Gohan was going over a math assignment for his upper-level calculus course when he sensed his father and brother returning to their mountain home – his dad must have picked up Goten from his play-date with Trunks at Capsule Corp.

Gohan smiled to himself. It had become pretty clear that his little brother had developed something of a crush on Vegeta and Bulma's newest houseguest. Ever since Acia had taken up residence at Capsule Corp., Goten had returned from his playdates with tales about the Saiyan girl:

"Acia says Earth's technology is really backwards. She says that in space…

"Acia says the nicest thing about Earth is the food! She likes fish and eggs and cookies and…

"You know what Acia said today? Acia said that to her, we're aliens! Isn't that weird? I asked her what it's like to be an alien and she was like, 'You tell me,' 'cause to her I'm an alien! I never thought of it like that…

Sure enough, as father and son came into the house, Gohan could hear his little brother talking animatedly about Acia, something about how upset she'd been about something or other.

Gohan wasn't completely sure how he felt about his little brother's crush. Certainly it was harmless enough – the Saiyan teen was nearly twice his brother's age after all. But he was a little concerned about her influence on his brother. His mother was right – Acia was a mercenary and, while he didn't know the details of her time in space, he could certainly imagine what she'd been up to. And there was something about her too, something he couldn't quite read. The way she'd taunted Trunks at the barbeque, the fight that had happened afterwards, it was all…off.

She can be kinda mean, Gohan thought.

And now Piccolo and his dad were training her, which didn't seem to make sense. There was something about the whole situation, about her, that was really inexplicable.

He should go with his brother one day and spend some time with them, observe the dynamic, observe her. Goten was his baby brother after all. Like his father, Gohan was an optimist; he always saw the best in people. But unlike his father he was also realistic, and he could see clearly that despite the similarities in their situations, Acia was not like Vegeta. When Vegeta had arrived on Earth, he had no place to go and no real alternatives. Acia, however, was different – eventually her parents would return for her, and she would go back to her mercenary life. Even if she adapted to life here, all that would be undone as soon as she got back onboard the spaceship that had brought her here.

Yes, he resolved. He would accompany Goten on his next playdate at Capsule Corp. and get to know his relative a little better. And who knows, maybe he'd get something out of it too.

Gohan had always been curious about his lost heritage. Even after his traumatic experience with Raditz, Gohan would find himself wondering, during those lonely nights when he'd been out in the wilderness learning to fend for himself, if that scary man really was his uncle, if maybe he had other relatives, aunts, cousins, grandparents. It took him a while, but eventually he worked up the courage to ask Vegeta what he knew about his family. Unfortunately, Vegeta knew surprisingly little about his former teammate's background and could only tell Gohan that he'd heard that Raditz's father had been a formidable warrior, one of the strongest Saiyans. But when Gohan had attempted to ask about life on Planet Vegeta the prince lost his temper, yelling at the six-year-old to stop wasting his time with pointless questions about a dead planet. And so Gohan had been left to his imagination.

But surely Acia would know about her father's family, and maybe even the history of Planet Vegeta as well. Any information she had would of course be secondhand, but it would be something. And talking to her would give him a handle on who she was.

Yeah, he thought before returning his focus to his assignment, that's a great idea.

Had Piccolo known that Gohan was already resolved to involving himself in what Dende had started referring to as 'the Acia situation,' his next training session with the Saiyan girl might have unfolded a little differently. But he didn't know, so when he picked her up two days after the incident with Goku he had already decided to try a new approach with her.

Acia was acting haughtier than usual, marching with her nose in the air across the Lookout to an area behind the palace where she and Piccolo usually began their meditation without so much as a nod acknowledging the other residents, even Dende, whom she usually addressed with a small, respectful bow.

Piccolo sighed wearily. First Gohan, then Goten and Trunks, and now her. How did he get dragged into these things?

As she sat and closed her eyes, Piccolo cleared he throat. "Before we begin," he said, taking up his usual cross-legged position, "I thought we could talk."

Acia opened her eyes and gave him a curious look. "What about?"

"Perhaps," he said, trying to hide his obvious discomfort, "you could tell me about your life before you came to this planet."

Acia rolled her eyes. "Please," she said. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she repeated, over-enunciating the syllables of each word and glaring at him. "I know what you're trying to do, and I know that you Namekians don't indulge in such pointless discussions, so let's just get on with our training."

Piccolo raised an eyebrow. "How would you know what Namekians indulge in?"

Acia gave him a smug smirk, raising her chin even higher. "You're not the first Namekian I've known. In fact," she said in a superior tone, "one of our mercenaries is a Namekian."

"That's impossible." The objection came not from his own consciousness but from Nail's, who could not believe that a Namekian would lower himself to joining a band of thugs.

The teen turned away from him and closed her eyes again. "You don't have to believe it, but it's still true."

Piccolo took a deep breath. He didn't want to antagonize the girl, he reminded himself. "Alright then," he said evenly, "tell me about this Namekian."

Acia gave him a condescending look. "I don't have to tell you anything."

Piccolo examined the girl for moment, choosing his words carefully. "I see. Let's begin our training then. There's no need to discuss such things." He closed his eyes and lifted himself gently from the floor. "I wouldn't want you to…relive any unpleasant experiences."

Acia's eyes snapped open, her face burning with shame and embarrassment. What was he trying to say? That she was some fragile, emotional weakling? That she was afraid of Namekians?

She turned to him, glaring. "If you must know, his name is Bain." She cocked an eyebrow at him, her face releasing its angry expression. "He looked a lot like you, but without the turban and the…that," she gestured at his cape. "And of course he was a much better fighter than you." This was entirely untrue, but Acia was determined to return the insult.

Piccolo smiled in spite of himself. "How did you meet this Bain?"

"We met him on a planet called Base 469," Acia said, looking up at the sky and watching the large clouds float by, so close in this high place. Base 469 had clouds too, but never ones so big and fluffy as the ones here on Earth. "It used to be a Frieza planet, one that he'd depopulated and was going to sell. But when the PTO broke down, some of his former soldiers went off and started taking over planets for themselves. Base 469 was one of those. We used to go there a lot whenever we were on that side of the galaxy because the soldiers who ruled it had been friends with father in his days with Frieza. They ran it as sort of a rest stop for people like us." Acia looked over at Piccolo; he was looking at her intently. She turned back to the sky. "Anyway, we'd stopped there for fuel and supplies, and Bain was there, traveling by himself. He got into an argument with someone and the fight they had…" Acia sighed – that battle had been something else. "Father was so impressed he offered him a spot in the troupe right there."

"And he agreed?"

Acia scowled. "Of course!" Who would turn down a place with the Crusher Corps?

"Interesting." Nail's consciousness told him that this Bain must have committed some great crime and been exiled from Namek to have been traveling alone and with no particular purpose.

Acia was stretching out her legs now, leaning back on her palms. "Can all Namekians regenerate their limbs, or only the warrior class?"

"All Namekians have this ability." Piccolo had lowered himself to the floor now and turned to face his student.

"Gosh."

"Were you a large group?"

"With Bain we were seven." She paused. "Now we're six."

There it is, Piccolo thought. Carefully he searched for words that would achieve the effect he wanted, but before he could formulate a sentence Acia had stood up. "Are we going to train today or not?"

"Perhaps you could tell me…"

"No." Her arms were crossed now and she had a look on her face that Piccolo had begun to recognize – one that meant she was not going to budge from her position. He sighed inwardly. It was times like this when she reminded him, ironically enough, of Trunks.

"You know Acia," he said, standing up and approaching her, "I understand what you're trying to do." She was still giving him that same look. "Forgetting is not so easily accomplished. It is better to acknowledge things and accept them. Besides," he bent forward a little so that his gaze met hers more directly, "do you really want to forget?"

"Now enough of this," Piccolo said abruptly, bringing himself to his full height and turning in one smooth movement, his cape billowing out behind him. "We have work to do."

A/N: Hello readers! I thought I'd just address something here since this is the first chapter where Gohan plays a large role - are Acia and Gohan endgame? Well I don't want to spoil anything for you, but I will say that Gohan will definitely be an important part of Acia's time on Earth. He is, after all, in my character list for the story!