Title: Off the Beaten Path
Author: Lilly-sama (aka, Kisakun on DA)
Rating: PG – Due to the large number of authors participating in this event, rating is subject to change at any time.
Disclaimer: None of the authors taking part in this Round Robin claim to own Dragonball/Z/GT.

Summary: Round Robin. Gohan and Videl get lost in the woods, and Videl doesn't know about Gohan's powers! What's a demi-Saiyan to do? (donated by texaspeach)

Gohan never took his eyes off of the man's frightened face, his own dead serious. He'd heard Videl's whispering perfectly well, due to his Saiyan hearing, but didn't dwell on it for now; he had to take care of this dangerous man first.

"Back off, you demon!" the man screamed, holding his gun tightly with both hands even though he'd seen the "demon" catch his bullet just moments ago.

"You should leave. Now," Gohan said in a deadly tone. The man gulped audibly, obviously intimidated. But he didn't let it get to him and tightened his hold on his gun; he wasn't going to let them steal his critters!

"I said, back off!" he screamed again, aiming his gun at the boy's head.

His brows furrowing more, Gohan said, "You really should leave; believe me, you don't want to see me angry."

The man gulped again, his gun shaking in his hands. "I-I-I'm not gonna to let y'all steal my critters!" he yelled desperately.

"We don't care about your critters; we're just high school students on a school trip," Gohan tried to reason with the man. To no avail.

"Liar!"

Well, it looked like talking to this crazy person wouldn't lead them anywhere; he was going to have to sort this out the hard way.

Using his super speed, Gohan disarmed the man and knocked him out before he could react. Standing beside the now unconscious man, Gohan then turned to Videl who was still on the ground and looking at him with wide eyes.

His serious face vanished almost instantly and he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?"

000

Gohan figured he could no longer hide the truth from Videl after everything she'd seen. He wasn't going to go into too much detail though, not wanting this to drag on, – they still had to go back to the school campsite after all, and telling her the whole story would take hours – but he decided to tell her the bare necessities.

"I… I'm sorry I lied to you," he apologized, head lowered in shame. "I hate lying – I really do – but it seemed to be the only way to protect my family and friends' privacy."

"So you're Saiyaman, after all."

"Yes…," he admitted. "I'm really, really sorry I lied to you."

Videl frowned. "Did you actually think that I would go and tell everyone about it?"

"I-I-I…" he stammered. In the end, he sighed. "I'm sorry."

Silence followed, though it was quickly broken by Videl, who still had some more questions for her classmate. Now that he was finally willing to talk, she wasn't going to let this chance go to waste.

"Is there anything else I need to know about you?" she asked.

Gohan fidgeted nervously. He really didn't look forward to telling her about his origins. But, well...he knew it was too late to back down now, so, slowly, reluctantly, he nodded his head. Videl raised an eyebrow, but she wasn't all that surprised; she knew there was more to Gohan than just his superhero alter ego.

"Well, what's it?" she urged him impatiently when he didn't say anything. The young man sighed, knowing he had no choice.

"What I'm about to tell you will be hard to believe, and you'll probably think I'm a freak or something…"

"I don't think you're a freak."

Gohan looked up at this, his brows raised in surprise. After everything she'd seen him do, she still didn't think he was a freak?

"You don't?" he asked, as if to make sure he wasn't hearing things.

She shook her head. "I don't. Sure, you're a little weird, but you're too kind to be a freak."

He was probably blushing right now, but Gohan didn't care; he was too happy to care. Videl didn't think he was a freak! He smiled widely, then unexpectedly hugged the girl, unknowingly making her blush.

"Thanks, Videl. It means a lot."

"Um, you're welcome?" she said, not being really sure why he was thanking her. Or hugging her, for that matter.

Wait, why was she letting Gohan hug her?

Videl sighed; why not, after all? It wasn't like it was going to ruin her reputation since there was nobody around to witness the boy hugging her. So she leaned on him and decided to enjoy this nice feeling while it lasted.

Unfortunately, the Son boy seemed to realize what he was doing and he immediately let go of her, moving away from her.

"Um, sorry about that…" he apologized while looking away and scratching the back of his head, a bright blush covering his face.

"It's okay." Videl said. 'I didn't really mind, anyway,' she added inwardly.

"Well, um," Gohan stammered, his face still beet-red. "I… I just hope you won't change your mind about me once I tell you everything."

The girl looked at him expectantly, though she wondered what Gohan was so afraid of telling her. Surely it couldn't be that bad, could it?

"I… I'm not… I mean… uh…" Gohan stammered again, not knowing how to say it.

"You can tell me, Gohan. I won't think you're a freak," she said reassuringly.

Gohan breathed in deeply and closed his eyes, trying to give himself some courage. Okay, it was now or never…

"I'm not fully human."

Videl stared at him blankly. Not fully human? What did he mean by that? How could someone not be entirely human? Sure, there were the human/animal breeds, but Gohan was nothing like them. So what else could it mean?

"What do you mean?" she ended up asking.

Gohan sighed, but explained nonetheless: "My mother is human, but my father was from another planet, which makes me a half-human, half-alien."

There, he said it. He couldn't look at her though, too scared of what her reaction would be. What if she never wanted to hear from him again? To think he'd hoped they could become friends… Now it was all ruined.

Gohan's shoulders slumped in defeat. And the more he thought about it, the more he told himself that telling Videl the truth about him had been a really bad idea.

As for Videl, she was having a hard time believing what Gohan just told her. Seriously, aliens? Why not ghosts, while they were at it?

But one look at Gohan told her that he was saying the truth. She didn't know what to think of it, though. Did her view of Gohan change, now that she knew the truth about him? Well, kind of; she didn't see him as only a bookworm anymore. Sure, he was still a bookworm, but one that could catch bullets with his hands and lift buses like they were nothing, as she'd seen Saiyaman do on a few occasions.

Did she see him as a freak now, though? Keeping her eyes on the boy in front of her who still wasn't looking at her, she decided that no, she didn't think he was a freak. Sure, he was beyond weird, but he had a good heart, always willing to help those in need. So, no, he wasn't a freak.

As she came to that conclusion, Videl moved closer to Gohan and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up at her with worried eyes.

"You worry too much, Gohan. Didn't I tell you that I didn't think you were a freak?"

He blinked. "Even now that you know what I really am?"

"Half-alien or not, you'll always be a nerd to me," she said playfully.

Gohan chuckled, relieved and happy that Videl accepted him no matter what he was. She was really a great girl.

"I guess that was your biggest secret then, huh? Or is there anything else I need to know?" the Satan girl then asked.

"Well… There's one last thing. And you're not going to like it," Gohan warned.

Videl frowned. "Why? What's it?"

He hesitated, wondering how she would react when she knew that her father was a fraud. When he'd told her about his origins, he'd been worried about how she would see him; now, he was worried about how she would see her own father. Gohan knew that what Mr. Satan did was wrong, but he wasn't a bad person, and he had kind of contributed to Cell's defeat when he'd thrown Android Sixteen's head towards him; if he hadn't, Gohan wouldn't have ascended and so wouldn't have had enough power to defeat Cell.

"Well? What's it?" Videl said impatiently, urging him to continue. Gohan sighed, resigning himself to tell her.

"Your father didn't beat Cell… I did."

Beta'd by Ms. Videl Son (aka, megaminoeien on DA)