Chapter 11

Mr. Lao woke up with the sun and found himself out behind his store. He was performing some morning exercises as he always did. He believed in the old ways, and keeping up his martial arts skill was of utmost importance to him.

He completed 18 cycles of his Chin-Star style form and proceeded to wash himself off with a bucket of water. By this time, the sun had fully emerged from her home in the mountains and shined brightly on him. His wrinkled skin had seen thousands of sunrises before and he hoped to see a few thousand more. He figured that Lime would be up by now, so he went inside to start making breakfast.

He looked inside the fridge and found some leftover rice and figured he might as well make ochazuke. His store was never lacking in salted and pickled goods, so he spread a few of those over a bowl of rice and prepared some green tea. While the tea was boiling, he hobbled up the stairs to Lime's room. His last sparring session with Ox-King had left his body feeling quite sore.

He knocked on the door and poked his head in.

"Lime? Are you awake? Breakfast is ready downstairs," he said softly.

Lime was in bed on her phone.

"Okay, I'll be down in a bit."

Mr. Lao closed the door behind him and went back down to check on his tea. In the years after the Cell Games, the village hadn't changed much and remained as rustic as it had always been. He threw another piece of firewood into the stove and poured some of the tea into his bowl.

As he was beginning to eat, Lime came down the stairs. She seemed different than usual. Mr. Lao wasn't one to pry into his granddaughter's personal affairs so he deigned to ask.

"We're having ochazuke, the tea's ready in the pot."

"Thanks grandpa."

After pouring the tea into her bowl, they began to eat together. This was the way the two had spent their Saturday mornings before Lime moved to the city. Mr. Lao was infinitely grateful to Gohan for bringing Lime back every weekend. He didn't like to admit it, but he had been lonely since Lime moved to the city.

"So, how has school been?"

"It's been alright Grandpa, same as usual I suppose."

Mr. Lao nodded his head and asked, "and has work been treating you well?"

Lime found it prudent not to mention any of the more annoying customers and simply responded, "yep, everything's going well. How about you Grandpa? How's the shop been?"

"Oh you know me, the regulars keep me busy. I've actually got a new batch of pickles brining in the basement."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, I've tried adding a few different herbs and spices to this one, hopefully it turns out well. Are you doing anything today?"

"I'm actually supposed to go to Gohan's place today."

Lime looked at her grandpa trying to gauge his response. Mr. Lao glanced up at Lime and they briefly met eyes. He simply nodded his head again and didn't say anything for a minute.

"I see, before you go, take a jar of pickles from the basement to bring for them."

She secretly sighed a breath of relief and smiled at her grandpa. She was worried he might start thinking that she and Gohan were more than friends. It wasn't that she thought her grandpa would disapprove, but she was still hesitant to tell him. She was also excited to see her grandpa's face when she surprised him by flying.

She finished off her bowl and left it in the sink. As she went into the basement to grab a jar of pickled vegetables, Mr. Lao leaned back in his chair and sighed. It wasn't his first rodeo in having a child fall in love, but it did remind him of how old he was getting.

He smiled to himself and wondered how they were getting along. Realizing it was none of his business, he finished off his bowl and began to wash the bowls.

As Lime was coming up from the basement, he asked her, "How are you getting to Gohan's place?"

"He's coming to pick me up."

"What time?"

"He said he'd be here in twenty minutes."

"Do you know what time you'll be back?"

"Ummm, I'll probably be back for dinner."

"Okay, have fun."

Lime proceeded to get some stuff ready and change in her room and Mr. Lao took his normal place behind the counter of his store.

As the Lao household's morning came to an end. Gohan showed up at their door to pick up Lime.

"Good morning Gohan. How is your mother and brother doing?"

"They're doing alright."

"Lime's upstairs in her room right now. She'll be down in a minute."

"Oh okay," Gohan replied.

As if on cue, Lime just poked her head down the stairs and saw Gohan.

"Gohan! You're here."

After saying bye to Mr. Lao the two took off back to Gohan's place. When they got there, Chichi side eyed Lime a bit but didn't treat her with too much hostility. She had a few weeks at this point to accept that Gohan had a big crush on her, whether he knew it or not and she knew just from looking that Lime wasn't exactly opposed to going out with her son either.

Goten was upstairs looking through the little bars of the internal balcony and put on a crying face. Chichi had been putting Goten through the same wringer she had to Gohan when he was younger, albeit a lot less strict.

Goten mouthed the words, "Save me."

Gohan stared at him for a solid five seconds and Goten began to hope that Gohan would rescue him from his academic prison. However, Gohan suddenly sensed the presence of his mom and abruptly turned around leaving Goten internally screaming.

"We'll be back soon mom."

"Stay safe hon."

With that, Gohan took Lime into a secluded spot in the forest. It was a small clearing with a stream that dropped and formed a small waterfall. There was a large stump where small carvings could be seen on the side. Gohan sat her down on the stump and began to teach Lime about ki and how to manipulate and use it.

He explained that the source of ki came from the world around them and that in places where nature is more prevalent, there is more ki. Every person has ki and in the human body it is stored in the tanden, which is located below the belly button. Martial artists usually unconsciously draw upon this ki to make themselves stronger however with training, you can purposefully mold this ki and utilize it.

Lime focused on trying to feel out her tanden and any latent power that slept there. The majority of this was spent in meditation as she called deeper and deeper within herself. However, this was abruptly interrupted by the loud sound of a helicopter plane.

"Stay here and focus on your meditation. I'll check out who it is," Gohan instructed Lime.

Gohan flew up and met the helicopter before it landed. To his surprise, he found Videl sitting inside, piloting.

"Videl?!"

"Gohan!"

"What are you doing here? How did you even get here?"

"It was pretty easy to find your address through the school records."

Gohan was taken aback. He didn't expect Videl to use such devious methods to get to him.

"Okay, what are you here for?"

"You're supposed to teach me how to fly."

Gohan realized that he had indeed promised to teach Videl how to fly in exchange for her keeping his secret.

Videl landed her plane and hopped out. As she was leaving the plane, Chichi also stepped out of the house to see who was landing on her front lawn. One could only imagine her surprise when she saw another beautiful young lady stepping out of the plane and greeting Gohan.

"Excuse me! Who are you?" Chichi yelled at Videl.

"Mom! This is Videl, she's the daughter of Mr. Satan."

"And what are you doing here?"

"Your son promised to teach me how to fly."

"He did what?!"

"I can explain, mom."

Chichi put on a fake smile and walked over to Gohan and dragged him inside while excusing themselves.

"Gohan! I thought I told you to keep your powers a secret!"

"I tried to mom, but Videl found out somehow. She knows about Dad, King Piccolo, the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament and everything."

"She does?!"

"Yea, I don't know how, but she said that if I taught her how to fly, she would keep it all a secret for me."

Chichi thought about it for a long moment, and asked, "Do you trust her?"

Gohan also took a moment to think about it and replied, "Yes, I think she's a good person."

"Alright, I'll trust you with this, but be careful around her okay?"

"Okay mom."

With that, Gohan left and met back up with Videl, who was standing outside.

"So? Are you going to keep up your end of the bargain?"

"Yeah, I'll teach you," he motioned for her to follow him and they took off into the woods.

After running for a little while, they reached the clearing where Lime was deep in meditation trying to feel out the ki in her body.

Lime opened up her eyes and was surprised to see Videl there.

"Videl?"

"Lime?"

"I didn't expect to see you here," Lime said.

"I didn't expect to see you here either," Videl replied.

Gohan laughed loudly trying to break the tension between the girls. "Well, I promised to teach both of you how to fly, so it shouldn't be a surprise at all!"

Lime shot him a dirty look that Gohan didn't know how to interpret. Videl huffed and asked, "So what am I supposed to do?"

Gohan slowly went over how to meditate and feel the flow of ki inside the body. Videl followed his directions and sat quietly in meditation. Gohan secretly sighed a breath of relief as both girls calmly meditated without any fighting.

After about an hour of meditation, Videl's body began emitting a faint aura. The flow of ki in her body had become powerful enough to become visible, slightly distorting the air around her and coloring the air a pale, transparent white. Gohan perked up and quietly told Videl to form her hands into a slight bowl shape and to try focusing her ki into the center of that bowl.

Videl furrowed her brows a bit and soon her aura began to flicker back and forth, thinning around the rest of her body and thickening around her arms and hands. At this point, Lime opened her eyes, unable to ignore the change in pressure coming off of Videl.

She watched with bated breath as a small ball of ki began to form in the bowl, flickering with life itself. Videl opened her eyes and excitedly yelled, "I did it!"

Gohan was amazed as well, "Wow! You're amazing! That was the fastest I'd seen someone do that!"

While Gohan wasn't particularly lying, he was also not being fully truthful. His brother Goten had been using ki since he was a toddler. Gohan had taught Goten how to fly a few months ago and wasn't particularly surprised with how quickly he picked it up. However, this was the first time he had taught a regular person how to use ki.

"It must be because you're such an accomplished martial artist," Gohan added.

Lime bit her lip and looked at Gohan praising Videl. She didn't quite know how to feel. She didn't want to feel jealous, because she knew there wasn't anything to be jealous of, but Gohan being so close to Videl made her feel uncomfortable. It was something she hadn't quite felt before.

Lime felt the need to reach her hand out and do . . . something. Just as she picked her hand up, she put it back down and just sat by the side, watching.

Videl stared at the small ball of ki in her hand and watched it. It was warm, and she felt her entire body pulsing just as the ki flickered. It was a familiar feeling, something similar to when she was deep in a fight and the desperation hit the ceiling and she could feel the second wind and energy swell up from within her. She could remember her dad dismissing all of the beams and explosions from the Cell Games as light tricks and planned detonations by the "fighters" to make them seem more powerful and like they were actually doing damage and making themselves appear stronger than they were. Yet, here she was, holding one of those very light attacks in her own hands, formed from her own energy.

Gohan was smiling, as Videl watched her ki. She looked up at him and let out a wide grin of her own. It was the first time Gohan had seen Videl smile. Every time she'd interacted with him before this, she was scowling, glaring and analyzing him, trying to figure out his gimmick. It was a welcome change, maybe they wouldn't be so adversarial anymore.

Videl was ecstatic, she had finally found a technique not even her father could use. Something she could use to gain the advantage on her dad. It seemed like she was on the first step to beating her dad.

"Well, what do I do now?" asked Videl.

"Well, the next thing to do would be to form a coat of ki around your body and focus the ki around your feet to let it pick you up."

Gohan stretched up his hand and helped Videl up to her feet. He knew her feet would be asleep after sitting cross legged for so long. He began to guide Videl through the process of circulating her ki through her body.

Lime felt the need to try harder and reach her ki. It wasn't out of a desire to improve herself or anything, but it was the venomous urge of jealousy and dislike towards Videl that pushed her forward. As Lime closed her eyes again and tried to feel the flow of ki in her tanden, Gohan stopped talking and turned his head to begin observing Lime.

Videl was already too far into her meditative state to notice Gohan's abrupt stop and continued to breathe deeply.

The ki around Lime was faint and pure of color a few minutes ago, but suddenly it gained in strength and showed a slight purple tint. Taken aback by the sudden change in her ki, Gohan walked around Lime and sat down behind her. He watched her for a little bit, unsure of whether what he was about to do was the right decision, but after taking a deep breath, he gently put a hand on her back.

Lime was deep in her meditative state when she felt a warm presence show up on her back. The warm presence was clear and white and made her feel at ease. Before long, a tiny splinter of pure white ki left the warm presence and began to make its way towards her tanden. As it worked its way there, the ki inside Lime began to eat away at the splinter, turning it purple.

Gohan took his hand off of Lime's back in surprise. When Lime felt the warm presence suddenly leave, she opened her eyes and turned around to see a shocked Gohan.

"W-what's wrong Gohan?"

Gohan chose to quietly sit there and look at Lime, concern creeped across his facial expressions as he contemplated what just happened.

After a few seconds, Lime asked again, "Gohan? What's wrong?"

Gohan imitated Piccolo's gruff nature and simply said, "let's stop here."

He got up and reached out his hand to help Lime get up.

She slapped away his hand and asked, "Why do we have to stop?!"

Gohan really hadn't stopped to consider that Lime would want to continue and that she would need an explanation. He floundered a bit, struggling to figure out how to phrase what he wanted to say.

"Follow me."

He guided Lime to an empty spot a distance away from where Videl was deep in concentration focusing on her ki. The walk was quiet and serene, but Lime's mind was in turmoil. She couldn't explain it but her heart felt weak, like something was eating away at her. If Kami were still around he could identify what was happening, or even Korin could tell what was happening. Gohan was not either of these wise beings, he still had much to learn about people.

"Gohan, what's wrong? I'm sorry for slapping away your hand, is that what's bothering you?. . . I didn't mean it."

Gohan stared deep into her eyes, his heart clenched a bit, and he smiled warmly. Recalling the immense warmth and love he felt as a young child, he put on the gentle smile of his dear friend Krillin and asked Lime, "It's okay, I know you didn't, I want to ask you. Are you feeling okay? You seem a bit agitated."

Lime took a second to think. She knew Gohan, the cinnamon bun that he was, never had any harmful intentions, but the question felt loaded to her. Like something pointed straight at her heart.

"No, I'm fine, why?"

Now it was Gohan's turn to take a breather. "Lime, can I tell you a story?"

Lime cocked her head in confusion, "sure?"

"When I was four years old, I was kidnapped by Piccolo. I was separated from my mother and grandfather for an entire year, while Piccolo trained me and taught me how to fight and use my ki. Those were some of the hardest days of my life. I was left by myself on tall cliffs, and mountains, left to fend for myself. After that year of training with Piccolo, I met these two evil beings. The weaker one left all of my father's friends dead or close to it. He even killed Piccolo. The stronger being struck even more fear into my heart. His ki was a deep purple and to this day, I can remember, my father collapsed on the ground as the overbearing heat of his purple ki enveloped me."

Lime interjected, "I'm so sorry to hear that. I had no idea you went through so much as a kid, but what does this have to do with anything?"

Gohan continued, "I can't explain it too well, but there's something about negative emotions and evil that turns a person's ki purple. And well, your ki was beginning to turn purple."

Lime stayed silent for a while. She knew she was never a good person, she always teetered on the edge between being good and bad. She was known to lie, to belittle and to cheat.

Gohan saw Lime's eyes darting around, deep in thought. His facial expression softened and he took both her hands in his.

"Come on, let's go on a little trip again."

"Huh?"

In a burst of energy and without waiting for Lime, Gohan picked her up and took off to the sky. Her flustered expression as she was taken by surprise gave Gohan a small chuckle. He gave her a small peck on the cheek and smiled widely.

"Lime, I don't know that much about your past, but I know who you are now. We've only been reunited for a short amount of time, but I've never felt this way towards anyone else. You're quick to lie, snarky, rude, petty, demea-"

"HEY! Isn't that list going on a little too long?"

Gohan smiled again, he had inherited the cunning of Krillin and continued, "you're also strong, smart, dedicated, hard working, kind and beautiful. You make my heart race like nothing else has. I wish I could explain it, but I can't. I want you to know that even if you feel down or angry or even if you turn evil, I will always be here to hold your hand, every step of the way."

Lime's face flushed red as she heard Gohan's heartfelt but cheesy line. Gohan watched as the small sliver of purple ki in Lime's tanden faded away and in its place was a pure white ki.

Lime squirmed a bit in Gohan's strong arms before wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a kiss on the cheek. They had approached a small cliff on the side of a mountain. Gohan landed on the cliff and they both sat by the edge, watching the dinosaurs run amok in the woods.

"Thank you Gohan, I appreciate you saying that." Lime said, "Truth be told, I was jealous of Videl."

"Jealous? What for?"

"Well, she's this strong amazing person. She's a superhero who fights crime, even without powers and she's talented, smart, all these amazing things. I guess I was just a bit envious of her."

"I don't think you have anything to be jealous of. Sure, she might be this amazing person, but she's got her own set of problems I'm sure and she probably endures more than anyone else to be so quote on quote amazing. But even that aside, you're just as amazing as she is. You're the one who prevented Mr. Bourbon from stealing away all of the villager's money into that phony shelter. You're the Erasa's best friend, always caring for her and keeping her best interests in mind. You're a loving granddaughter who works a part time job making sure your grandpa doesn't have to worry about you. You're an aspiring photographer who captures so many beautiful things about the world. You try so hard to keep it all together and it's admirable. You're no less amazing than Videl. I promise."

Lime put on her normal cocky smile and said in her deep announcer voice, "Wow, Mr. Son, it's like you really like this girl. I wonder if you have anything else you'd like to tell her. Some magical phrase people have been saying for centuries perhaps."

Gohan was still tapping into his inner Krillin, being the most genuine and kind man he could be, "Yes there is something I'd like to tell her."

"Oh yes, what is it? I'm very curious Mr. Son."

"I love her."

"Spectacular Mr. Son, don't you think it's a bit soon to be saying things like that? But in any case, I'm sure the audience is absolutely dying to know", she held up a fake microphone to his face and pointed forward, "would you face the camera and tell the whole world who that girl is?"

Gohan looked directly into Lime's eyes, ignoring the make believe camera, "I love you, Lime."

Lime's cocky demeanor cracked and she replied, "ah, well, yes, I , uh." She looked away for a bit to collect herself.

Gohan remained just as he was. When Lime finally regained her composure, she turned back and looked into his eyes. "I love you too, Gohan."

Gohan had inherited a great deal from his father and his friends, one of those things was the tendency to fall in love at first sight.

Gohan's smile widened even more. Lime's arms were still around his neck, but she pulled her face closer to his. Slowly inching herself closer and closer. Gohan wasn't sure what to do, but luckily Lime did. She pulled herself in and kissed Gohan. He was taken aback for a microsecond, but before long he began returning the kiss.

After what felt like an eternity to the two lovebirds, they broke apart.

Lime couldn't look him in the eyes, but thankfully, neither could Gohan. They remained like this, floating in the afterthoughts of what just happened.

"So what happened to those evil beings you met as a kid?" Lime asked, breaking the silence.

Gohan laughed and replied, "It's a long long story, it could fill the pages of 19 volumes of manga."

"That's an oddly specific number", she said, squinting her eyes.

Gohan chuckled and replied, "Well, if I have to tell the whole story, I guess I should start at the beginning. Once upon a time, there was a monkey boy in the forest who met a peculiar girl. . . "

While Gohan regaled Lime with the story of his family, the bright sun began to make its daily descent into the sky, bathing the world in beautiful oranges, purples and eventually black.

"So at this point, this purple guy with the veiny head, Ginyu, -"

"Hey, Gohan, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I feel like we're forgetting something."

Gohan cocked his head in thought, "No I think I got most of the important details, fake namek, the spaceship of space orphans, my first robot friend in the desert, Pigero and the other orphans . . ."

"No I mean, we've been gone for a few hours, don't you think she might've realized we were gone?"

"Who?"

"Videl! She's been by herself in the woods for a few hours now hasn't she?," Lime said.

"Videl! I completely forgot!"

Lime laughed, "Let's go back and check on her, hopefully she hasn't thrown too much of a hissy fit from me stealing you away."

Gohan picked up Lime again and they took off to the clearing in the woods where Videl was. A puddle of sweat had gathered around Videl's feet as she continued trying to gather her ki around her feet to lift her up.

Gohan gently put a hand on her shoulder, "Videl? I think it's time to take a break."

Videl slowly opened her eyes and looked around. "What?"

Suddenly her legs buckled beneath her and she collapsed to the floor. She was out of breath and sweating bullets. She took a few moments to regain her footing, when her stomach loudly rumbled.

She sheepishly asked, "say, you wouldn't happen to have any food would you? I'm famished."

Gohan laughed loudly and said, "I could ask my mom if you can stay for dinner, I'm sure she's made more than enough."

"That would be great! Let's go!" Videl began to walk, but after a few steps, she turned to ask Gohan, "where is your place again?"

This time it was Lime's turn to laugh. She pointed towards Gohan's home and said, "follow me, I've got it from here."