gorobei, for his part looked unfazed, as though he was excepting this. When the door slammed shut, and a muttered 'sorry' from Joe, Gorobei began. "You know it's him, don't you?"
Saitoh nodded. "Yes, though I'm not sure how this happened," he said.
Gorobei just smiled, which caused Saitoh to glare at him. "Do tell what is so humorous, Gorobei," he said.
"It's funny don't you think," replied Gorobei. "That we should all end up at this establishment. He taught us a powerful lesson back then, now we are the ones who must teach him," at this Gorobei's smiled widened. "Irony at its best, don't you think."
Saitoh nodded, a small smile dancing across his usual cold and expressionless face. "What should we do with him," he finally asked.
"Nothing," said Gorobei. "He's carrying on with his life, as should we. The Conflict ended a year ago. It should be left across the sea."
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(This next section of the chapter will basically explain the political structure of the world now. Also I've decide that the year will be 787 years after a certain event which will be explained later. This will also explain about the whole Japanese Coalition and Chinese Empire thing, if you didn't get that before)
Gohan yawned, as they walked to their history class. "You tired already Gohan," Videl teased.
"Not likely," said Gohan. "Just bored out of my skull."
Videl nodded in agreement. "You'll get use to it. History class is next."
The young mercenary sighed. "Isn't history really, really boring?"
"Sometimes," said Videl. "But it's usually pretty cool when Ms. Chidori is teaching,"
"I'll take your word for it then," said Gohan doubtfully as the made their way into the class room.
They were a few minutes late, but Kaname wasn't too concerned. "Alright everyone quite down. Today we're going to be studying the Catastrophic War."
Gohan sat up at this. "Cool," he whispered to himself.
Videl looked at him strangely. "What," he said to her. "The Catastrophic War is very interesting,"
"You think so Mr. Gohan," snapped Kaname's voice like a whip.
The demi-Saiyan jumped slightly and looked to the young teacher. "Um… well… yeah," he stuttered, being taken off guard.
"Good, then perhaps you'd like to tell us what you know on the topic," Kaname said, putting a hand on her hip impatiently.
"Uh ok. Well it's also referred to as the War of Apocalypse, Armageddon War and basically any other name that means 'end of the world'. Sometime during the middle of the twenty first century, diplomatic relations has reached an all time low. Now no one remember what actually triggered the war, but it is known that the primary offenders were the United States of America, and an alliance between Russia and China, what became known as the Red Union. At one point, every nation on the planet was involved. However, after a hundred and fifty years of this war, nations began to pull out and fall apart. Australia, New Zealand and Canada were the first to pull out. Eventually the only two left fighting were the USA and the RU. That's when the shi… uh brown stuff hit the fan. One of the sides launched a nuclear missile, and the other side retaliated the same way. Because of internal struggles and uprisings, neither side could continue, yet no treaty was signed, they only stopped fighting. It was then that they finally noticed how fuc… uh… messed up everything was. The war had been so taxing that no country, not even those who hardly participated could recover economically. This started the second Great Depression, which lasted eight years, before finally, the civilised world could no longer hold on, and the world entered what was dubbed as the Second Dark Age," explained Gohan.
Everyone just stared at him, except for Ms. Chidori, who just beamed. Turning to the class she said "Yes, in a nut shell that is what happened. We don't know a lot about the Catastrophic War, because a lot of knowledge was lost in the Second Dark Age. Please continue Gohan, I have never had a student so interested in history."
Gohan nodded to his teacher. "Historians and archaeologist estimate that the Second Dark Age carried on for about two thousand years before 'civilisation' began to emerge. The first country to 'reunify' was in fact Japan, which became known as the Japanese Coalition. Rather than being a nation, it is a collection of city states, such as Satan City and South City. Each city has their own governing system, yet they all come under the Imperial Japanese Council, in Kyoto, controlled by the emperor. In the council, every city has one ambassador which looks after the cities interests on the international scene. Before the war, there were roughly two hundred separate countries. Now there's only . Asia was divided into three. South East Asia, Korea and India became the Chinese Empire, which has been badgering the Coalition for ages. North Asia, along with most of north Eastern Europe came under control of the Russia Federation. Finally, South west Asia, the Middle East and north east Africa became the Central Arab Republic. In Europe, Britain became Britannia and lost control of Northern Ireland to the Irish Republic. France and Germany gained sovereignty of some of the smaller countries and Denmark, Norway and Sweden joined to become Scandinavia. Spain and Italy managed to keep their European borders though Italy lost Sicily. The Balkans an the Crimea were absorbed into Greece and Turkey controlled the eastern and southern coasts of the Black Sea as well as Asia Minor, though has continuous border disputed with the C.A.R. North West and Central Africa become the Carthage Republic and the southern African nations became South Africa."
"And what about America and the Pacific islands," asked Kaname, wanting to see the limit of his knowledge.
Gohan continued. "All of the American nations merged into one nation, known as the Continental Confederacy of America. Their governing structure is a lot like ours though their 'states' have a lot less control over their own affairs than our 'provinces'. Finally Oceania. Australia, New Zealand and all the other pacific islands allied themselves together to become Oceania. Because Australia was the first to pull out, it was affected least by the Second Dark Age. All the information we have today on the world before the war comes from either Australia or New Zealand. Also they are very choosy about who they let into their borders. Lots of security, the world's biggest navy after the CCA, and they don't let anyone in who doesn't have a government approved visa and a clean criminal record."
Kaname gave a little clap. No one had seen her, this excited since ever. "Well done Gohan. Now I hope you were all listening because Gohan just reciting your twelfth grade history course," at that everyone, sweat dropped.
"Don't worry though. You'll go into more detail if you choose to continue history, which you better," at this point she glared at everyone "For now we'll only be discussing theories about the Catastrophic War and the Second Dark Age," then she turned to Gohan "I think I'm going to enjoy having you in my class Gohan," and gave one of her rare smiles.
Gohan, for once was quiet, but the glint in his eye and his smirk told to everyone, that his ego was getting bigger.
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At the end of class Gohan and Videl remained seated for their study period, which Kaname was watching over them. 'Sometimes it won't be me," said Kaname to Gohan. "It depends whichever teacher is on their break."
Gohan nodded in confirmation and started to do his math homework when a messenger came to the door. "Um excuse me," said the messenger, who was a timid young student. "Mr. Saitoh would like to see Gohan,"
Kaname nodded. "Gohan leave your things here and collect them when you're done with Mr. Saitoh."
The young mercenary got up and left with the messenger, who seemed scare shitless of the young man before him. When they left, Kaname smiled and moved over to Videl's desk. "So Videl," she began. "Tell me, what do you think of the new addition to our student body."
Videl smiled at Kaname. Because Videl was usually the only one in these study classes, she and Kaname had bonded over the course of the year. Though she could never replace her real mother, Kaname provided a listening ear and an endless well of advice. "Well, when I first fought Gohan, I found that he was perverted, arrogant, sleazy and an all round jerk. Mind you, I still think that now, but there's something about him. He treats me like everyone else, which is what I want. If I want his respect then I have to earn it. He's not the type of person who would roll over for me, just because of my dad. I find him to be a very interesting person. Unpredictable and strong," Videl said.
Kaname smiled more. "You know, when I was a little older than you, a former boy mercenary started school. When I first met him, I described him as being interesting. He wasn't a lot like Gohan. Gohan is wild, unpredictable, and uncaring of other people's opinions. My mercenary was exactly like a soldier, the exact opposite. Disciplined, militaristic and always put duty before everything else. Yet I believe that they had the same trouble childhoods that transformed into the boys and men that they will become," said Kaname, twisting her hair around her hair fondly.
Videl looked at Kaname like she was crazy. "And what happened to that mercenary,"
Kaname snapped out of it a little. "Oh I married him when I was twenty one,"
Videl's eyes widened and her checks grew red. "Wah… what?! Married?" exclaimed Videl.
Kaname only giggled.
&&&
When Gohan walked out of the principles office, he wasn't happy. First of all, Saitoh wanted to meet and greet the new mercenary. After exchanging a few pleasantries, that's when things went downhill. Saitoh immediately began telling him what was excepted of him, how he should act and… that's when Gohan nodded off.
As Gohan came into the hall way, he didn't except to see Videl Satan waiting there patiently, with their things. He just looked curiously at her. "Not that I mind Videl, but what are you doing," he said rubbing the back of his head.
Videl just looked up at him. "I thought you might like a lift to your house," she said.
While that's what she said, Gohan could see through her façade. "You just don't wanna be alone do you," he said, smirking slightly.
Videl looked away, almost as if she was ashamed of her self. "I'm tired of being alone ok, and I was hoping, seeing as you're the one person here you doesn't worship me or my father, might provide me with some company. Is it so wrong to want to be alone," she snapped, though Gohan could see the tears welling up in the eyes.
This time, Gohan genuinely smiled as he wiped a stray tear away. "There's nothing wrong, with not wanting to be alone," he said.
Videl returned his smiled, and handed him his bag, as they made their way out of school.
A/N Sorry bout this chap being so late, it's just hard to get motivated to write, but when I do watch out. This chap is bout 12 pages long and I did 9 of those pages in one day, after the first 3 had been done bout 2 weeks before. Also sorry if this chapter was a little boring, I just thought it might be helpful to understand politically whats going on, cause I plan to be making references to it. If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them and plz review, the more reviews I get the less time I'll spend playing WoW and more time writing.