Gohan threw a barrage of jabs and punches at empty air. It had been a while since he had actually done any training and he felt it showed. He had never really been big on katas, mostly since so few of them could handle the sheer power levels involved in the fights he was used to, but he could still remember a few that Piccolo had taught him. As he worked through them, his mind wandered to what he had been through last night. First was the Infinite Water Works™ of Soun Tendo after the aging father had found out about Akane’s injury. He had cried in despair because ‘his baby had been hurt!’, and then he bawled in happiness that Gohan had been such a gentleman with her, taking Akane to Doctor Tofu and carrying her back. “The schools will soon be joined!” Gohan had developed an odd twitch in his eyebrow for a moment. Later Akane calling him a pig when he went through five helpings at dinner had embarrassed him. She had only muttered it under her breath, but Gohan had heard it and it bothered him. Then he had almost flashed Nabiki when the young lady had walked in while he was bathing. “Thank Kami for Saiyan speed,” he thought to himself, still a bit disturbed by what looked like disappointment on Nabiki’s face when she saw that he had managed to get his clothes on before she could see anything. He failed to notice the camera in her hands.
“You know, our two schools don’t
seem to have a lot in common.”
Gohan whirled around, not having
sensed anyone entering the dojo. ‘I must really be out of it.’ “Oh, good
morning Akane. Actually, that one’s not from my dad’s school. It’s from a
friend of mine’s. My dad was never really into katas or anything structured
like that.”
Akane raised an eyebrow as she saw
Gohan’s eyes track their way down to her cast and a guilty look crossed his
face. “If you don’t do katas, how do you practice?”
“Find a good opponent and spar with
them. I mean, if you’re going to fight, you need to fight against an opponent.
Following some pattern of moves that you’ll never be able to use in a real
fight doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, especially if you’re opponent is
really adaptive.” ‘Or can fly, blow up planets, split into a half-dozen copies
of himself, or any number of weirdness.’
“But katas can help teach you focus
and concentration, and there are times when they can be used perfectly well in
a fight. Not to mention, if you don’t use any skill, then you’re just
brawling.”
Gohan shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong,
skill is definitely necessary. A friend of mine got beat pretty badly in a
fight because, even though he was a lot stronger than his opponent. The other
guy was faster and more skilled. However, in most cases fancy moves are just
for showoffs and pleasing crowds. It makes more sense to end the fight as
quickly as possible… after all, if I had, then maybe I’d still have my dad…”
The look that came over Gohan’s face
made Akane forget about her anger for a while. She knew what it was like to lose
a parent. “If you can tell me about it, what happened?”
Gohan sighed. “Dad was pretty sure I
could beat this monster that was bent on killing everyone. I wanted him to
realize that he never stood a chance against me, so I let him try to beat me up
for a bit, and then I nailed him pretty hard. But instead of finishing the
fight quickly, I let him have a second chance. He was a quick thinker and
realized he couldn’t beat me, but what I didn’t expect was for him to be such a
spoilsport. He started up a suicide technique that my dad managed to intercept
before it could kill the rest of us. If I had just finished the fight quickly…”
his voice trailed off.
“I’m sorry, I know what it’s like.
My mom died when I was young, that’s why I trained so hard in the martial arts.
I wanted to be so healthy that sickness could never touch me. And it helps me
with those… boys.” The last was muttered like the foulest of curses.
“Those boys?”
Akane shook her head dismissively.
“Never mind. You’ll see. Anyways, Kasumi asked me to tell you that breakfast
was ready.”
“Thank you, Akane,” Gohan said sincerely as he
walked back to the house with Akane.
-----///////|||||||\\\\\\\\------
Gohan walked with Akane towards
Furinkan High. Nabiki had tried to convince him to walk with her a bit earlier,
but he felt that it would be a better idea to go with Akane in case her
patched-up crutch broke. He had also spent some time trying to figure out what
to do about a school uniform, since he found out that the one he was wearing
was apparently the wrong one. In the end, he just went as is. Akane obviously
had something on her mind as they walked, giving nothing more than mild grunts
at any of Gohan’s attempts at conversation. The closer they got to the school,
the angrier Akane seemed to get. Just as they reached the gates, Gohan noticed
a rather sizeable group of male students clustered around the entrance.
The boys had almost no fighting
ability that Gohan could sense, but there was something predatory about their
stances. “What’s up with them?” He asked as he turned towards Akane. The
blazing red aura that suddenly surrounded her reminded him of his mother during
some of her worse moods. “Eeep.”
Akane turned a frightening glare at
Gohan. “Listen. I WILL handle this. You WILL stay out of it, or I WILL make
your life a living hell, got it?” Gohan nodded quickly, not quite sure what she
was talking about, but too startled to ask. He watched as she took a step
inside the gates.
The step was like a starting gun for
the boys. “Akane, date me!” “Akane, let me beat you!” “Akane, I am the one for
you!” and other such nonsense flew out of the group as they charged en masse at
the injured girl. What followed wasn’t pretty.
Maybe it was the fiancé situation or
maybe it was the injury. It could have been that the boys didn’t seem to care
that her foot was in a cast, or it possibly was because she had been reminded
of her mother earlier. Whatever the reason, Akane ripped into the boys with a
savagery that startled everyone. No bones were broken, but few of the boys were
able to leave the courtyard under their own power that morning. Massive
bruising covered their bodies, even beyond what they normally received from
her. The few boys who were in the courtyard that were not part of the morning
attack broke and ran for the school, praying to anyone who would listen that
Akane didn’t notice them. Even the girls who were used to the brawls began to
back away from the heavily breathing Tendo. Gohan was the only one who dared to
approach her.
“What was that all about?”
Akane turned a glare on him that
made him take a step back. “None of your business,” she hissed.
“You there!” A voice suddenly called
out.
Gohan and Akane looked to the source
and saw a teenaged boy with a wooden sword pointed at the Saiyan’s chest. “You
are being quite familiar with Akane. Who are you?” Before Gohan could respond,
the boy continued, “Ah! But it is the custom to give one’s own name first! Fine
then! Mine I shall give! My name is Upperclassman Kuno. Junior. Group E.
Captain of the Kendo club. Undefeated new star of the high school fencing
world. But my peers call me… the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!”
“Uhm, hi. I’m Son Gohan. I’m staying
at the Tendo home, since-“
“WHAT?! Under the same roof as
Akane?” Kuno suddenly came in with a massive swing from his bokken. Gohan
tilted his head to the side so that it wouldn’t connect with his skull, but the
weapon crashed solidly into his shoulder. A resounding crack and gasps of shock
echoed throughout the courtyard.
Gohan was completely unaffected by
the attack, but the sword had snapped in two and the upper portion had flown
into the air. Stunned, Kuno just stared as the sword’s remains came down hard
on his head, knocking him senseless. Akane growled something at him that no one
was close enough to hear and Gohan began apologising to her as they walked into
the school.
From a second-story window, Nabiki
sighed internally with relief as her assistants congratulated her on a fine job
calling the odds. “Wow! How did you know Akane was going to go through the boys
at record speeds today? And how did you know Kuno was going to lose so
quickly?”
Nabiki just gave a knowing smile and
collected her winnings from the school betting pool. She had actually been
expecting Gohan to take care of the hentai horde AND Kuno, but still the end
results were the same. Still, the fact that he had just taken a hit that she
knew could shatter stone and emerged untouched mildly bothered her. She began
to fear that her new toy might turn out to be a monster.
-----///////|||||||\\\\\\\\------
Gohan was nearly mobbed by girls the
moment he entered the classroom. They all wanted to see the man that had beaten
Kuno, the schools best swordsman and biggest pervert. Akane’s irritability
seemed to grow every second, prompting Gohan to make a grab for a seat near the
window, which just happened to be right next to Akane’s. The teacher asked Gohan
to introduce himself as the door suddenly exploded inwards.
Tatewaki Kuno raved from the
doorway. “Never! Never will I allow this mockery to continue!” Kuno ignored the
teacher’s protests as he closed his eyes and clenched a fist in a classic pose.
“To think that you would dare to use foul sorcery to make others think you had
bested me, and that you would use that same black magic to convince Soun Tendo
to give his three daughters to you! I will never permit your engagement to
Akane Tendo!”
Gohan really wished his father had
taught him the Instant Transmission technique or that he had picked up a
shrinking or invisibility technique. Anything would be preferable to the glares
he was getting from most of the boys and Akane, not to mention the resounding,
“WHAT?” that blasted through the room.
Any attempt to deny or explain was
cut off as Kuno launched himself across the room at Gohan. The young man simply
groaned and ducked, assisting Kuno on his trip through the window. Panic shot
through him as something occurred to him. ‘Kuno can’t fly and we’re on the
third floor!’ Gohan looked out and breathed a sigh of relief as he noticed the
swimming pool below and Kuno’s spectacular splashdown.
Gohan turned around to find a horde
of girls looking up at him with puppy dog eyes. “Tell us it isn’t true!” They
begged.
“It was our fathers’ idea!” Gohan
and Akane answered in unison, though Akane’s voice was a bit more forceful.
“Son Gohan, if you are through
disrupting the class…” The teacher leveled her best glare at him.
Gohan sat back down in his seat.
“Yes, Sensei.”
“Very good. Now, I need to find out
where your math skills are in comparison to the rest of the class. If X+3=5,
what is X?”
“2.”
“If X^2=64, what is X?”
“8.”
“What is the derivative of X^2?”
“2X”
“What is the integrand of X^2?”
“X^3/3.”
The questions became harder and
harder as the teacher tried to figure out just how good Gohan was. Gohan was
enjoying himself a bit; grateful that his mom had found a good tutor for him
that didn’t use a whip. He was just about to answer a particularly difficult
math question when the a dripping wet Kuno appeared in the doorway.
“Foul sorcerer! I shall not fall for your black magic again! Strike! Strike! Strike!” Kuno’s bokken blurred as he attacked Gohan at speeds none of the students except Akane and Gohan could quite follow. Gohan was impressed with the boy’s speed, but he had seen people a LOT faster.
“You know, you’re going to hurt
someone if you keep that up,” he commented as he dodged every single attack.
Finally, when he noticed the wall behind him begin to crack from the pressure,
he grabbed the bokken and, with a gentle yank, sent Kuno flying out the window
and into the pool again. Gohan sighed and started to sit down when he noticed
that the teacher and all of the girls in the class were staring at him with
wide-open mouths. The teacher even had a bit of drool beginning to drip out the
corner of her mouth. Gohan looked down at himself and blushed horribly, which
made every girl sigh.
‘I didn’t even feel him connecting!’
He thought to himself with amazement. The clothes that had covered his chest
and arms had been shredded to ribbons from the air pressure of Kuno’s strikes.
The entire class was getting quite an eyeful. “Uhm, can I go get changed,
Sensei?”
“Do you have to?” The teacher
mumbled. She blushed as she realized what she had said. “Yes, of course. Here’s
a hall pass.” Gohan bolted out the door and towards the locker-room where he
had stored a change of clothes. His return to class was interrupted by an even
more soaked Kuno, who charged at him again. This time, Gohan made sure to dodge
quick enough to keep his clothes safe. With a quick grab, he snatched the
bokken away from Kuno, snapped it in half, and threw it into a nearby trash
can. When Kuno produced yet another wooden sword, Gohan sighed and finally hit
the boy in the back of the head, rendering him unconscious. After picking up
the unconscious boy, Gohan dropped him off .at the nurses office as he went
back to class.
The rest of the class passed by
uneventfully, though Gohan was distracted by the strange looks and notes being
passed to him. A vast majority of them included girls' phone numbers, and he
could have sworn one of them was from the teacher.
The next class of the day was PE.
Akane, despite her protests, was not allowed to particapate. Since he didn't
have a change of clothes anymore, thanks to Kuno, Gohan was also excused. He
sat down on the bleachers and watched the other students practicing gymnastics
or playing baseball for a while until he noticed that Akane was sitting by
herself. 'Might as well see if I can find out what this morning was all about,'
he thought to himself as he moved next to her.
"Hey, Akane."
"Hmph."
"What was that all about this
morning? Why were all of those guys attacking you?"
"What do you care?"
Gohan was taken back a bit.
"Akane, I know you're not happy with the engagement thing, but can't we at
least try to be friends? I haven't had a lot of chances to make friends,
especially with the way my life is, so I try not to miss the opportunity when
it comes up. Even if you are a rather violent and angry girl, I'd still like to
be your friend. After all, one of my dad's best friends spent a long time
trying to kill him. Actually, two of his friends used to try to kill him. Make
that thr-" Gohan stopped short as he turned to look at Akane and saw that
same angry red aura around her. He hadn't noticed it spring into existance as
soon as he called her a violent and angry girl.
"I AM NOT VIOLENT OR
ANGRY!" She screamed at him.
Gohan started waving his hands
defensively in front of him. "Yes, you are! I mean, you seem to have a
good reason for being angry, what with those guys attacking you this morning.
But you can't seem to let it go. Being mad isn't much fun, you kn-"
Akane's eyes went wide in shock as
Gohan suddenly threw a punch at her face. It wasn't till she heard a smacking
sound next to her ear that she realized he hadn't intended on hitting her.
Looking to the side, she saw a baseball in his hand. She watched him casually
throw the ball to the pitcher as he yelled, "Be careful with that!"
Her eyes tracked slowly back to his face and for the first time she actually
looked into his eyes. She nodded a bit numbly when he asked if she was okay and
she only halfway listened to him as he went on about anger and it's drawbacks.
Her mind was in chaos.
'He protected me. He didn't brag, he
didn't boast, he didn't try and make me feel like I owed him one.' She thought
back to when she first met him. 'He hasn't treated me like a prize, like all
the other boys. He hasn't called me a tomboy or anything else. The only time he
treated me like I was weak was when I was injured. Now that I think about it,
he hasn't even done anything perverted like all the other boys...' She suddenly
realized that Gohan was asking her a question and she blinked in confusion.
"What was that?"
Gohan smiled. "I said, would
you like to at least try being friends?"
Akane stared at him for a moment
longer and then nodded with a smile. "Friends."
-----///////|||||||\\\\\\\\------
“So, what WAS that all about this
morning?”
Akane sighed. “At the beginning of
last semester, Kuno made a declaration to the entire school. ‘Anyone who wishes
to date Akane must first defeat her in combat.’ There was some more flowery
stuff, but that’s the gist of it. Since then, almost all of the boys have
attacked me every single morning.”
Gohan nodded understandingly, though
he did wear a look of shock on his face. “No wonder you’re so stressed out. And
what’s worse, since those guys have no real fighting ability of their own,
you’re probably not getting much out of those attacks, are you?” Akane shook
her head and he chuckled a little bit. “The funny thing is, that’s how my
parents got married. They were at a martial arts tournament and mom said that
if dad could beat her, she’d marry him. My dad agreed and, when he won the
fight, he asked her what ‘married’ meant.” Akane stared at him incredulously.
Gohan smiled back at her. “My dad grew up in the country without any real
contact with the outside world for the longest time. His understanding of
dealing with social situations was about as good as Kuno’s grip on reality.
Sorcerer indeed. Can’t he just admit I’m better than him and let it go?”
Akane shook her head. “Kuno is the
resident idiot, but he’s rich so he can get away with it.”
Gohan smirked. ‘I know someone just
like that,’ he thought to himself as he remembered the self-proclaimed ‘World’s
Greatest Martial Artist’ Mr. Satan.
“What I don’t get is why all these
boys are coming after me now. Before the challenge, only a few of them ever
showed any interest.”
“Forbidden Fruit.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a Western religion reference.
According to one of their beliefs, man was told by Kami not to eat the fruit of
a particular tree. The man hadn’t really had any interest in eating that fruit
before, but now that it had been denied to him, he wanted it. Since Kuno
declared that you were off limits, now all those boys want you.”
“That makes sense, I guess… sort of…
in a perverted sort of way. So, does that make Kuno Kami?”
Gohan nearly choked and he had to
hit himself in the chest a few times to remember how to breathe. “Nononono!” He
noticed that Akane was smiling and laughing and he had to stare for a moment.
‘Wow. When she’s not angry, she’s really cute.’
“Still, I am surprised at how easily
you beat him,” she commented after she had stopped laughing.
“Oh, I’m used to a whole different
class of fighter, in all honesty. One of my teachers, who is also my best
friend, can destroy boulders just by glaring at them. He’s the most skilled
fighter I know, next to my dad. Kuno does have potential, though…” Gohan’s eyes
glazed over a bit as a smile crept slowly onto his face.
Akane looked at him a bit worriedly.
“What?”
Gohan got a mischievous smile on his
face. “I’ve got an idea, if you’re willing to go along with me on it. I’ll tell
you about it after school.”
“Is it a good idea or one I’m going
to hit you for?”
Gohan smiled. “Both, probably.”
A distance away, a mildly unhappy
student was listening carefully to the shotgun mike that was pointed at the two
friends. “This sure throws a monkey-wrench into my plans. I didn’t expect Akane
to stop being angry at Gohan until after I had him in my control.” Nabiki
leaned back against a wall and tapped her foot irritably. Her normally cool
exterior returned quickly. “Well, I’ll just have to keep a close eye on those
two. Gohan seems to be suffering from ‘White Knight Syndrome’. I’ll have to try
turning that to my advantage.”
-----///////|||||||\\\\\\\\------
Lunch turned out to be a real
interesting event for Gohan. Akane went to eat with some of her friends and
Gohan sat under a tree by himself. The lunch Kasumi had made for him
disappeared rapidly, but his stomache continued to growl.
“Hungry?” A familiar voice called
out. Gohan looked around saw Nabiki standing there, holding out a lunch for
him. Gohan took it gratefully and wolfed it down. Nabiki noted this and made a
mental reminder to increase the food budget. “So, where’s Akane?” She knew very
well where Akane was, but with how little she knew about Gohan right now, she
had to start somewhere.
“She went to eat with some of her
friends.”
“And she left you all alone? Oh, you
poor guy.”
“Nah, I’m okay with that.”
“So, where are you from?”
“Well, the rumor is that the stork
brought me,” Gohan responded lightly.
Nabiki smirked and mentally gave him
a point for quick wit. “Amusing.”
Gohan shrugged. “Mt. Paozu in the
439 East District.”
Nabiki mentally frowned. ‘Obviously
not a rich family. That place is only zoned for small houses and is too far
away from anywhere to have much in the way of property value.’ Outwardly she
remained neutral. “That’s a bit of a commute, isn’t it? You’d have to fly to
get to school on time.”
Gohan laughed nervously. ‘I was
hoping she hadn’t quite seen that or would forget about it.’ “That’s why I was
going to look for an apartment. I don’t have a lot of money, but I had hoped to
do handy work to get a discount or something.”
‘Ding! Willing to work for room and
board, huh? That makes my job easier.’
“I have a question for you, Nabiki. Besides
the morning attacks and that Kuno character, is there any other reason for
Akane’s anger?”
Nabki nodded, giving him another
mental point for observation. ‘If only he were rich or was a money genius, he’d
be perfect.’ “She didn’t handle our mother dying very well. Kasumi put all of
her other priorities on hold to take care of us. Dad was such a wreck that he
stopped teaching Akane. Trying to learn martial arts on your own while your family
falls apart around you isn’t easy to handle. Akane started to have anger
problems and we couldn’t afford to take her to a counselor. She’s got a lot of
issues because of it.” ‘That should work. Most boys aren’t interested in girls with
emotional baggage.’
“Well, maybe I can help her with
that.”
Nabiki cursed.
-----///////|||||||\\\\\\\\------
A disturbing sight greeted Akane and
Gohan as they walked home from school. Criminals of some kind had apparently
hijacked a bus and the police were at a loss as to what to do due to the fact
that the criminals seemed to be armed with automatic weapons. Akane was
horrified at the sight of guns, but it only made Gohan furious. After a
moment’s hesitation, he turned to Akane. “I have a friend who I think might be
able to help. I’ll be right back.”
Akane tried to stop him, but he
vanished around a corner.
Gohan looked around and saw that
everyone was busy concentrating on the hijacking. He ducked into an alley and
began to concentrate. A low hum began to fill the air as power built up around
him and golden aura sprang into existence. The glow brightened as his black
hair began to stick straight up while shifting to a golden color and his eyes
went from brown to blue-green. His muscles grew to the point where they made
his clothing skintight. He let his aura dissipate, but the color change
remained. Smirking to himself, he left the alley.
One of the criminals began firing an
assault rifle into a police car. The cops were still trying to figure out how
such a man had managed to smuggle the thing into Japan. To everyone’s surprise,
a man with golden hair pushed his way past the police, ignoring their protests
as he stalked towards the criminals. The man with the assault rifle opened fire
directly on the man and everyone expected to see blood fly. Mothers covered
their children’s eyes and bystanders turned away. Akane and the others who kept
on watching saw the man’s hand blur for a moment before clenching into a fist.
To the stunned disbelief of everyone, including the criminal, the man opened
his hand and a cluster of mangled bullets rattled to the ground. In the blink
of an eye, the strange man shot across the remaining distance to the bus and in
no time at all brought out all four criminals, beaten and unconscious, and
threw them into a pile in front of the police. Their weapons were mangled
beyond repair, but not a single passenger on the bus was harmed. Before the
police could make a move, the man shot into the air and disappeared into the
distance.
Akane barely managed to close her
mouth after a few moments of staring where the hero had been. She heard a sound
behind her and wheeled around to find Gohan standing behind her. “Wh-who was
that?” ‘WHAT was that?’ She thought to herself.
“That was my friend… uhm…” ‘Come on,
dummy! Think!’ “The… Great Saiya Man. I met him a few years ago.” ‘Yeah, that’s
a real good cover,’ he groaned to himself.
Akane blinked a bit incredulously at
such a silly name. “The Great Saiya Man? How did you know he was nearby?”
Gohan began to sweat rather badly.
“Uhm, I sensed his ki nearby. We’ve traveled together a few times, so I can
recognize it pretty easily.”
“You can sense other people’s ki?”
Akane was surprised.
Gohan nodded. “Sure. With some
training, you should be able to do it too.” They began walking towards the
Tendo home again. “Speaking of which, I want to discuss an idea with you. I
think it will serve the dual purpose of getting you some good fighting
experience as well as get all those boys off of your back. It will require a
certain amount of trust from you, though. Do you think you can spare it?” He
asked with a grin.
Akane smiled at him and nodded,
although a bit nervously.
“Good. First, I’ll declare to the
morning horde that until your cast comes off, you’re off limits. Anyone who
tries to attack you during that time will answer to me. Then I’ll give them a
little demonstration that will encourage them to agree.”
Akane nodded albeit reluctantly. She
was quite nervous about letting him say such a thing. People might get the
wrong idea, but the hentai horde was getting on her nerves, especially with her
broken foot.
“Kuno is probably the only one who
won’t listen to me, at which point we’ll let him decide what happens. If he
attacks me, I’ll put him down. If he attacks you, you can put him down, then
I’ll pick him up and put him down again. That should convince him to at least
hold off until you’re well again.”
Akane liked the idea of getting some
time off from Kuno. She noticed that they were approaching the gate to her home
and she wondered at how much shorter it seemed to be with Gohan. She was a bit
surprised to see Nabiki leaning against the entrance like she was waiting for
somebody. “I just wish I had some way of practicing with this broken foot.
“Too bad Gohan can’t teach you how
to fly, Akane,” she said in a neutral tone of voice and an odd look at Gohan.
He gulped and laughed nervously.
“Yeah, too bad. Hah hah.”
Akane looked at him and then Nabiki
for a moment before commenting, “Yeah, right. I’m going inside,” and stepping
through the front gate.
Nabiki just kept looking at Gohan as
the young man laughed nervously. Finally, she had enough. “You, me, in my room.
Now.” She turned around and walked into the house. Gohan shuddered as he
followed after her.
-----///////|||||||\\\\\\\\------
Nabiki closed the door as soon as
Gohan stepped inside and she leveled her coldest stare at him. “Let me make a
recommendation: If you’re going to pretend to be a superhero, get a costume.
Now on to business. I’ll give you one chance to answer this question honestly
and privately. What are you?”
Gohan sighed. “That’s way too vague
a question. Could you be more specific?”
“You can take way more damage than
any human rightly should, you glow, your hair changes, and you can fly. Last I
checked, most humans couldn’t do that.”
“Actually, except for the hair color
thing, I know several people who can do it. Kuririn, Yamucha, and Tenshinhan
can all fly, absorb damage that would kill an untrained person, etc. It just
comes with the training we’ve all gone through.”
“And the hair color thing?”
“A family trait. Weird, ain’t it?”
Gohan silently prayed that she would buy it.
“I’ll accept your story.” She waited
until Gohan looked relieved. “For now. Why don’t you show off your abilities?
Most martial artists I’ve met are rather proud of their skills.”
“To be honest, I don’t want the
fame. I just like helping people and I’d like to live a normal life. If people
knew what I could do, I’d probably have tons of people trying to get me to
train them, others who just wanted to be seen with me, and I’d never find a
moment’s peace. Mr. Satan is a perfect example of how fame can ruin a perfectly
good martial artist. He’s pretty strong and fairly well skilled, but he’s
slacked off since everyone started telling him how great he is.”
Nabiki nodded once. “I can accept
that.” Gohan started to get up. “We’re not finished.” Gohan looked worried. “Let
me explain a little secret to you. Dad hasn’t instructed a single student since
mom died, and that was many years ago. Kasumi can’t work since she’s the one
who takes care of the house. Due to a rule that high school students can’t
work, neither Akane nor I can hold down a normal job. Now, consider that for a
moment.”
Gohan didn’t have to think for too
long. “How can you afford this house, then?”
Nabiki tapped him on the nose.
“Bingo. We can pay the bills because I come up with unique ways of making
money. Since you’re going to be staying here, it’s only good manners that you
help out.”
Gohan shrugged. “I’d like to help
out, but my family isn’t very well off either.”
Nabiki nods. “I figured as much. But
you can still help. Currently, you are the number one topic of discussion at
Furinkan High, especially with the girls. I can make a nice amount of money to
help feed my family and you. All it will require is a bit of your time.”
“Sure. What do you need me to do?”
“What I need you to do is go on
about your normal day, and let me take photos of you. I can sell the photos for
good yen.”
Gohan groaned. “Nabiki, did you even
listen to what I just said about publicity? I’m trying to avoid that sort of
thing!”
“Fine. Then come up with another way
to make money. I should be able to keep things floating for a few days. But if
you can’t come up with anything, will you let me take photos of you?” In her
head, Nabiki pleaded with Gohan, ‘Please don’t make me blackmail you!’ She knew
that if she had to resort to her old tactics, she would lose any chance at all
at getting him for herself.
Gohan finally nodded with a sigh.
“All right. It’s a deal. I’ll try and find some legal way to make enough money
to help you pay the bills or I’ll do the photos… just please promise me that
you won’t go telling anyone I’m the Great Saiya Man.”
Nabiki’s neutral expression cracked
for a moment as a smile fought to break free. “Great Saiya Man?” The smile won.
“Buwahahahaaa! That’s rich!” Gohan sheepishly left the room while Nabiki fought
to regain control.
-----///////|||||||\\\\\\\\------
‘Well, sorta dodged the bullet on
that one,’ he thought to himself as he strolled through the house. He stopped
in the dining room when he saw Soun was trying to choke back tears, again.
‘Man, is he emotional.’ He sniffed the air as he smelled a strange scent.
“What’s that?”
“Akane… my wonderful daughter,
Akane… is cooking… Waaaaaaaaaa!”
Gohan’s eyebrow twitched. ‘This
family is weird.’ He sat down and watched TV for a little while until Akane
suddenly called out, “Dinner’s ready!”
Gohan’s stomach growled loudly and
he blushed in embarrassment. Nabiki sat down at the table with a bored
expression on her face until she realized that Kasumi was already seated and
there was no food on the table. A look of horror crossed her face. “Oh no…
Akane’s cooking?” She looked ready to bolt when Akane emerged from the kitchen
carrying a plate of… something.
‘Must be some fancy dish,’ Gohan
thought to himself. ‘I can’t recognize it at all.’
“Eat up!” Akane said with a bright
smile. Gohan took a good portion and began eating. He didn’t notice the worried
looks he was getting from Kasumi and Soun, nor did he see Nabiki’s shudder.
‘That’s an odd taste. Mayonaise, I
think… and pickle relish… hmmm, radishes… a touch of lima beans… and barbecue
sauce. The chicken is a bit scorched <CRACK> and bony…’ He continued
eating, analyzing the different ingredients as best he could. He completely
missed the facefaults of Soun and Nabiki as he held out his plate and asked for
seconds. “This is really interesting. What is it?”
“Can’t you tell? It’s sweet and sour
chicken!” Akane smiled as she heaped more food onto his plate. ‘He likes it!
Someone likes my cooking!’
“Really? Wow, the sweet and sour chicken
I’ve always had was different from this. Mom must use a simpler recipe.” He dug
in to the second helping, not quite noticing the happy glow that radiated from
Akane..
Nabiki and Soun recovered from their
facefaults and cautiously sampled a bit of the concoction for themselves. Both
quickly passed out from intestinal agony as Kasumi politely got up to fetch the
medicine. She let a smile creep out as she saw the look of genuine happiness on
her youngest sister’s face, something that had been missing for a very long
time. She sent a silent, heartfelt ‘Thank you’ to Gohan as she headed for the
medicine cabinet.
-----///////|||||||\\\\\\\\------
‘He’s a god. That’s it. He has to be
a god. Nothing mortal could have survived that much of Akane’s cooking,’ Nabiki
thought to herself as she lay on her bed in mild pain. She suddenly became very
contemplative as she analyzed that thought. ‘He was awfully evasive about his
heritage. He has mystical abilities, like flying and immunity to normal weapons.
I wonder if he could be a demi-god? No, that’s silly.’ She shoved that thought
into the back of her mind, but that nagging wonder wouldn’t quite be ignored
completely. However, the pain in her stomach did a marvelous job of keeping her
distracted.