Chapter Twelve: First Kiss

Chapter Notes: -

A/N: -

Son Gohan was dreaming about the time when he defeated Cell.

He remembered the feeling of absolutely overpowering his opponent. It was exhilarating and, if he had the chance, no matter how much he thinks that he dislikes fighting, he wouldn't pass up the opportunity to fight someone strong again and protect the world.

Clad in a layer of yellow, sparking aura, he poked fun at the villain and wondered why they had such a hard time fighting him initially when he really was so weak. The truth was, it wasn't that Cell was weak. It was Gohan who had become too strong. Cell used every single gene that was implanted onto him to try and defeat the blonde warrior but to no avail.

However, the terror dubbed as "The Perfect Weapon" thought of a cunning plan.

Yes, it was so easy. Why didn't he think of it before?

If the Z-fighters were fighting so hard for Earth's sake, then why not hold it hostage?

So he used his trump card. Expanding himself up into a big balloon, Cell threatened to blow himself up into smithereens and take earth down along with him.

The plan worked!

It made Gohan stop in his tracks. The adrenaline and the Saiyan blood flowing in the young boy's veins may have clouded his reason and made him disregard the fact that he was fighting someone who was terrorising the world and only lust for the heat of the battle, but the threat had made him come back to his senses. He didn't want the world to end and his mother and the people he cared about to die in vain.

He tried making a move to stop Cell, but the green menace commanded him to stop.

"Muhahaha, you really think I'm kidding? Try it and watch the world and everyone you love disappear!"

Gohan grit his teeth, his power level once again surging despite already reaching Super Saiyan 2. He was angry at Cell and he was angry at himself. Why didn't he get rid of the villain while he could? He was stupid, stupid, stupid!

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see his father's smiling face.

Son Goku - saviour of the world for far too many times to count - was smiling calmly at his son and, when he spoke, his voice gave away no sign of fear or whatsoever despite the direness of the situation.

"Hey," he said with his normal zeal. "What are you so angry for, son? Seriously, the veins on your forehead look like they're about to explode!"

"D-dad…"

The young boy couldn't say anything else. He was confused. How could his father be so calm despite the situation? He had a bad feeling about this - and it wasn't about the impeding threat that is Cell.

"Relax, son. I have a plan."

Gohan watched in horror as his father used the skill that he learnt after defeating Freeza to teleport himself right beside Cell. He tried to shout and tell his father not to do it but, though his mouth opened and closed in speech, no words came out.

There was utter panic and confusion between all the Z-fighters and Cell and the next thing that they knew was Goku saying his last words and… he was gone. Son Goku once again died in trying to save the world.

"DAD!" screamed Gohan.

He woke up with sweat pouring out from every pore of his half-human, half-Saiyan body.

He recounted the dream he just had and his body shook. It didn't feel like a dream. Indeed, it wasn't. Instead, it was a memory. A memory that haunted Gohan every now and then whenever his mind wasn't too busy worrying about something else.

In a sense, since entering Orange Star High School, he had less of these dreams because there were always problems to worry about. Videl, for one. Lime, on the other. In fact, if he thought about it real hard, he couldn't remember ever having these dreams since he started school but for some reason, it was back again.

He felt deep regret at his own actions and hated himself again, so much that bitter bile rose from his throat and threatened to come out.

As he asked himself, "Why now?", he found himself wandering down the hallway in search for a drink.

In doing so, around the corner, he collided with Erasa who had just finished taking her morning shower.

"Ow!" Erasa cried out.

Gohan's body was like - no - harder than steel and so the blonde girl found that she had the beginnings of a small lump swelling on her forehead.

"Oh, sorry Erasa, I didn't- eek!" Gohan apologised before exclaiming in surprise.

"No, it's alright, Gohan. It was my fault for not paying attention. It's just that it's so rare to see you up this early in the morning so I never thought… um, what's up?" she asked curiously.

Gohan was blushing deep red and was covering his eyes - but at the same time, he had a small opening in between his fingers from which he was peeking curiously through.

Wondering what was going on, Erasa looked around and found her towel lying in a crumpled heap all around her. She too blushed before she covered herself up hastily.

"I didn't see anything, I swear!" Gohan quickly said.

Though she was embarrassed, Erasa felt a tad mischievous that day such that she could probably rival Trunks. Unwrapping the towel again, she said coyly, "Are you sure? Wow, it sure seems hot this morning… I wonder why that is?"

Getting a slight peek at her cream coloured and voluptuous breasts, Gohan felt his heart beat go wild before he ran away shouting, "I don't know. It must be the heater!"

As he left, Erasa chuckled to herself. "He's so innocent," she thought.

She then concluded that it was going to be a beautiful morning.

After a hearty breakfast, Chichi decided that it was time for Gohan and Erasa to leave the house.

"You're both going to be late if you keep dilly-dallying," she nagged. "Here's your packed lunch, Gohan," she said as she handed her son a capsule. "And this one's yours, dear," she handed Erasa a similar capsule.

"But mum! It's only 5:30am!" Gohan complained.

"Don't argue with me, young man. The early bird always get the worm!"

"I don't even think the worms are awake yet," Gohan mumbled.

There was a loud crash as little Goten raced towards the front door.

"Hey! You guys are going to Auntie Bulma's right? Right? Take me with you! I wanna play with Trunks!"

"Now Goten," Chichi started. "Your big brother and big sister are going to Bulma's for a school field trip so they can complete a report worth ten percent of their final grades. It's important that they do this well or they won't have good futures. I don't want you and Trunks to disrupt their studies so maybe next time, okay?"

Erasa felt her pride swell to be called Goten's big sister and be considered part of the Son Family, but at the same time, she had a nagging feeling that that was all she would ever be - a sister to Gohan. She didn't mind, though. But she still wanted to try and so, she resolved that once Videl realises her feelings for Gohan, she would declare her feelings for Gohan to Videl and fight her for him fair and square.

She would do no underhanded techniques, and if Gohan chose Videl, she would have no hard feelings and she would be satisfied being his 'sister'.

In any case, both Gohan and Erasa left on Erasa's jet copter seeing that they were both early so there was no real need to rush to school. When they were nearing Satan City's entrance, Erasa dropped Gohan off in the bush somewhere so that they won't arouse anyone's suspicions.

Erasa arrived first, followed about ten minutes later by Gohan who decided to take a stroll and think about the dream that he had that night. They were both surprised to see that they weren't the only ones that were early.

At the school gates, Lime was squatting down beside a large, old, red duffel bag.

She was excited that they were visiting the most influential company that was practically the pillar of human advancements. So excited in fact that she forgot to sleep that night and was early to school. It was obvious from the bags of her eyes, though, there are some that would say that eye-bags on some women look fairly attractive as some are attracted to freckles or braces.

She wouldn't have gotten any sleep for a totally different reason if she knew that her grandfather had been hospitalised, but for now, what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"Morning, Era. Morning, Gohan," she smiled as she greeted them. Her tone was cheerful, but it also showed a hint of tiredness.

"Hiya, Lime," Erasa replied with her usual bubbly self. "You look like you didn't sleep!"

Lime chuckled. "Heh heh. Well, of course! How can I, when I'm so excited to visit THE most influential company in the whole world! Probably even the whole Universe! Aren't you?"

She looked at Erasa and Gohan expectantly but noticed that they weren't nearly as excited as she was.

"Oh, yes, isn't it exciting?" Gohan said monotonously as if he was reading his reply of a script.

"Of course I am!" Erasa replied a little too enthusiastically.

Now, as they always say, 'It takes a liar to know one,' and Lime wasn't an exception. Having exposed a criminal named Mr. Borbonne and having lied through her teeth since she could practically speak, Lime knew that there was something fishy going on and that both Erasa and Gohan were lying about being excited in visiting Capsule Corporation. She couldn't quite place her finger about it.

However, she didn't want to ruin her good mood by thinking too much about it, and so, she let them off the hook.

"Aren't you packed a bit too much for this trip, Lime?" asked Erasa. "For a 3 day and 2 night trip, it sure seems like you packed your whole house in there."

Lime shook her head and replied, "Nah, I don't think so. It's more like, you two are packed a bit too light."

Looking around, both Erasa and Gohan realised that they were indeed packed too lightly compared to the other students who were currently present.

"Ah, no. We have our clothes in a capsule."

"'Our'?" Lime pressed, one of her eyebrows rising up.

She was very sharp with these things, especially when it concerned Gohan, but a part of her felt partially relieved that at least Gohan was not going out with Videl despite what she had seen during Valentine's Day. She felt that she stood a better chance with the half-Saiyan teen now.

"Well, whatever," she shrugged her shoulders and walked closer to Gohan. Locking her eyes with Erasa, she whispered in Gohan's ear, just audible enough for Erasa to hear, "I just want you to know that Videl and Erasa aren't the only girls around you."

Then she kissed him lightly on the lips, stealing his first kiss.

The rest of the bus ride was a quiet one.

Erasa, more annoyed than mad at Lime for discovering that the brown-haired girl was also her competition, sat at the back of the bus beside Gohan with her arms folded. She had just concluded that morning that she would fight for Gohan's love against Videl fair and square, but now that Lime had been added to the equation, she didn't quite know what to do.

She wanted to wait until her best friend realises her feelings for the naive teen before declaring herself as Videl's love rival officially, but she was sure that Lime would not wait until that time comes. Instead, Lime would probably make her move ahead of both her and Videl if she decided to wait.

What should she do? She asked herself throughout the trip. By the time they were halfway through the bus ride at the freeway, she had concluded to let Lime do what she wanted. After all, she had the advantage of seeing Gohan everyday at home and Videl, she knew - though the raven-haired girl didn't - saw Gohan every morning and afternoon (and sometimes even during class) when they fought crime as the Great Saiyaman. Knowing her best friend, she knew that Videl would one day discover that Gohan was the visored hero and so, both of them had an advantage over Lime in terms of the number of encounters they had with Gohan, therefore, she decided to let her be. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she felt that the brown-haired girl could be added to Sharpner and Videl as one of her best friends and, the more that she felt that way, the more she entertained the thought of sharing Gohan in between the three of them.

Yes, why not? First, she would rub shoulders against the two, and if Gohan picked her, good - she would have him for herself exclusively. But if he chose either Videl or Lime, she would hold a discussion with both of them and suggest sharing our half-Saiyan hero between themselves. It was a perfect plan!

While Erasa pondered these things, Gohan's heart was still racing from being kissed by Lime. Still, he recounted that he had felt this way before when he kissed Erasa on the forehead while she was having a nightmare and, to some extent, he felt the same way around Videl when she wasn't breathing down his neck. He had never given much thought about it, but at this point in time, our teenage hero was beginning to take a step towards learning about issues such as love.

On the other hand, Videl Satan was sitting beside Erasa wondering why both Gohan and Erasa seemed so awkward that morning. Whatever it was, it was bugging her but she decided not to pursue the matter since she was smart enough to know that it would only lead to strong denials that would put the two's guards up in the future, and so, for the rest of the trip, Gohan, Videl and Erasa sat in silence while Lime slept soundly, knackered out from the lack of sleep, using her duffel bag as a pillow.

The bus hissed and came to a halt outside the front entrance of Capsule Corporation.

Students' eyes went wide with amazement when they save the size of the place. It was huge! As they went through the automatic doors, they entered the spacious reception area and were greeted by Ms. Secretary.

"Good morning, students from Orange Star High School - and of course, their teachers," she greeted the students along with Ms. Mademoiselle and Mr. Neggerschwarz who accompanied the students as their guardians and provide adult supervision. "Welcome to Capsule Corporation. My name is Secretary and I, on behalf of Capsule Corporation, would like to sincerely apologise for the short notice, but that was what I was ordered to do by my boss. In any case, this is the first time we've invited a school to visit so please relax for a moment and grab a seat - there's plenty - while I call my boss for further instructions," she said professionally, not noticing that Gohan and Erasa were among the crowd.

The teachers went and commanded the restless students to keep the noise that they were making to an absolute minimum and got them to form neat lines going by the student's registry number instead of making them take a seat, contrary to what Ms. Secretary asked them to do. The teachers were given strict instructions by the principal of Orange Star High School to impress Bulma Briefs and anyone who worked at Capsule Corporation. The school wanted to make a good impression so that they may perhaps be privileged enough to have another batch of students be invited again.

Little did the principal and the teachers know that the students were far from planning to behave.

Couples were planning on making night rendezvous and spend passionate nights together, while groups of friends were planning to hold mini parties in their rooms throughout the trip. In fact, some of Lime's, Erasa's and Videl's admirers were planning on overpowering the girls and make them do their bidding while another group wanted to humiliate Gohan in front of a celebrity.

Meanwhile, Ms. Secretary walked over to her desk and dialled the number that connected her directly to Bulma's office.

It was working hours and so Bulma sat in front of colossal piles of documents in front of her desk. She couldn't be bothered doing all of this paperwork and so she decided to leave everything to a robot that she designed to specifically process such things prior to this. She stood up from her chair and was about to leave to tinker with electronics and machinery and design new technology when the company phone rang.

It wasn't often that that specific phone rang and so, picking it up, she replied curiously, "Yes, what is it, Secretary?"

"Ma'am, the students from Orange Star High School are here," Secretary announced.

Bulma, though confused and not knowing what was happening, calmly replied back, "Alright. I'm coming down now."

She wanted to see for herself what was going on - and she was going to deal with it. She had every calm levelheadedness befitting of the largest company in the world's owner and so though she was surprised, confused and didn't know what was happening, she knew how to stay calm and assess the situation.

Taking her own sweet time, she walked leisurely and didn't rush. Being the richest and most influential woman in the world, she felt that she shouldn't rush for anybody unless it was an emergency situation where earth's existence itself was being threatened. In fact, unless it was a friend, Bluma felt that people should wait for her and not the other way around. And so, the students found themselves waiting for about twenty minutes at the reception area while Bulma took her time and went to get changed to a more let's-talk-business-like clothing.

Finally, she emerged from the elevators, gaining stares of admiration from the students and the teachers alike.

"Hi there," she said informally. She beckoned to Ms. Secretary to come over to her side and continued.

"I'm not really sure what's going on. I don't know why all of you are here," she started, getting her deflated looks from everyone except Gohan, who looked pretty triumphant right about now.

She folded her arms, a posture that made her feel comfortable and continued, "So, can anybody explain to me why a big group of students and their teachers came to Capsule Corporation?"

Gohan was exclaiming silently and triumphantly to himself, "Yes! Yes! She doesn't know. It must be one of Trunk's pranks. Please, Dende, let her not see me and Erasa and let her send everyone home."

He knew that Bulma didn't like unexpected guests unless it was her friends whom she considered her family. It didn't matter if it was everyone on the planet demanding to go inside Capsule Corporation - if they didn't make appointments she would shoo them away like the plague.

However, Dende was still on a vacation in the Bahamas and Popo knew better not to mess with fate. And so, just right about that moment, the elevator doors opened and a short man with gravity defying hair longer than Gohan's came out.

"Oi, Kakabrat! You've been visiting more often than never lately, but aren't you forgetting about coming to see me?" he shouted across the room loudly. He had felt the teen's ki among a group of weaklings' ki's and so he decided to come out from his training and see what was going on.

And just like that, Gohan let out a small "Yikes!" which Bulma didn't miss.

"Gohan! Why didn't you tell me you were with the group? Come here and give your Godmother a hug."

Gohan walked slowly in a daze towards Bulma and gave her a small hug, which started murmurs among the students and even between Ms. Mademoiselle and Mr. Neggerschwarz!

"What? The nerd know THE Bulma Briefs?"

"…not surprised. He's a nerd after all…"

"…who is that short man? Why is he so rude to Ms. Briefs?"

People didn't know that Bulma had already married and so, there was much discussion while Bulma talked to Gohan.

"I'm talking to the boy, woman!" Vegeta demanded. "Keep treating him like that and he's going to go soft," he pulled Gohan by the biceps and said, "You're coming with me, brat. We're going to have a nice spar. Oh, yes."

The males in the room couldn't suppress a snigger as they thought, "Spar? Gohan the nerd? He must be joking."

Bulma scowled and shouted at her husband, "Vegeta, if you ignore me and do as you want, I won't cook you dinner and I'll accidentally break the G.R.!"

Vegeta stopped in his tracks and looked at his wife with a glare.

"You wouldn't."

Bulma folded her arms and huffed, "Oh yes, I would. So why don't you leave us alone for a moment while I sort this mess out?"

Vegeta weighed down his options. He could defy Bulma and get a satisfying sparring session with Kakarot's brat. He hadn't had a good fight in a while and all he had done in the past seven years was train in the Gravity Room and teach his and the woman's brat, who couldn't even hit him, how to fight. Defying Bulma was definitely an appealing choice, but his reason and his stomach told him that it would be a choice that he would regret later on if the woman broke the Gravity Room or didn't feed him food. He hated to admit it but it was Bulma's cooking that made him fall in love with her in the first place and now that he had it everyday he wondered how he could have lived without it during those years that he colonised planets. Therefore, he gave in and let go of Gohan's bicep and walked away with a 'humph!'.

"I want good food tonight, you hear me?" he said, red with embarrassment at having to concede.

Bulma smiled. Vegeta was easy control this way.

"Yes, dear. All your favourites."

And with that, Vegeta used the elevator to go down to the Basement and vent his fury by training at the Gravity Room.

"Vegeta doesn't change, does he?" Gohan said.

"Hm, no, he doesn't," laughed Bulma.

Who was that man to talk to the most influential woman in the world like that?! And who is Son Gohan to talk to Bulma Briefs so casually?!

These thoughts ran in the students' and the teachers' heads, though Bulma had already given them the answer early in the conversation.

"In any case, since you're here, Erasa must be here," Bulma said matter-of-factly. "Where are you, dear? Come here and say 'hi'."

Erasa blushed and made her way across the students towards Bulma, which, again, got more murmurs between the students.

"Erasa too?"

"What the hell is going on?"

Bulma ignored the murmurs though she could hear them, and went to hug the blonde girl.

"It's so good to see you. How have you been?"

"I'm g-good, th-thank you," Erasa blushed. She was used to being the centre of attention, but this was a completely different situation where she would be more than happy to hide herself under a rock somewhere and call herself 'Patrick'.

Sensing the young girl's embarrassment, Bulma went straight to the point so that she wouldn't attract more attention than she already had to both her Godson and the blonde girl.

"That's good to hear. Right, now back to where I was, what is your class doing here?"

"Well, we're supposed to be on a field trip."

"Field trip? I've never invited Orange Star High School for a field trip."

Bulma looked at Ms. Secretary with a questioning look.

"You called and instructed me to book them for a surprise field trip last month, Ma'am. You told me to inform them only the day before."

Catching on immediately, Bulma shouted so loud that everyone in the room's eardrums' rang.

"TRUNKS!"

End of Chapter Twelve

To be continued...