Gohan: Development of a Hero

This is a Dragonballz fanfiction. To my eternal sadness, I do not own or in anyway profit from Dragonballz or any of the characters in this story. This fic, as you can guess from the title, centers on Gohan, and begins right after the cell games. It is an AU, and reviews are welcome and appreciated.

Btw, from now on, when characters speak in Saiyago (the Saiyan language), the dialogue will be shown in Bold.

Part 18 – Meet the Briefs

"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON, FIRE!!!"

Gohan watched as Piccolo fired his special technique at Lime. As he expected, she easily countered it. He knew that the beam was underpowered; although Piccolo could be harsh in training, he was an excellent teacher. The beam was exactly as strong as Piccolo felt Lime could handle without dying. While Gohan felt he had done a good job as Lime's teacher, it was obvious that he was in the presence of a master.

In the three months since Piccolo had joined their matches, they had established a routine. He and Piccolo would randomly trade in spars with Lime; this gave her the variety that Gohan had been unable to provide alone. In addition, Gohan was able to better control her improvement. Though he kept this from Piccolo, whenever he wasn't sparing Gohan was using the techniques Sensei had taught him to bring out Lime's potential. By focusing solely on that, Gohan found he was able to achieve better results. In the last three months, Lime's strength had gone up more than it used to in a year. Piccolo was impressed; Gohan could see it in the way he acted. At first, Piccolo had come rarely to the sessions; while he had made a promise, Gohan knew he did not particularly want a student. However, now it seemed Piccolo wanted to train her as much as Gohan did, a fact Gohan greatly appreciated.

She's getting tired Gohan thought as he focused on her movements. Though it was subtle, Gohan had been a fighter too long not to see the slight quiver in her muscles and the faint sloppiness to her movements only exhaustion could create. Gohan wasn't surprised; Lime had been sparring at full strength for close to 2 hours against opponents who are skilled in pushing her to her limits. Still, she was doing very well; Gohan felt a flash a pride go through him as he recognized that, a flash caused not only because he was her teacher, but also because he was her…boyfriend.

A smile came to Gohan's face as he said that term in his head. Boyfriend. Even after three months, he still enjoyed the sound of that. He and Lime had been going on several dates a week in that time, and Gohan was quite happy with how things were flowing. He'd even managed to earn the trust of Lime's father, a feat which had reduced his nervousness quite a bit. Those glares were too close to the old Vegeta for comfort.

The smile faded from Gohan's face as his primary concern came to the forefront. In the last three months, Bulma had been applying more and more pressure to meet Lime. It was understandable; Bulma was insanely curious, and something like this must be driving her insane. She had even tried to get Vegeta to trail him once. Luckily, Vegeta had flat out refused to 'skulk around like an honor-less curr'. He had come to Gohan, explained what happened, and told him to 'bring the wench to meet my woman before she drives us all insane.' That had been last night.

A part of Gohan felt bad; Bulma was just acting like family. In fact, her concern was almost…motherly. However, Gohan also had to consider the larger picture. He still worried that someone would begin to ask Gohan awkward questions about why he was training Lime, which could lead to someone discovering his nightly training. It was hard enough keeping Goten quiet; Gohan had to remind Goten several times a week not to talk about their weekly spars in Dreamscape. But perhaps he was simply being paranoid; as he considered it, Gohan began to doubt anyone could make the connection. And he also knew he couldn't keep them from meeting. It's time.

"Alright, let's call it a day," Gohan shouted. Instantly, the two fighters broke apart and flew down to land next to Gohan.

"I was just getting warmed up," Lime panted. Her breathing was deeply labored, her cheeks were flushed, and sweat was pouring down her face. Gohan thought she looked beautiful.

"You did wonderful," Gohan reassured. He turned back to Piccolo as he added, "You're getting slow Piccolo. She almost had you a few times."

Piccolo snorted, "Kid, I think your eyes are going,"

"Same time tomorrow?" Lime asked hopefully.

"Definitely," Gohan responded as he nodded. Since admitting to having a girlfriend, Gohan found it much easier to leave Capsule Corps to do these sessions.

Piccolo merely shrugged as he flew off without a word. Lime watched him go before commenting, "I've noticed he does that a lot,"

"What can I say, he's Piccolo," Gohan pointed out. He then grinned, "Want a lift home?"

Lime smiled back as a faint blush crossed her face. Without another word, Gohan scooped her up and blasted off for Lime's house. He flew slowly; this was one of the best parts of his day. He loved the feel of Lime resting against him, her body snug in his arms. It made him feel instantly strong, confident…protective. They did this often, and each time Gohan could feel the Saiyan in him reveling. He had long known that Saiyans tended to be very protective, and apparently this appeased some of those instincts.

Though longer than it could have been, all too soon Gohan found himself landing in front of Lime's house. "Listen, you want to come over for dinner tonight? My mom has finally restocked her pantry," Lime asked.

Gohan blushed slightly; the last time he had come over, he had forgotten to eat beforehand. Needless to say, the quantity of food was lacking. Lime's mother had been astonished, and finally put it down to 'growing boys'. "Actually…why don't you come to Capsule Corps for dinner?"

Lime had been moving towards her door, but she froze at Gohan's question, "Really?" she asked.

Gohan nodded, "We usually eat at seven. Come over, so you can meet…my family."

Lime said nothing; instead, she leaned forward and pulled Gohan into a deep kiss. Gohan reached out and pulled her close, and became lost in the moment. When it finally ended, Gohan's mind was ringing. "See you tonight," Lime whispered as she turned and entered her house.

Gohan stood there for several seconds, fighting the urge to lick his lips, an urge that came every time Lime kissed him. Slowly, his mind returned to a semi-normal state and Gohan took off. Well, he'd done it; the meeting of Lime and his family was going to happen. Lime was going to finally interact with Bulma, Vegeta, Goten, and Trunks. As he began to imagine what those interactions would be like, a single thought kept returning.

Kami, please help me!

Gohan paced back and forth nervously. It was 6:40, and he could sense Lime was almost to Capsule Corps. Gohan could faintly hear Bulma's mother cooking; when she had found out 'little Gohan's girlfriend' was coming over, she insisted she cook. Not that Gohan complained; though Bulma's cooking had improved slightly though trial and error, Gohan had no desire to poison his girlfriend. Bulma had been ecstatic when Gohan had told her Lime was coming; she had immediately began spewing off a list of things she needed to do to prepare for the evening.

The sound of the doorbell halted Gohan's pacing instantly. "I'll get it," Gohan shouted as he rushed to the door. He knew Goten and Trunks had a tendency to open the door and spray water on 'guests', and Gohan didn't want that to happen to Lime. Gohan made it to the door before Trunks and Goten easily. As he opened it, Gohan forgot how to breathe. Lime stood there in a red shirt and black pants, a combination that made her look…amazing. As she smiled, Gohan tried to remember his name.

"Hey Gohan…how do I look?" Lime asked.

"Uh, you…uh…wow…" Gohan stuttered.

Lime smiled as she leaned in and kissed his cheek, "Thanks."

As Lime entered the house, Gohan detected two kis coming quickly, "Brace yourself," he advised quietly.

"Wha…" Lime began, but was cut off as two blurs slammed into her and knocked her to the ground.

"Hello," Trunks and Goten chirped in unison.

"Um…hi," Lime wheezed from her position on the floor. It was obvious the two of them had knocked the wind out of her. Gohan had been tempted to block them, but he figured it was better if she met them this way. It was more like the way they really were.

"Guys, you think you could get off her," Gohan requested.

"What if she uses her …cookies" Goten stammered.

"That's cooties Goten," Trunks corrected as he smacked the back of Goten's head.

"What makes you think I have cooties?" Lime asked as she looked at them.

Trunks looked at her and raised his chin, "All girls do. Everyone knows that."

Gohan rolled his eyes; it was simply amazing. They had been around no kids besides each other, and they still came up with this cootie idea. I guess some things are inevitable. Suddenly, he got an evil idea.

Gohan leaned down and said, "Guys, do you how cooties are transmitted? By touch,"

Trunks and Goten looked at Gohan, then down at where they were sitting on Lime. They then turned to each other and screamed, "AH, COOTIES!!!" A second later, they were off of Lime and running down the hall.

"Sorry about that," Gohan apologized as he helped her up.

Lime laughed, "Don't worry. They're cute."

Gohan grimaced, "Give them time, and you'll see their demonic nature."

"They sure do pack a punch though," Lime muttered as she rubbed her stomach. A snort came from their right, and they turned to see Vegeta leaning against the wall. As Lime saw Vegeta, Gohan smelt a slight amount of fear emanate from her. He wasn't surprised; after everything he had told her about Vegeta, it was understandable that she was a little afraid of him. It wasn't every day you met someone like Vegeta.

"I suppose it would seem strong to you, but to real fighters, it was nothing," Vegeta corrected.

"Are you saying I'm not a real fighter?" Lime asked in a deathly quiet voice. Gohan knew that voice; it only came when she was really pissed off.

"I'm sure that's not what he meant," Gohan interjected. He couldn't let things get out of hand; if either of them lost their temper, it would definitely be bad.

Vegeta strode forward arrogantly, "Of course it is. I can tell from here you are nothing but a weak wench. Why Gohan wastes his time with you instead of training is beyond me."

Gohan felt his own rage beginning to rise at Vegeta's comment. While he knew Vegeta could be insulting, this was too far. Before Gohan could say anything, Lime snapped, "You maniacal midget! I could take you any day of the week,"

Vegeta's face darkened as he said softly, "Are you challenging me?"

"Bring it on," Lime replied as she slid into her fighting stance.

"WHOA!" Gohan shouted as he moved between them. This was bad; Vegeta would definitely not hold back, and Gohan had no desire to have them duke it out, especially since he knew what the result would be. At best, Gohan would step in and stop Vegeta, leaving him pissed at Gohan; at worst, well…

"Get out of the way," Vegeta warned. The vein on his forehead was throbbing as he continued, "If the wench wants to see the next dimension so much, I would be glad to oblige her."

If looks alone could kill, Lime's glare would have put Vegeta in a grave instantly.
"As if you could…"

This is not good Gohan thought as he groaned mentally. He began to power up; Gohan had a feeling he would have to physically stop both of them from trying to kill each other, and he wanted to be ready. To his surprise, Vegeta merely snorted and shook his head, "The Saiyan in you is stronger than I thought," Vegeta commented.

"What?" Gohan questioned.

"There is fire in this one's spirit," Vegeta explained. "Such a quality was highly desirable on Vegeta." Without another word, Vegeta turned and left.

"What happened?" Lime asked in puzzlement as she slowly slid out of her stance.

"I think…he just said he approved of you," Gohan replied softly. He couldn't believe it; Vegeta wouldn't normally have backed down like that. It was almost as if he simply wanted to see what she would do. Suddenly, Gohan smiled. That was it; that was why he provoked her. He wanted her angry so she would act naturally. That way, he could judge her as she was, not as she acted out of nervousness or fear.

"Dinner's almost ready…hello, you must be Lime," Bulma stated as she entered the room.

"Hello ma'am," Lime said.

Bulma grinned, "Please, that makes me sound old. Call me Bulma, or Mrs. Briefs if you want. I thought I heard Vegeta in here, is everything alright?"

"It's fine, he just had an…interesting meeting with Lime," Gohan supplied.

"That arrogant little…" Bulma muttered, "I hope he wasn't too insulting."

"You could say that, Mrs. Briefs," Lime said. She was still angry about his remarks; Gohan could practically feel the heat from her rage.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure and discuss proper guest etiquette with him…thoroughly," Bulma promised darkly. She then turned her full attention to Lime, and Gohan fought back a smile. He knew that look; while nowhere near as intimidating as Vegeta, Bulma's look seemed to analyze every aspect of Lime and take it into consideration. It almost reminded him of a look his mo…

Gohan forced his thoughts away quickly. He brought a smile to his face as he said, "You said dinner was almost ready?"

"A little hungry are we?" Bulma teased.

Before Gohan could answer, his stomach growled. Lime and Bulma laughed, "What…I haven't eaten in hours," Gohan said defensively.

"It's okay Gohan," Lime reassured him. She then turned to Bulma and added, "Your house looks very nice,"

"Thank you dear. So, tell me about…" Bulma mentioned, and the two of them quickly became engrossed in conversation. Gohan's mind wandered; he knew both Bulma and Lime, and he knew the conversation would be of little interest to him. Instead, he subtly steered them into the dining room, where tantalizing smells were being emanated. When he got there, Gohan frowned. Goten and Trunks weren't there; the two of them were almost always the first ones at the table. As Gohan extended his senses, he found they were upstairs.

What are they up to?

"Are you sure about this, Trunks," Goten asked nervously.

"Of course," Trunks replied emphatically, "We have to stop the spread of deadly cooties, before it's too late. It's impera…imperat…it's imperative. To save not only ourselves, but Gohan"

"But Gohan seems fine," Goten mentioned. He was confused; surely if Gohan were in danger, his brother could handle it. After all, he was the strongest fighter in the universe. How could these cooties hurt him?

"Goten, Gohan has obviously been affected," Trunks retorted, "It's a known fact that cooties affect your mind first, and make you like…girlie stuff."

"I didn't know that. How do you know that cooties do that?" Goten asked suspiciously. Gohan had warned him repeatedly that Trunks tended to make stuff up; maybe that's what he was doing now.

"Uh, well…because I'm a prince," Trunks improvised, "Yeah, that's it. All Princes are know stuff the rest of you aren't."

"Really? COOL! What else do you know," Goten questioned excitedly.

"Uh, um…that's doesn't matter! We need to move now, before the cooties spread," Trunks stated.

"What do we do," Goten asked in concern.

"It's also known that cooties are destroyed by stinky smells," Trunks explained gravely. He held up a water balloon, and Goten's noise crinkled. It smelled awful, "If we hit Lime with this, it will kill the cooties."

"You want to hit Lime with that? Won't Gohan be pretty mad," Goten questioned doubtfully. Goten knew Gohan hated it when they hit anyone with water balloons; how would he feel if they hit someone with a STINKY balloon?

"Goten, we're doing this to SAVE Gohan. He'll thank us; trust me," Trunks assured Goten. When he saw Goten still hesitating, Trunks added, "If we don't, Gohan could die."

"NO, we can't let that happen," Goten wailed worriedly, "Ok, I'm in."

"Great," Trunks stated. He then dropped his voice as he continued, "Ok, here's the plan…"

"Where are Goten and Trunks?" Bulma asked as they all sat down at the table.

As Gohan took his seat across from Lime, he mentioned, "They're upstairs. Want me to go get them?"

Vegeta snorted as he sat down across from Lime, "Forget it. The smell will bring them down soon enough. Good food is so rare,"

"What! Why you…" Bulma began.

Gohan didn't want them to fight if he could prevent it. Luckily, he felt the two terrors approaching, "Hey, looks like you were right Vegeta. They're coming down now," When he felt them close, he twisted around in his chair and said, "You guys almost missed the…"

Gohan trailed off as he caught a whiff of something nasty. Before he could continue, Trunks and Goten ran towards Lime, "DIE COOTIES!!!" Trunks shouted as he heaved the water balloon. As soon as Gohan saw the balloon in Trunks hand, he moved. He didn't know what was in it, but it definitely smelled nasty. Gohan pushed towards Lime and tackled her to the ground. The balloon flew unerringly over Lime's chair and smacked into Vegeta, exploding on contact.

As Vegeta's face began to darken, Goten whispered, "Trunks, we missed. What now?"

A look of panic came over Trunks face as he shouted, "RUN FOR IT!"

"BRATS!!!!" Vegeta roared as he leaped from his seat. The two terrors ran out of the room with Vegeta close behind.

"Is it always this exciting here?" Lime asked softly.

Gohan smiled as he responded, "Actually, today is kind of qui…" Gohan trailed off as he realized the position they were in. Gohan had Lime in a tight grip, and their faces were inches apart. Lime's breath was caressing Gohan's face, teasing it. Before Gohan could do anything, a bright flash erupted in the room. Gohan looked up to see Bulma with a camera in her hand and a smile on her face.

"That's going in the album," Bulma declared. "Such a good one too, of the couple embracing."

Both Gohan and Lime turned beet red. "Bulma…" Gohan hissed as he helped Lime up.

"You'll thank me later, for preserving the memories." Bulma countered. "Now, let's finish our meal."

"What about the others?" Lime asked as she sat back down.

A crash sounded from upstairs, "I think they'll be occupied for quite a while," Bulma mentioned wryly. "I'll just save some for Vegeta"

The rest of the meal went by without much of a hitch. Gohan could hear crashes from upstairs, and knew Vegeta was having a tough time catching them. Though he was faster, Trunks and Goten were very cunning. In fact, they were just finishing up when Vegeta reentered the room with the two of them in two.

Bulma wrinkled her nose as she said, "I see you've caught them."

Gohan fought not to throw up. The smell was overpowering, and he was amazed Vegeta could stand it. "What do you two have to say?"

"It was an accident," Trunks offered.

"Yeah, we wanted to hit Lime and destroy the cooties," Goten supplied.

"GOTEN," Trunks hissed.

Goten turned to Trunks in confusion, "What, you said he'd thank us?"

"Only if we were successful. He's still under cootie control," Trunks corrected.

Only the look on Vegeta's face kept Gohan from laughing. He should have known they would do something like this; after all, he had told them the cooties were real, hadn't he. "What do you think we should do with them?" Gohan asked sternly.

"I say we send them to the next dimension," Vegeta snarled. The two kids swallowed loudly as they turned to Gohan and made innocent faces.

"No, we can't do that," Gohan countered.

"Why not," Vegeta demanded as the two kids breathed a sigh of relief.

"Because that's too easy," Gohan replied. "Instead, why don't we simply say…no dinner for a week?"

"NO DINNER!" The kids shrieked. Trunks looked at his mom, "Mom?"

"No, I agree with Gohan on this one," Bulma commented, "You two deserve it."

A look of pure misery came over both of their faces. "Can't we go to the next dimension instead," Trunks asked plaintively.

"Wait a second, don't I get a say," Lime interjected.

"Huh?" Gohan asked in surprise.

"Well, I was the target after all. Shouldn't I have an opinion in this?" Lime explained. She smiled mischievously.

"Um…okay." Gohan said in puzzlement. What was she doing?

"I think we should go easy on them," Lime continued, "After all, they were trying to save you Gohan,"

"WHAT!" Vegeta snapped. He was about to respond when he saw the gleam in the wench's eye, a gleam that reminded him of when his woman was being particularly evil. Vegeta decided to wait…for now.

"Yeah, listen to her," Trunks chimed in.

"In fact, for showing such heroism, I think they deserve a reward," Lime finished.

"A reward? COOL!" Goten shouted. "Maybe candy?"

"Actually, I already have a reward in mind," Lime mentioned.

"What is it?" Trunks asked eagerly. Lime simply smiled as she walked forward towards the boys. Slowly, she leaned down and kissed each of them on the cheek.

The two boys face took on a look of pure horror, "AAAAHHHH!!!! We're infected!!!!"

"Yes, and face cooties are nearly impossible to cure," Lime explained. She turned back to Gohan and winked.

"What are we going to do Trunks?" Goten asked worriedly.

"There's only one known cure," Bulma explained. "You have to go without sugar for a month. That means no candy, no ice cream, nothing with sugar in it."

"WHAT!" the kids shouted.

"In addition, only constant fighting will drive the cooties out," Gohan added, "I think you'll have to spend every day for the next month training with Vegeta,"

A sadistic grin came over Vegeta's face, "I agree,"

"Can't we just die instead?" Trunks asked.

"No, because that would be cruel, to leave you sick when there is an obvious cure. We'll just have to follow the cure to the letter," Gohan countered.

"For now, you two go to your room," Bulma stated firmly. The two boys sighed and trudged upstairs. As soon as they were out of earshot, Bulma burst out laughing. "That was brilliant. How'd you come up with that?"

Lime laughed along as she explained, "It just came to me."

Vegeta looked at Gohan and said, "The wench has a streak of cruelty close to that of my woman."

Gohan simply nodded; he understood it to be a compliment, probably the only one Vegeta would ever give. "Listen, I think we'd better call it a night. Come on, I'll walk you to the door,"

"It was nice meeting you Lime," Bulma added.

Vegeta merely grunted as he turned to take a shower. When he got to the stairs, he said quietly, "Perhaps Gohan's time wasn't being wasted with you," he then continued upstairs.

"Well, I have to say, although it wasn't what I expected, I had a lot of fun," Lime said as they got to the door.

"I'm glad. Are we still on for a spar tomorrow?" Gohan asked.

Lime smiled, "Of course." She then leaned over and kissed Gohan softly. "See you tomorrow,"

Gohan watched her leave, and then headed back inside. He found Bulma working on the dishes, and moved to help her. Bulma smiled and asked, "That wasn't so bad, was it?" Gohan merely shook his head as he began to help. However, he couldn't prevent himself from answering it in his mind.

No, it really wasn't.

TO BE CONTINUED…

All right, I've hit 350 reviews. Now, to answer some comments: I've received numerous comments asking if this is turning into a Gohan/Lime. I guess, given that the Gohan/Videl relationship will not occur until the next story, that I can reasonably say the only relationship to occur in THIS story will be Gohan/Lime. While that is not the main point of the story, I guess it is a part of it.

Coriel: My understanding was that Lime's parents were killed by Cell. When the wish was made to bring back all those killed by Cell, it would have brought them back as well. If this is incorrect, please let me know.

Marshmellow13Dragon; The LSAT is used for entrance to Law School. I'm not sure, but I think the L stands for Law.

Samurai Demon-God Sekikage: While I see you point about this part being called, "Development of a Man", there is a specific reason I chose the order I did. This part focuses on the build-up and event where Gohan finally becomes the main hero. Though he defeated Cell, this will be the first time where from beginning to end, Gohan knew and accepted he was the one who had to save the day. In my next part, I will focus on Gohan's ascension to manhood and the decisions that lie within. Thus, "development of a man"

As to your point about wanting to see Gohan/Videl, I understand. Part of Lime's personality was actually borrowed from Videl, if only to make it more realistic. I've noticed in the show that the Saiyan's seem to be attracted to specific kinds of woman, and Gohan specifically has certain preferences. I tried to incorporate that, since Lime's overall personality isn't explored much in the show. Therefore, you'll find Lime and Videl from the show very similar. I hope that can hold you over until Gohan/Videl begins.

Please, continue to read and review. I'll have the next part up as soon as I can.