Chapter Thirteen: Trunks; again!

Chapter Notes: -

"Hey, how do you think Erasa and Gohan know THE Bulma Briefs?"

"That's what you're wondering about? I'm more curious as to why I didn't hear of Bulma Briefs getting married and having a kid!"

"I think that the kid isn't hers."

"Probably the child of the spiky haired man from another woman. I mean, I don't even know why she would like him! He's probably blackmailing her or something."

As the students made their way towards their designated rooms, the girls couldn't help gossipping. Many of the women idolised Bulma Briefs and followed her every venture. In fact, many of them wished that they could also become as successful as her! Sadly, that would only remain a distant dream seeing that none of them were actually working hard towards that goal and, instead, they were simply wasting their time away talking about idle gossip.

Much to Lime's and Videl's dismay, they were both required to share a room together. Big as Capsule Corporation was, the visit was both unprepared for - and Bulma didn't want these unexpected teenagers frolicking around her house and causing unnecessary trouble. She really disliked having people other than her personal, close friends coming over, especially when it was unannounced, but, she also had to hold up a public image as a generous woman. She could imagine the press flocking her front door, pestering her, if she denied the big group of school children entry after "inviting" them.

Of course, she could simply tell the paparazzi that it was her son's idea of a prank, but that would mean revealing that she had already married and had a son. And so, she made a deal with the students that none of them speak of finding out about her personal life in exchange for letting them stay and get their field trip over with.

However, she was sure that some loud mouths would disclose the information to the public anyway, and so she thought up a plan to keep their silence. For now, she planned to make their stay to a bare minimum of comfort. Nothing more, nothing less. That meant getting two people of the same gender to share a room and having three meals a day. Nothing luxurious.

Growing up as part of a rich family, she thought that what she was giving them was a bare minimum. She didn't know that the room she was making two people share was as large as a penthouse apartment and that the meals she will later provide them would be equivalent to a feast!

Laying her head down on the pink, duck feather stuffed pillows, Lime mentally kicked herself for doing something so brazen. She blamed it on her lack of sleep that caused her thinking to be clouded. She hoped that Gohan would still talk to her after what she did though she highly doubted the chances of that happening.

All of a sudden, a loud ringing startled the two hot-blooded teens.

As Lime's head turned to the direction of the source of the noise, Videl found herself picking up the in-built phone in the room.

"Videl Satan speaking."

There was a brief exchange of words before Videl reluctantly forced herself to talk to Lime by holding out the phone to her, saying, "It's for you."

She didn't really like the idea of talking to the brown-haired girl since she didn't feel ready to talk to her yet, so her face wore the usual scowl that she normally gave Gohan as Lime walked over and took the phone from her.

"Hello, yes?" Lime enquired, wondering why anyone would call her and, more importantly, how they knew where to call her. She didn't remember telling anyone other than her landlady about her field trip.

In an instant, Lime's face turned grim and tears started streaking down her face. She was hyperventilating and she cupped her hand to cover her mouth in horror. Nodding and making 'mmm' sounds at certain intervals, she thanked the person on the other end of the phone politely and put the phone down.

Videl still felt embarrassed about her defeat to Lime a few weeks back. She thought that her pride was shattered but it wouldn't have been so bad if she wasn't so haughty to begin with. She didn't want to talk to Lime until she felt ready to either apologise or challenge her again to regain back her pride but, seeing the teen's vulnerable side right now made Videl stop and think. Why did Lime hate her and her father so much in the first place? She wondered. She never paused to consider the reason and, if she could, she would go back in time before they fought to find out. If the reason behind her hatred was justifiable,she contemplated the thought of apologising and doing her best to make it up to her and try and become her friend. However, the damage had been done. She couldn't take back her pride and she was too embarrassed to talk to Lime and so she unconsciously converted this embarrassment into more hatred for the girl. But Videl is a very determined woman. Once she had decided on something, her mindset would be on fast-track and it would be very hard to change her mind otherwise.

Sounding as if she was stepping on dangerous ice in a lake, Videl spoke.

"Hey Lime?"

Lime who had started gathering her bags didn't turn her head towards Videl, but acknowledged with a shaky "Yeah?"

"What happened?"

Feeling that Videl was sounding so out of character yet genuinely wanting to know what happened, Lime couldn't believe her ears so she turned to face Videl. Why did she want to know? She wondered. She probably would laugh at her predicament if she did.

"Something."

"I can see that," Videl said sarcastically. "I'm just trying to help, you know?"

Lime looked at Videl straight into the eyes trying to figure her out but, in a whirlwind of emotions, she started crying. It was controlled at first, but slowly, her sniffles turned into a full blown howling. She was strong. In Chazke Village, she was always wary of people betraying her as it had happened so many times. People always made fun of her and Mr. Lao whenever they tried to reason out that it wasn't Mr. Satan who had defeated Cell. Throughout her life, people tried to befriend her only to betray and make fun of her in the end so she wasn't used to being treated kindly anymore but, at this point in time, she found that something happened to her only pillar of support, so she broke down when Videl tried to offer a listening shoulder.

Videl was confused. She was embarrassed at the girl for beating her. She was angry at her for calling her and her father a phony and - she also felt sorry for the girl.

She was Videl Satan! Defender of the weak and justice! No matter how much she disliked Lime, she couldn't go against her natural instinct of helping the weak and so she found herself walking towards Lime and giving her a hug.

Rubbing her back consolingly, she said kindly, "There, there. It's going to be alright."

It took a few more minutes for Lime to calm down after which she stood up, took her belongings and headed out for the door.

"Where are you going?" Videl wondered.

"Listen, I- um…" Lime felt embarrassed at being consoled by the person that she considered her rival, but she was a grateful girl - Mr. Lao had taught her well, so she bowed slightly and said, "Thanks for everything, but I have to go. Something came up," before she left in a hurry.

She was headed for the Satan City General Hospital.

Trunks sat in front of his mother in her office with a sullen expression.

He had totally forgotten about his little prank and now he was paying for it. Unlike his father, the young boy wasn't scared of his food being cut neither was he scared of the Gravity Room "accidentally" breaking. He was just a mischievous child (like most kids are) and he feared nothing, but he did feel annoyed at having to sit through his mother's boring lectures which went on for hours.

To him, all he could hear was "Blah blah blah, what were you thinking? Blah blah blah, now I have to deal with this mess, blah blah blah."

At every interval, he would try to excuse himself with a "That's great, mum, but can I go now?" from which Bulma found herself shouting, "Sit down! I'm not done with you yet, young man!"

And so, Trunks sat himself down and powered his genius brain down to neutral. He would even daydream in between and drool until one of the daydreams he had gave him a brilliant idea. Smirking mischievously, Trunks sat through the rest of Bulma's lecture feeling considerably better. After all, more fun was coming his way.

It was afternoon by the time Bulma finished lecturing Trunks. Dismissing her purple-haired son, she sat in her office coming up with a schedule for the rest of the students' trip. The first day was almost over and, according to herself, the third day would definitely be reserved for rest and relaxation, which left only the second day for actually doing something useful.

She had to make it count and worthy of ten percent of the students' final grade and so she carefully scribbled down: "Day 2 - Students Visit the Lab and help come up with a new technological design".

Whether or not the students could come up with something was none of her business. She just wanted to keep the teens busy for the rest of the day and keep them out from roaming around her house.

As soon as she was done, she left for a short break.

While his mother left to do something, Trunks immediately used his super speed to enter Bulma's office unseen. He had every bit of his mother's genius so it wasn't hard to figure out the pass-code for the security locked doors. As soon as he did, he walked straight towards her desk and took the piece of paper that she was working on. Grinning widely, he swapped it with a different piece of paper that had similar handwriting. He had learnt to forge her handwriting early on and he thanked Dende that his mother had a handwriting that wasn't hard to master.

Things were gonna be more interesting, he thought. Talking to himself, he said aloud, "Man, I wish Goten was here to see this."

Night time had fallen and everyone gathered themselves around a very long, rectangular table. Dinner was being prepared and, fortunately, Trunks and Vegeta weren't there to join the students. Bulma decided that it would be best for them to be served food in the Gravity Room.

She made the robots cook everything and the students found that there was too much to eat!

Fortunately, there was one who thought that it was just enough otherwise the food would have been a waste. Sitting in between Erasa and Videl, Gohan gobbled everything up like a vacuum cleaner. His hands were flying left and right, grabbing whatever he could get his hands on and shoving it in his mouth. He was enjoying his meal when he noticed something.

"Rhey, rer ris Rime?"

He swallowed the food in his mouth and asked again, "Hey, where's Lime?"

He hadn't forgotten about the incident that morning, but it didn't really bother him. She was a friend to him - though he was slowly discovering what feelings towards a person of a different sex means.

Videl, who shared a room with Lime said, "She left. Said she had something important to do."

"Oh. Well, alright then," and he continued eating.

However, Videl wasn't done with him yet. Adapting an 'I-suspect-you' tone, she said, "So Gohan, how come you know Bulma Briefs?"

Gohan choked on the salmon that he was chewing, for which Videl thumped his back.

All of a sudden, Videl found herself thinking, "He has such a nice, muscular back."

Mentally shaking the thought off as blood rushed to her face, she wondered to herself, "What's going on with me?"

Something had changed with her since the first time Gohan consoled her in the school's infirmary, but she didn't really notice it since it was so subtle. Still, once, during the time after she gave Gohan the Valentine's Day chocolates, she found herself wondering what it would be like to be Gohan's girlfriend. Whatever was going to her, it wasn't good in her books, so she forced the recurring thought out of her mind and concentrated on interrogating Gohan.

"Oh man, she hasn't been asking me all these questions lately. I put my guard down!" Gohan panicked.

"Um… well… uh… you see-"

"Stop coming up with an excuse, Gohan. I know you're about to lie."

"Well, let's see… uh… Bulma's my Godmother. Isn't that right, Erasa?"

"Why would you ask Erasa?"

"Crap!" he thought. He gave himself away! Looking towards Erasa for support, Gohan cursed himself as he sweated profusely.

Videl gave Gohan and her best friend a suspecting look.

"That's right. And how do YOU know Bulma Briefs, Erasa?"

"Um, well…"

"Whatever. I know both of you are hiding something and I'll find out what it is," she said before storming off to her room.

After dinner, Gohan found a group of boys loitering around the women's bath.

"Hey, what's up, guys? What are you up to?"

One of the boys glared at him and, in a hushed tone, angrily shot, "Clamp it, nerd!"

Then, an idea came to him. Moving closer to Gohan, he caught the unsuspecting teen's neck in between his forearm and biceps.

"Say, don't you want to supplement your knowledge about the female body? I'm pretty sure there's only so much a science book can teach you. How about it? Want to join us?"

Eager to learn more about anything, Gohan naively agreed much to the wicked delight of the group of boys. After all, if they ever got caught, they could simply blame the stupid nerd.

And so, Gohan moved along with the rest of the group into the male baths after which they tried to silently stand on whatever elevation they could find to peek at the girls bathing.

The sight reminded Gohan of the scene that morning and, though he had covered his eyes before, what the group of boys told him made sense to him. There was nothing to be embarrassed about when seeing these things when it came from a, er, scientific point of view.

He was making exclamations such as "Ohh! I see, so those are the aureoles. And those must be the nipples. I read somewhere about how they produce milk. Hey, did you know that women's breasts are actually made up mostly of fat?"

Hearing him talk made the experience less enjoyable for the group of boys to the point that one of them even forgot what they were doing and shouted, "Gohan, shut up!"

Unfortunately for the group (and Gohan) Videl had a feeling that this might happen so she remained fully clothed and stood guard. She didn't understand why her classmates insisted on using the large bath when they could have enjoyed a similar bath in a bathtub in-built in their rooms.

Jumping over the wall, she folded her arms and scowled at Gohan and the boys.

"So, peeking, huh?"

The boys entered a state of panic. Though they had prepared an escape plan if they got caught, now that they were caught, their minds froze and they started running away at random directions screaming, "It was all Gohan's idea!"

Videl let the boys go. She could deal with them later. Gohan on the other hand was a different case. Somehow, the half-Saiyan just stood there motionless without a clue of what was going on.

"Alright, explain," she commanded.

"Well, we were just supplementing our knowledge about the female body, Videl. Honest!"

"You seriously think I'm a fool, Gohan?"

"Yes, I mean NO! I mean…"

"You know, you're a really bad liar. You stutter when you're about to lie, so I know that you're not lying in this case."

She paused for a second thinking of a way to take advantage of the situation. Should she blackmail him into answering truthfully about his secrets? No, she reasoned out that Gohan would still lie. How about making him tell her about his family and why he knows Bulma Briefs? No, he could still lie about that. That's it! She could put him in a situation where it's just him and her where he would be forced to stay and she could slowly coerce him into confessing his secrets.

"Still, Gohan, you know it's not nice to be peeking on girls. I mean, what would your mother say?"

"Oh, that's easy. I'll tell her that I was studying," Gohan said confidently. Knowing his mother, she would listen to anything he says as long as it involved his studies.

"Oh really? I suppose your mother will believe how you were studying BY PEEKING AT GIRLS."

Gohan thought about it and he came to the conclusion that Videl was right.

"Ah no! Please don't tell my mother."

Videl grinned. This was easier than she thought.

"Oh, I won't. As long as you meet me in front of the cinema the day after the field trip, that is."

"Uh… aaaaah-"

"Great. That's a yes then. I'll see you then. Don't run away or I'll tell your mother," Videl said wickedly.

As Videl left, Gohan was cursing his luck - and Dende. In his mind, he wasn't worried about seeing Videl. He was more worried that two people (excluding Erasa) now knew of his secret and both of them were asking to see him on the same day. What was he going to do?

While Gohan worried about these things, Videl smiled happily to herself as she walked back to her room for a nice hot bath. She's got Gohan now.

"But wait. Just because I have him now doesn't mean I should be complacent about it. I have to find out more."

And with that conclusion, Videl decided to do some snooping around Capsule Corporation after her bath. It didn't occur to her that she had just practically asked Gohan out on a date.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to both Gohan and Videl, Trunks was there to watch the whole ordeal of Gohan getting caught.

Being young didn't stop him from criticising Gohan in his mind.

"Man, if I was Gohan, I would do something about that bossy girl."

And so Trunks, who felt that it was his obligation to 'help' his best friend's older brother, decided to deal with Videl.

After she finished her bath, Videl found a red card slipped into her room. She wondered who put the card there and was initially suspicious of it. However, curiosity got the better of her. It could be a trap, but from what she heard from Ms. Secretary earlier during the tour, the most secret parts of Capsule Corporation was the 2nd Floor and the Basement and that they can only be accessed via a red card.

Remembering that the 2nd Floor was the family quarters, Videl thought that she should begin by accessing and snooping around the Basement. If Gohan knew THE Bulma Briefs, she must have some file about him somewhere. And so, she descended into the Basement and swiped the red card onto the slot.

The doors looked like they were made of metal, but Videl felt that it was made out of something else. It felt alien to her, but she couldn't explain why. In any case, finding out about what the doors were made of was not important. She was here on a mission where she was in danger of potentially being caught.

Ninja-ing her way through the corridors, she finally saw a room.

"Whew, that was a long walk from the entrance. So this is the first room in the Basement, huh? G.R., I wonder what that means?"

Deciding to take a look for herself, she swiped the card again to gain entry. The doors parted open and she entered.

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the slow updates. I've been busy lately with balancing writing reports on mechanical systems and oil rigs for college, writing this, and writing a One Piece fanfiction, which, I took it down by the way and am currently revising. I'll post it up when I have time. Those, and playing Archeage Alpha and Dota 2. Seriously, I think I'm addicted D:

Um, forget that last part :P For now, I just want to say thank you to everyone who's been with me so far. It's great to have you all reading this story and I hope to receive more of patience. I've never actually written a romance story before and I'm not very good at imagining things from a girl's point of view so I'm drawing blanks, pulling thunderbolts - I mean, female thoughts for Videl, Erasa and Lime on how they gradually fall in love with Gohan - out of my ass and getting writer's block whenever I write that part of it. I seriously don't know how women fall in love so you'll have to forgive me if the progression of Videl falling in love with Gohan is wrong. I would really appreciate input on that part.

In any case, good news! I've finally reached 100 followers! It's a milestone for me :') I hope you keep reading and reviewing. Thanks a lot and see you all next chapter! :)

End of Chapter Thirteen

To be continued...