A/N: I am so so so so terribly sorry. I know I said I would update quickly MONTHS ago... but I had a huge writer's block and well... I won't make any promises... but I already started next chapter... I just hope it won't take me nearly as long as this one. Also, I'll try to write shorter chapters so I will take less time updating, (this one was almost 9000 words...)

There's another thing I want to clarify. A nice reviewer pointed out my usage of japanese terminology sooo... Dear Faen, I know what you mean, I too dislike when people overdo this, believe me. But I have a reason for it and I promise you will find out in time, thank you for taking the time to point that out. :) (Btw, I hadn't noticed I dressed Gohan kinda like Han Solo until you pointed that out! What a funny coincidence lol)

I really hope you enjoy this chapter... as it was awfully hard to write it. Anyway, on with the story! :)

Encounters of the Fifth Kind

Chapter 3

Mommy dearest, is not what it looks like!

Gohan took a good look at the woman standing in front of him. She had a few wrinkles around her eyes, eyes that somehow were engraved in his memory. He turned to look at Bulma once more, receiving an encouraging nod.

The woman froze for a moment, her widened eyes lingered on his face for a mere second, but she quickly composed herself. "Oh, please excuse him if he's bothering you, sir. He's a very energetic boy. Apologize to the young man, Goten."

The boy pouted, making small circles on the floor with his tiny foot. "I'm sorry sir…"

Gohan felt a pang in his chest. Here was his mother in front of him and she didn't recognize him. He felt his determination break… Maybe this was not the right time.

Maybe…. Maybe Bulma could tell her for him.

Yeah. That would definitely save him from the awkward "I'm your long lost son, mother!". Damn it, it would… if only Bulma would just turn to look at him!

"He was not really bothering him Chichi, Goten was just waiting for his turn on the showers." Videl said, taking Goten's side "he was actually very polite, right?" she turned to Gohan, who was observing them with a guarded expression, and raised her eyebrows at his lack of response. "Right?"

Gohan blinked, and his eyes shifted to Bulma for a second before he answered. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Um, I was actually about to scan his face." he muttered, his eyes landing on Goten again. The older boy raised the tablet and did a quick scan of his face. "What… was your name again?" he asked uncertainly, not sure if he really wanted to know. For some reason he felt weird around this boy.

The feeling was not unknown to him. He'd faintly felt it a handful of times before, especially when he saw children with their parents, and maybe that was the reason why he couldn't look the young boy in the eye without feeling a pang of… jealousy.

There were few feelings as nauseating as jealousy, Gohan hated it.

"Son Goten" his eye twitched slightly as he typed it down. Pff, Son Goten, they even had the same initials!

He knew it was wrong but he somehow felt… replaced. Gohan tried to push those feeling away, he really wasn't expecting a life long mourning from his parents… he was actually glad that they had moved on, but he couldn't help the aching in his heart.

"Age?" he grunted, trying to keep his expression as polite as he could.

"uhh… 9" Gohan raised his eyebrows in surprise. Nine? That meant Goten was only a year younger than Trunks… but he looked so scrawny, and his ki was not very impressive either. He briefly wondered if his mom had made him study through childhood too…

"…I see."

Videl gave him a funny look, he'd been acting weird ever since Goten appeared… Not that he hadn't been acting weird before. She idly watched him lead Goten into one of the showers and then mechanically turn to one of the few guys left in line. Funny, it seemed as if he were ignoring the 3 women present. She tried to focus on what Chichi was saying, but she found it a bit… difficult at the moment.

That behavior went on for at least 5 minutes, and he only turned around because there was no one else to scan. Gohan almost smiled when he noticed he was not the only one feeling awkward. Videl was fidgeting under Bulma's constant glares while his mom was chatting incessantly with them.

"And then that Baboon -no offence, Videl honey" Videl waved her off, not offended at all as she muttered a light 'none taken' "took charge of the ship not 2 days after we departed. Can you believe it?" She scoffed, raising her arms in exasperation. "couldn't even wait to see if anyone else wanted to volunteer!"

Bulma laughed lightly "What, no complains? Nobody else volunteered? What about Yamcha? He… could've done a decent job."

Chichi scoffed again, this time more effusively. "Bunch of cowards, all of them!"

The blue haired scientist sweat dropped. "That's a no…" she then turned to Gohan, with a strange glint in her eyes "Are you already done, sweetie?" the older Son nodded quickly, feeling the apprehension build in his chest again. Bulma was up to something, that sugary hint in her tone was as good as a confession. "Well, don't you have anything else to do here?" he shook his head quickly. "Anything you want to say?" another shake. This got a suspicious glance from Videl, who was still 'listening' to chichi's chatter. "Well then, I'll just have to try harder." she muttered loud enough for Gohan's ears only. She raised her left arm and his eyes fell on the shiny metal that encircled her wrist elegantly. It was her watch, he'd seen it multiple times before, but as many of Bulma's inventions, it was not only a watch. She quickly pressed a number of keys and them smiled at him impishly. Crap.

Not even 10 seconds later he knew exactly what she had done. Gohan narrowed his eyes at Bulma, who was cheerfully ignoring him.

Gohan scoffed, didn't want to get her hands dirty, did she?

He felt a gust of wind as the running boy pull to a stop right in front of him. "Please tell me you're done. Mom said the sooner we get to the village, the sooner we get to eat, Gohan-sensei!" Gohan grimaced as his palm met his face with a dull thump, why was Trunks so…so! He heard a tiny snicker and had to refrain from turning around and glare at her. He would surely regret it later if he did…

Chichi's head turned in their direction so fast it nearly gave her a whiplash as her eyes widened comically "Go-Gohan you said?"

Even though the question was probably directed at Trunks, Gohan nodded shyly eyeing the pan cautiously. She grabbed his biceps shaking him slightly. Wow, she was pretty strong. "As in Son Gohan?" Once again, he simply nodded, still a bit caught off guard.

His heart was about to burst out of his chest. "Gohan. Yes, this is definitely my Gohan!", she exclaimed, sobbing into his chest "My baby! You were barely this tall when we last saw you!" she lowered her hand to her knee, still clutching him tightly with her other hand. "My, you're so tall" her hands moved to touch his cheeks, and his jaw, inspecting every inch of his face, as if the mere gesture would help her memorize his face. " and manly!" she finally exclaimed.

"W-Well… it has been fourteen years already…" -Mom. He wanted to add, but felt the word too foreign in his tongue. Maybe it was too soon… "This year I'll turn twenty."

Her eyes sparkled with such happiness as she kept them glued on him. "Oh, you've changed so much." she took a step back and gave him an appreciative nod. "You've grown into such a fine gentleman! Isn't he lovely; Videl?" Chichi asked, catching Videl off guard. This was her chance to openly glare at him!

She gave him a long, examining look. So this was Chichi's son, the one she had heard about. She had once over heard a group of people - the old pervert and Yamcha included- saiyng he was probably their best chance to defeat the androids. Yeah right, their best chance was to stay the hell away from that planet, not putting their hopes on a simple boy. But then again… she didn't know a thing about him, he was the son of two of the best martial artists in the world... yet he didn't look like much with that slightly baggy shirt and easy going smile. This Gohan was quite a puzzle.

Gohan cocked his head at her intent look, and that snapped her out of her internal musings. "Uh, dashing" muttered Videl dryly, remembering she had to give an answer. Well, that got her another glare from Bulma. Man, what's up with her!?

Chichi, who was oblivious to the sarcasm, smiled wishfully as her eyes glinted. "Oh, you two would look so cute together!"

Gohan choked on his own saliva.

Bulma and Videl quickly turned to gawk at her, speaking (for once) in unison. "Chichi, no… I don't think-"

"Yes, that would be absolutely perfect!" she clapped her hands, staring at the sky yearningly, probably planning their wedding.

Videl looked mortified as she waved her hands desperately. "No, really-"

Bulma protested again, seeing as Gohan was still catatonic. "Chichi, please be reasonable, they don't even know ea-"

This woman was crazy, and he was definitely ready to leave this place. Gohan subtly made eye contact with Trunks and rubbed his belly. There, a glint in his eyes… and yep, his job was done.

"Can we go now?" Trunks interrupted them with a hint of annoyance. "I'm starving, pleaseeee."

Ha, Bulma was not the only one who could use the boy's chronic hunger to her advantage. He masked his pleased expression by a look of pleading he'd secretly learned from Trunks, the boy could be pretty useful every now and then. "I'm kinda hungry too" Gohan blurted, praying that Bulma would take a hint and get him out of this awkward… situation.

Bulma looked irked, but nodded nevertheless. "Fine, fine, you two bottomless pits." she turned to Chichi and smiled apologetically. "I'll be right back." and she turned toward the mass of humans, not before sending the raven haired girl one last look.

Videl sighed miserably and turned to Gohan, who for some reason was looking really pleased with himself. "I think she hates me."

Gohan gave her a funny look. "You just met her, what makes you say that?"

She scowled at him, the tone he had used was just a bit too condescending for her taste. "I don't know, the fact that she keeps glaring at me?" she spat before she could stop herself. She quickly looked around, half expecting to come across Bulma's piercing glare.

You keep glaring at me too… remember? "Maybe she's just a bit suspicious of you. She does that a lot with strangers." Gohan said with a bit of humor in his voice.

Videl was about to complain but Chichi waved her had absently, her head still flying high on the clouds with thoughts of future grand-children. "Nonsense honey, it's just your imagination."

"M-" Gohan's eyes widened as he stopped himself on time. God, he was not ready to call her mom yet… " she's right, Bulma's usually a very nice person…" he seemed to remember something else. "unless you mess with Trunks, that is." he added quietly.

And then something clicked in Videl's head. Krillin had said 'One of her boys', that meant it was not only Trunks, maybe Gohan was one of her boys too. "One of her boys, that's what the bald guy said."

"Eh?" Gohan scratched the back of his head with a self-conscious blush, as his eyes drifted to the sky pensively.

Oh god, what have I done? Videl paled slightly. Oh, god. He was one of her boys and she'd been giving him the evil eye ALL. DAY. LONG. No wonder Bulma hated her…

Trunks rolled his eyes and decided it was time to shed some light on these people. "Krillin meant Gohan-sensei and me. He's my big brother." He stood in front of Gohan possessively as he glared at the younger Son. He had the feeling these people would take away his brother if he let them.

Goten furrowed his eyebrows, feeling the silent challenge in Trunks' words. "You can have him, I don't care. I don't see him as a brother anyways." he crossed his arms and straightened his posture, but he was still looking up at the -slightly- older boy.

Trunks seemed satisfied with his response while Gohan and Videl raised their eyebrows, the first in amusement and the latter in plain surprise, Goten had never been a rude boy. Why was he acting like this?

Chichi on the other hand…

"Goten!" Chichi exclaimed in shock as she looked at her youngest son who was frowning at his shoes. "You take that back this instance, young man!"

"But it's true, mom! I just met him…" Goten mumbled, still frowning.

"You'll have enough time to get to know each other, now apologize."

"…No." he mumbled as his voice broke a little.

Gohan huffed, chuckling lightly to himself. It looked like little Goten was feeling just as jealous as he had felt when he met him. Well, that made him feel a little less guilty.

But as cute as he thought this display of jealousy was, Gohan felt this was his chance to escape. He bit on his lip lightly, coming up with a fast excuse. "Let's go Trunks, Bulma probably needs our help. I'll see you guys later." Ignored. The other two Son kept arguing, ignoring him completely. Gohan sighed heavily, this was not how it was supposed to be. He had dreamed about it for years when he was younger, this was supposed to be a happy meeting, for Porunga's sake!

Ironically, both Son heard him sigh and turned to glare at the one who dared interrupt their argument. Gohan gave then a blank look. "By the way… what he said is true, he doesn't need to apologize, really." and with that he turned his back to them. "Let's go Trunks" he repeated softly.

Trunks nodded mutely, sensing his teacher's distress.

Videl gulped. She could feel the tension between mother and son, her eyes darted from them to Gohan and Trunks a couple of time. She had to decide between the lesser of two evils. Being stuck in the middle of a family fight or…

"W-wait! I'll go with you guys" Both boys stared at her with raised eyebrows. "I'm just going to find my friends. Jeez." she said after looking back at Chichi, who was still yelling at Goten. Crap, she was raising her pan! "What are you guys waiting for?" Videl hissed as she speed walked past them.

Gohan sighed dejectedly as he turned his eyes upwards, his pace slow and his eyebrows furrowing slightly. This was certainly not the way he had pictured this meeting in his mind…

At all.

When the two demi-saiyans -and Videl, who had quickly found her friends and vanished- met Bulma, she had already quieted down the mass of chatting humans.

She gave them a reproachful look, but the boys gave her a cheeky grin and her mouth twitched upward. She cleared her throat, "Well, now that everyone has taken a shower, its time to move on! Please follow me back to the village. Once we get there, we'll have lunch-" everyone cheered "and if we have time, a quick tour around town, so please remember it's very… diversified." at the terrified look of some of them she changed her mind. "You know what? We'll leave that for tomorrow when you're rested, it's getting dark anyway." she said, looking up at the sky.

"Wise decision" Gohan mumbled to himself. It was a good thing that Bulma's home was on the outskirts of Havenville, their home village, only minutes away from it but secluded enough for privacy. Besides, this town was fairly large and, as Bulma had mention, very diversified. Namekians, Tuffles, Saiyajins and a few other races coexisted, because they had something in common, they were all refugees in Havenville. Scratch that, they were all refugees in SKP-4, the only native sapient species lived underwater.

Trunks snorted, snapping him back. "Wimps" he muttered, lest his mom heard him use his father's words.

Bulma turned to them. "Gohan, Trunks, take care of the back. Krillin and I will hold the front."

"Oh man… that means we'll get there last… fantastic." Trunks muttered dryly.

Gohan frowned, moving closer to get at whispering distance from her. "Bulma, is it safe? I mean, it's over two hundred people, someone is bound to get lost."

Bulma stayed silent for a couple of seconds, considering Gohan's words. "What do you suggest then, a couple of trips? It would take longer but it'd be safer."

"NO!" Trunks' eyes widened, that meant they would take way longer to get there and eat. "I mean, no. It'll be fine, we'll keep track of them, right?" he then turned to Gohan pleadingly "Right, Gohan-sensei?" please, his eyes begged him silently.

Gohan let out a long sigh. "Forget what I said… We'll keep track of them."

"Fine, I´ll tell Yamcha to stay somewhere in the middle, just in case." she then raised her voice. "Please stay together and don't wander away. The village's just a couple of miles away." the last was said as she turned around and started walking in the village's direction.

The two demisaiyans walked silently side by side for a whilr, Gohan shooting quick glances every now and then to the unusually quiet boy. "You look troubled, is something wrong?"

"I'm fine." Trunks pouted, digging his hands in his pockets as he kicked a rock… and managed to sent it flying away. He decided to change the topic. "How long do you think it'll take us, Gohan sensei? I'm really starving here…"

Gohan eyed him suspiciously as he gave a noncommittal shrug. "Not sure. An hour at most?"

"Oh maaaan… I swear this couldn't get any worse."

The older Saiyajin clicked his tongue in mock disapproval. "You shouldn't sa-"

"Gohan! There you are, mind if we walk with you?" Gohan gave Trunks a side glance as the younger boy hid his face in his hands in despair. He tried to hide an ironic smile as he patted Trunks' head empathically.

"Not at all." Three of the five humans beamed at him while the other two merely glared. Well… at least more than half of them liked him…

They were walking at a relatively slow pace -for the two Saiyajin, that is- and it was blissfully quiet for a few seconds. "So," The bubbly blonde girl started. Ah, so much for blissful silence… "what do you do for a living?"

These people are so nosy… Gohan pursed his lips ever so slightly, something that didn't go unnoticed by Videl. "Uh, I'm head of the Planetary Defense Committee, and… I teach at a local, uh, academy. I have a few side jobs too." Gohan scratched his cheek thoughtfully.

"Now that I think about it… you're not carrying any weapon." Videl pointed out as nonchalant as she could, she didn't want to voice out that Gohan had already shared that bit of information with her before, who knows what Erasa would think.

Gohan gave her a knowing smile. That girl would not give him rest. "I don't need one." Erasa, Angela and Lime gave him appreciative looks, that made him realize that had sounded slightly cocky and tried to rectify himself. He took out a tiny silver weapon from an inside pocket of his vest. "But… I have this beautiful piece of Tuffle weaponry that would incinerate anyone in a second." he gave them an uncertain grin as they inspected the lithe gun. "How 'bout that, huh?" he added trying to sound friendly. "Let me just lock it and… here." He gave it to Videl so she could inspect it.

"It's really light!" she mumbled in awe as the others gathered around to look at it. There were mumbles of agreement as they stopped to pass each other the gun.

"Yes. Yes, I know, but keep moving" Gohan said as he put his hand in between her shoulder blades to give Videl a gentle push, as she was the closest one to him at the moment..

"I can walk, thank you." she grumbled with half the heat she usually did, still too preoccupied with the silver weapon.

"What else have you got hidden in there?" Angela asked, staring at his utility belt rather.. suggestively as Erasa and Lime giggled,. This made Videl and Sharpener roll their eyes and turn their attention once more to the new artifact.

"Uh…" Gohan, who was not looking at her, searched his pockets good-naturedly. He unzipped one over his right hip and took out a thin mate black object the size of his palm. "here." he gave it to Angela and then turned to Trunks. "Give me your communicator"

"What?"

"Just give it to me." Trunks gave him a funny look as he grabbed the communicator from his back pocket.

"These" he said, giving the other one to Sharpener, who took it reluctantly. "sheesh, it's not gonna bite you." Gohan muttered mostly to himself and then spoke louder. "These are communicators. It doesn't matter how far away the gadgets are, it will always receive the message. Even thousands upon thousands of miles away." Gohan rolled his eyes at their looks of childish amazement. "Fine, you can try it out. But stay in the crowd!" he quickly showed them how to use them, as there were no visible buttons, and they were off. Well… most of them, Videl was still scrutinizing the gun.

Trunks had a pleased look as he locked his hands behind his head, adopting a laid back posture "Well that will keep them occupied for a while." he really look satisfied, as if the idea had been completely his. He opened one of his eyes lazily, and as his eye turned to look at Gohan, it found something far more interesting. "Oh great, a garnle tree! I'll be right back." and with that he was off.

Videl raised her head at the sound of the foreign word. "A what?"

"A garnle tree. That one over there with the yellow leaves. See those purple fruits? They're very sweet and one of the most costly fruits around here."

"Really?" Videl asked skeptically, her eyes now solely on the tree, analyzing it. Yes, it was big, but it was not impossible to climb… it only seemed difficult because there were no branches close to the floor. The closest one was ten feet from the ground.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Gohan give a small nod. "Yes. It's because the fruits are so high up it's rather difficult to reach" in that precise moment they heard trunks' delighted laugh as he ate a couple of garnles, still perched on a high branch. Videl turned to look at Gohan. "Is not as easy as he makes it look…." he said faintly.

"Right." Videl said slowly, her eyes finding the gun once more. It was really beautiful in her opinion, it had an elegant golden filigree pattern on the handle which contrasted beautifully with the silver. Her fingers slowly followed the pattern. "Does it do much damage?"

"Oh yeah, don't underestimate it because is small and elegant, this thing can do damage. And it's pretty useful since it's a silent killer. Even when you pull the trigger it makes no sound… and there is this certain alien race that's only vulnerable to this plasma-based kind of weapon." Gohan reach to take it but Videl pulled back.

"A while back you mentioned something like truffees. Is that another alien race? How many races are living in this planet?"

"Tuffles" he corrected her lightly. "yes, they are very smart. They have highly advanced weapons and technology as opposed to… other aliens who are just brute strength. They're really amazing." His eyes turned skyward "As to how many… I can't tell."

Videl turned to look at him with slightly narrowed eyes. "Why? Is that another secret?"Gohan blinked at her, geez, this girl was always so suspicious.

Gohan rolled his eyes as he sighed loudly, he smiled nonetheless. "No, I just don't know. I haven't met them all yet."

"You're a very important person, aren't you?"

The question caught him off guard, and for a second he thought it might have been some sort of indirect compliment "I-I wouldn't say tha-"

"Oh please, you're supposedly the head of the defense committee or something, you obviously know things, classified information." she hinted bluntly.

Nope. Not a compliment, Gohan. Stop trying to search for the good in people all the time.

Gohan raised his hands "Whoa, hold on Miss Conspiranoia… 'supposedly'?"

Videl shrugged nonchalantly, still eyeing him closely. "Yeah, it's not like you have a badge or something, and there's no one else to confirm it so you might as well be lying."

Gohan looked taken aback. "Why would I lie about something like that? Besides, I'm just not wearing my uniform today, ok?"

"This is an official meeting. I was wearing my uniform." She said, pointing her thumb at her chest.

"You're not wearing it anymore." Gohan pointed out.

Videl stared at him disbelievingly. "I had to take that stupid shower! You saw my uniform!"

"W-well… I was out of duty and out of town… you know what? I don't have to give you any explanation." Gohan said hotly, the beginning of a frown forming in his face.

There. It was kinda fun to see him this worked up, specially because he seemed so calm and collected in front of the others. Ha, if only they could see this… "Ok, ok. Don't get touchy, I'll even give you the benefit of the doubt."

"You- wha-" Gohan stared at her blankly, was this girl being serious? "Why, thank you." He finished dryly.

"Hey, at least I'm trying to reach an agreement. "

Gohan rolled his eyes, though he was not sure if she was being serious. "That's right, what was I thinking? I should be grateful of your benevolence."

"It'd be wise of you to remember that." Yes. Gohan decided she was joking.

"Very funny. Are you going to give me my gun back now?"

Videl gave him one last look and promptly sped off.

What the-… Gohan's eye twitched as he exhaled loudly. "Hey! Give it back!"

"FINALLY" Trunks yelled gleefully once they saw their home peeking through the tall trees that surrounded it. "I'm starving! Mom better hurry this up." he glanced at all the people waiting close by, as they both arrived at the bottom of the Brief's home, which sat beautifully on top of a small steep hill.

Gohan chuckled, ruffling his hair slightly. "You're always hungry, Trunks."

"Yeah, but I'm extra hungry now." he grinned boyishly back at Gohan. His eyes then turned toward the long steps that led to the dome-like building and his grin widened. "Look, one of your lady friends." He nodded at a tuffle girl sitting on one of the lowest steps. She had a battered duffel bag next to her and a large riffle like weapon strapped across her back.

"Trunks! She's not... please stop saying that every time I talk to a girl." Gohan looked mortified, but then frowned at his careless laugh. "and stop laughing."

"Gohan!" exclaimed the tall girl with orange hair, suddenly standing up and running toward him with a big grin spreading through her face "You're finally back!"

Gohan caught her just as she was about to crash into him. He let her go and took a step back. "Oh, hey Nashi! It's been a while, hasn't it?" he grinned, scratching his cheek unconsciously.

"Yeah" She gave a breathless laugh, her cheeks slightly red "I'm so glad to see you, I thought I'd have to leave without saying good bye."

Gohan's eyebrows furrowed in confusion."Leave? Where are you going?"

Nashi rolled her green eyes good-naturally, waving off his worry. "The old geezer asked me to be his guard on a delivery he has to make to Tarbeas. He's a little paranoid, you know, there's still some of Frieza's people on that quadrant." Nashi shuddered. "Man, I just wish he had a better 'ship... that thing is so old fashioned." she joked lightly.

The dark haired boy chuckled and then gave a low whistle. "Tarbeas? That's a long way from here, Nashi."

"Yup... a whole span, he said." She gave him a sideways glance. She was about to open her mouth when a loud, raspy voice called her. She rolled her eyes and smiled at the ground. "So... I guess I'll see you later, then."

Nashi extended her left arm, reaching for Gohan's elbow, and he did likewise. They slid their hands back until their fingertips connected. It was a tuffle gesture he'd grown to like, it said something along the lines of 'go carefully' but it was quite difficult to turn that good-bye gesture into words. "Have a safe trip. And if you need me, just call me." he smiled, holding the black communicator in his right hand. Yes, he had his weapon and his communicator back, it had taken a while but he'd managed to take them back.

She grinned, waving her hand as she took off.

"And... you did it again, Gohan-sensei." Trunks muttered dryly once she was out of earshot distance.

"Did what again?" Gohan raised his eyebrows, turning to look at him.

The lavender haired boy frowned in frustration. "You spoke in tongues. Why would you do that? You have a translator on your scouter!" he pointed at one of Gohan's pokets. "Which you don't even use, at all! I just don't get it."

Gohan blinked, he hadn't realized he'd switched to tufflego* unconsciously when he'd seen Nashi. It happened quite often when he was with someone who spoke one of the few languages he knew. Luckily he was quite a fast learner and in a couple of months he could grasp the basics of a new language."There's nothing wrong in learning a new language, Trunks."

"But you overdo it! You know like 50-"

"10 and I'm not fluent in all of them " Trunks looked irked at Gohan's meek interruption.

"Fine, 10 languages and you still want to learn more! I just don't understand why you bother-" their conversation drifted away as they walked up the stairs that led to Bulma's house.

Unknown to them, there had been an audience. "He.. He's a ladies man…" Chichi had a terrified look on her face, even her lower lip was trembling from the tears she was holding back "and all because I wasn't there to raise him properly."

Bulma smiled, too used to Gohan's friendliness to take it as anything else. That boy seemed completely oblivious to girls advances anyway... "I think you're overreacting, Chichi…"

Chichi shook her head in dismay. "My poor, innocent boy..."

They heard a low, appreciative whistle beside them. "Who was that cutie?" Both of them turned to look at the old man with a drop of blood running down his nose. His sunglasses slid down his nose to reveal a pair of wide, sparkling eyes.

"Master Roshi, please!" Chichi slapped him lightly on his shoulder "This is serious, that girl was far too comfortable with my baby."

"It was just a question"he said raising his hands in mock surrender. "Besides, let him be, he's a man already." he added under his breath.

Apparently he had not spoken soft enough... "What did you say, old pervert!?"

"Nothing!" Master Roshi said quickly, not wanting to get on her bad side.

Chichi harrumphed, raising her chin "That's what I thought."

"That girl was hot!" Yajirobe appeared next to the old man, nodding to himself and giving the old man a thumbs up.

And Yamcha's head popped beside the fat 'samurai', nodding in approval. "She sure was. What is she by the way?"

"A tuffle girl, who happens to be Gohan's friend and a junior member of the Planetary Defense Committee. If I were you, I wouldn't even think about it." Bulma shook her head at the trio's crestfallen expressions and pushed Chichi gently to move forward. "Anyway, let's keep going, I still need to make some preparations"

Gohan stayed at the door, waiting for everyone to enter Bulma's surprisingly big home. On their way in Gohan had finally met his grandpa, who was more than happy to see him, and Yajirobe, Master Roshi and Oolong and Puar... although he couldn't quite remember any them. Also, there was a cat he'd never seen in his life, but claimed to know his father as a child.

Soon enough most of the people had entered there were only a handful outside by now, Erasa and company included. Gohan's shoulders dropped. Why were they always last? Was that on purpose? As if his thoughts had been public domain, two of the girls – he couldn't remember their names- waved at him and smiled. He could only return the wave half-heatedly, for some reason those two girls rubbed him the wrong way.

"Wow, this house is huge!" Exclaimed a boy he now remembered as Markus or Mark... or whatever. He was rubbing his aching body and staying a safe distance away from Videl. Ha.

"It sure is! Is this your home too, Gohan?" asked the red haired girl.

"Home, yes, but I don't live here anymore." Gohan said as she pushed her gently inside.

Confused, she furrowed her eyebrows back at him "Wait-" Just when the rest of them were about to get in came a gust of air that knock them off their feet. Gohan, unfazed, raised his head to find 'the old geezer's' (as Nashi has so kindly called him) space ship. Wow, she was right, Gohan thought with a grimace. It was really... ah unfashionable. It was one of those things you would find in an old horror movie, not that he knew any of them... he was just quoting Bulma.

He heard shrieks coming from the few humans left outside. Yup. It would take longer than he thought for them to get used to all of this. He nearly laughed as Marker scampered past him and into the hall in less than a second.

Sharpener pointed at the ugly vehicle, his eyes nearly pooping out of his head."Oh my god, that's a- th-that's a, oh god, a flying saucer!"

Gohan rolled his eyes, this was unbelievable. "You, uh, you came in a spaceship too, you know… and a much bigger one, at that."

"But this one is just like the ones on the movies!" yelped Sharpener clutching onto Videl who in turn was clutching onto him for dear life.

"Don't panic" Gohan said soothingly as Erasa and... Lime? made their way shakily inside. "In time you won't even notice them."

" You mean that this is common here?" Videl asked horrified as she finally untangled from Sharpener's vice-like grip.

Gohan raised an eyebrow. How else did she think people left the planet?

"You'll have to get use to it." Snapped Trunks, who had appeared behind Gohan. He then glanced up at the older saiyan and his eyes look a lot less annoyed. "Mom's waiting for you." and with that he left.

Gohan turned to the remaining two, his eyes dancing with amusement. Their faces were an unhealthy shade of white. "Ok, guys, let's go." he said brightly.

Videl looked at him with wide eyes. "You can't expect us to just shake this off!"

The saiyan merely shook his head and pushed them inside despite their surprised yelps "Let's just go" Gohan led them to a great hall that surprisingly fit all of them comfortably. He wave at Bulma, who was already speaking, Chichi was close to her so he awkwardly waved at her too and she returned it effusively.

Bulma continued, "As I was saying, please make groups of 3 or 4 people and wait patiently while I distribute the capsule homes. They will be your temporary home while you find a better place, tomorrow morning you can go back to the ship to get your belongings." she moved to the other side of the room, where a glass door lay open, she took a box from a passing robot with twenty or so numbered capsules. She motioned for everyone to stand in line, and just before she started handing the down she added, "Oh, and dinner will be served shortly, several robots will be assign to take it to your temporary homes, as I'm sure you're all very tired."

Gohan raised his eyebrows slightly. Ah right, the capsule homes, each one could fit up to 12 people. they all had 3 rooms with two bunk beds each, a tiny kitchen and a sitting room. For a frightening second Gohan'd thought that Bulma planned on fitting everyone in here. At least this way they'd be outside, in the gardens. Nice thinking, he silently praised her.

"Once your group has a capsule, you can all exit through that door and pick a spot outside, we'll take the tour in the morning." there were murmurs of excitement as they all wanted to see this new capsule homes. Most of them were tired, and even though it was a little past sunset, it felt like they had been here longer –which in fact they had, they just didn't know it yet.

Eventually the room vacated.

Bulma walked to where Yamcha and company were standing awkwardly. "Here," she gave him a capsule "This one is especially for you guys, wait until everyone's asleep so you can bring your other two friends out of the ship." she said. She had spoken t Yamcha earlier and knew that Kamisama and Mr. Popo were still hidden in a room in the ship.

Krillin grinned, motioning for them to follow him."Come on guys, there's space next to my house, you can decapsulize there."

Bulma glanced at the 3 remaining families. Her own, Chichi's, and Mr. Satan's (with what being the ship's 'captain' and all that... she restrained the urge to roll her eyes.) "You can all stay here. I have a room ready for you" she said turning to her parents. She signaled for a robot to guide them, with a promise that she would stop by once everyone had their rooms. "There's one for you too" she signaled a couple of robots to guide the former Ox King and Mr. Satan, who thank her effusively, not before kissing her hand to the disgust of everyone else in the room. Videl and Trunks were specially scarred for life.

"I don't want to see something like that ever again." Chichi muttered, voicing everyone's thoughts.

Bulma nodded, wiping her hand on her clothes. "It's a shame my husband wasn't here to witness this, he would've broken his hands for even touching me." This earned a cynic chuckle from Trunks, though only Gohan heard his 'Oh yes he would've broken more than just his hands'.

"... Your... husband?" Chichi looked at Trunks intently. "Is this your son then?" up until now she thought this boy was just an adoptive son, like her Gohan.

"Uh... y-yeah. He's away at the moment, but he'll be coming home soon..." Bulma's shifty eyes looked at anything but Chichi. "You see... he's been really busy lately. There's this… hobby he's had for several years now. So when he's not working he's recruiting people like him from other plan- places." Bulma said vaguely, scratching at her cheek while looking at her other hand's fingernails.

Gohan, with his arms folded over his chest (a gesture he'd acquired from his mentors over the years), bent to reach Trunks' height "The prince's been collecting them like prices." the whispered joke had the desired effect; both of them made a sound akin to a giggle, but more manly as they enjoyed the inside joke.

This caught the attention of Videl and her partner in crime, as they narrowed their eyes suspiciously at the giggling duo, both of them unaware of the piercing glares they were receiving.

"You know, somehow I think they forgot about us." Sharpener whispered to his two friends, who simply nodded.

Sadly, not everyone was taking this as lightly as they were.

Chichi narrowed her eyes at the older woman, completely ignoring Sharpener. "Bulma, is there something you're not telling me?"

Videl's ears perked at this.

Bulma suddenly found her shoes utterly captivating. "Certainly not anything relevant enough, no..."

"Fine, so what exactly does he do for a living?" Chichi's left foot started to tap the floor, unnerving Bulma even more. How the hell could she tell her that the father of her son was the one who nearly killed her's AND her husband?

"I work for him." Gohan blurted out quickly. "He's quite... nice when you get to know him, actually. He's in charge of the local security." he said, stretching the truth until it was about to tear at the seams.

Chichi, for once, ignored him.

"Bulma" it was a dangerous whisper. "Bulma" she said again, now with a hint of panic and revulsion "don't tell me this husband of yours is that- that monster who almost killed my baby."

It wasn't a question, and everyone felt the silent warning.

Now Bulma was sweating bullets. She just gave a tiny nervous laugh and shrug her shoulders helplessly. Feeling sorry for her, Gohan stepped in once again. "It's not really as bad as it sounds… he really did help us a lot back then, in his own weird way…"

Chichi immediately turned to Gohan, shaking him violently by the shoulders. "Why did you let this happen, why?"

"He's not that bad, really...!" Gohan yelped, surprised by her strength.

If possible, she shook him more violently. "He tried to kill you!" Gohan noticed as she let go of one of his shoulders to reach for something. He didn't have to see it to know what it was.

The pan.

"He changed!" Gohan cried out as he covered his face. His tone caught everyone by surprise. There was a raw sincerity in it that wasn't there before."He changed, he even saved my life." He relaxed a little when Chichi lowered her weapon.

"He did?" she asked, perplexed.

"Yes" Gohan nodded and his eyes met Bulma's for a second and saw the gratitude in her eyes and he knew she wasn't expecting him to defend Vegeta with such conviction. But what he'd said before was true, Vegeta HAD saved his life, and he'd trained him – granted, his method was rather... unorthodox, but so was Piccolo's. – not to mention he was the closest thing, besides Piccolo of course, he had to a father. Suddenly he grew very self-conscious, "But we'll talk about that later, you should all rest..." and just like that he turned around and left.

Trunk's eyes remained glued to his back, long after everyone had turned their faces back to Bulma. "The boy's right, just follow the robots, they'll lead you to your rooms" she said wearily.

Hours later, Videl found herself staring at the ceiling blankly. She had been tossing and turning for hours, trying to get some sleep. "Come on Videl, it's late. Go to sleep already!" she mumbled to herself as she turned once again.

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"… I think this bed is far too big for me." she kicked the covers away from her in frustration. "What's wrong with me? I should be fast asleep, this was a pretty eventful day and I'm tired. I am tired…" Videl repeated that sentence like a mantra, but still it was useless.

She turned her eyes to the window. "What time is it anyway? I've been tossing and turning for hours and it was still dark out there. "She tried to imagine she was flying or suspended in space, but that turned out to be useless too. "Damn" Videl stressed the mumbled curse for as long as her lungs gave her air to.

Not long after that she heard a soft knock on her door. Crap, she had woken up someone. She stood up and opened the door slowly.

"…Vi-chan? Are you asleep?" Ah, it was only Erasa.

Videl gave her a dry look.

"Guess not. Mind if I come in? I can't sleep…" Erasa pouted, blinking cutely back a Videl.

The black haired teen sighed. "Sure, be my guest." Videl opened the door completely and let her in.

"So…" Erasa started, giving her a beaming smile.

Videl paled. Oh no, she knew what that 'so…' meant. Girl talk, and in this aspect Erasa was not one to yield. "S-so." she said awkwardly, trying in vain to find a way out of this talk. Sh faked a yawn, a big and ostentatious yawn. "Aren't you sleepy? Actually I was dozing off when you knocked."

Erasa gave her a bright grin, not believing a word she said. "Liar." she said good-naturedly. "this was a pretty exciting day, don't you think?"

Videl shrugged, getting into her side of the bed and patting the empty space so that Erasa would take a hint and dive in. "Yeah, I guess it was."

"You guess?" she asked incredulously as she jumped into the bed, making the other girl bounce a little in the process.

Videl rolled her eyes as she exhaled loudly through her mouth. "Fine. It blew my mind, ok?"

"There's no need to be sarcastic, ok?"

Videl sighed, resting her head on the soft pillow once more. "It was an interesting day, I'll give you that."

"It was. Know what else is interesting?" Videl simply raised her eyebrows but that was enough incentive for Erasa to continue "Gohan. He's so perfect! I think I'm in love."

"Lay off, Erasa. I've got my eyes on him." She glared at the roft intently. Oh, she would figure Son Gohan.

Erasa gaped like a fish out of the water. This was so not like Videl. "Vi-Videl-chan! I never knew you were so… so bold! If you wanted him you could've just said so!" Satan Videl had FINALLY showed interest in a guy!

Despite herself, Videl couldn't stop her cheeks from reddening a little at that misunderstanding. "That's not what I meant Erasa! He's got too many secrets, and I'm going to find out, whatever it takes."

Erasa huffed, "You're no fun..."

There was another knock on the door and Videl gladly rushed to open the door.

"Space for three?" Sharpener asked grinning hopefully.

Videl sighed once more."… Sure."

Perhaps it was their company what had been missing before because she slept soundly.

Later that night, during his nightly meditation on the roof, Gohan felt a quiet presence levitating carefully until he sat next to him. "It's late, why are you still awake?" Gohan chastised him lightly.

No response.

They stayed quiet for little over a quarter of an hour. That was unlike Trunks, who was always complaining about meditation and silence and how boring all that crap was, so there was something definitely wrong now. "Trunks, is there something wrong?"

"Gohan-niichan..." Gohan raised his eyebrow, it had been a while since Trunks had referred to him as an older brother. Ever since he had turned 6 and claimed he was old enough to to be trained by Gohan. It was only on special occasions that the old 'niichan' would slip from his mouth. Trunks gave him a quick glace and then frowned at his fumbling hands. "Now that you have your family back … are things gonna change between us?"

So that was what was bothering him earlier. "The fact that my family is back doesn't mean I'll stop seeing you guys. Your mom is like a mom to me and you're my brother and... and I work for Vegeta." Gohan said soothingly, putting a hand on Trunks shoulder.

"Just remember that you're not replaceable, Gohan sensei. You're part of our family and no one could ever take your place. They don't know you like we know you."

this perplexed the older Saiyajin, Trunks usually kept his feeling for himself, and well, he was not exactly used to this display of... affection? "What's gotten into you?" Gohan smiled, but it did nothing to lift Trunks' mood.

"You're my brother, and my best friend, my mentor and some times you're even my dad... I just..." Trunks' voice broke and he took a deep breath. Truthfully, he was terrified. He had overheard a conversation between his mom and Mr. Satan, they were planning on returning to Earth eventually... and if Gohan grew to love his family again that meant..."Please don't leave us Gohan."

Umm, so... I really really really hope you liked it. (it's 5:30 am here and I'm quite tired...)

By the way, Gohan's past will come in the next few chapters, as well as the mystery behind Freeza's disappearance, so be patient. XD

Oh, and all the OCs that will appear? None of them will have a particularly leading role but remember they are in a completely different planet, so there ought to be new people. Lots of new people...

Tufflego: The language that Tuffles speak, but you knew that already, didn't you? and the -go? I spend so much time trying to come up with a name for that language... and well, 'Tuffleleese' or 'Tuffle-speech' or even worse 'Tufflish' just didn't sound quite right. So I'm just gonna use the japanese language suffix '-go' for all the languages. It's so much easier... I'm sorry if this bothers anyone... (No, seriously I am! D': )

As usual, suggestions and corrections are gladly welcome, especially if it will make me and this story improve. So, please, if you have a couple of minutes, leave a review. :)