Dragonball: Unforgotten

Chapter 122

Dragonball Z: Unforgotten
Chapter One hundred and Twenty-two

"What do you think you're doing?"

Gohan slowly pulled back his hand with a confused expression. It was clear to see that Videl was not a fan of what he'd been doing. And that had been randomly tugging her hair. The first time he'd done it she'd looked at him in confusion; he'd just smiled in return. The second time she'd lightly slapped his hand away. He'd been going slow so that he didn't accidentally hurt her by pulling out a chunk of her shortened hair. So she'd been able to kind of slap his hand away. He thought she'd done that playfully. Which was why, less than a minute later, he'd gone for the third tug. Turned out that he'd actually made her angry - the hand slap hadn't been playful.

Gohan frowned as his brows furrowed. He stared intently at the screen as he tried to think about what he'd done wrong. Videl had asked him to a movie and he had accepted. But despite how much everyone around him seemed to be into the new release, Gohan couldn't help the longing in the pit of his stomach. He didn't want to sit through a movie. He found sitting still for the whole duration a bit boring. And dates were supposed to be fun right? Well Videl hadn't looked like she'd been having any fun either. So the urge and longing took root even faster. He wanted to chase or be chased.

Which was why he'd been tugging at Videl's hair. He had been trying to get her to engage, to make the date more fun for the both of them. But she hadn't responded as he hoped she would have. In fact, his actions seemed to have made her more annoyed for a while.

And so he stayed quiet, longing for something more active and playful than a movie, in hopes that he didn't mess things up even more.

The awkward hamburger and milkshake meal after hadn't. He'd gone home hungry and longing for something he didn't know how to put into words.

"Big brother!" Goten was the first one to greet him as he got near the house.

"Hey squirt."

Goten didn't seem to catch the lackluster greeting as he hurried to show his brother his latest treasure. What he thrust out was a book. Which caught Gohan by surprise if he was being honest. Goten had it turned to a page with a picture of a standing army. As Gohan accepted the text for a better look, Goten jumped into his shoulders; not that his weight bothered Gohan. It was almost comforting.

"This is the red ribbon army!" Goten said excitedly as he leaned over on top of Gohan's head and pointed at the pictures.

Fact after fact filled Gohan's mind. As did a couple memories of his run in with the ghostly echoes of what had remained of them when he had been younger. Gohan did his best to push back the thoughts about Eighteen and her brother…especially the ones of what had come after. A chill went down his spine as he swallowed thickly. The Red Ribbon army had been what had allowed Doctor Gero to flourish. But he was still confused about how that particular sordid time in recent history would have caught Goten's interest. He'd told his younger brother about the androids and Cell, sure, but he couldn't remember mentioning the Red Ribbon Army.

"Dad defeated them when he was my age! Isn't that so cool?! I want to defeat an army too!"

"Who knows, maybe you'll get that chance when you're older."

Stranger and more dangerous things had happened. At least in Gohan's lifetime. He couldn't imagine sitting back and letting his younger brother take care of a fascist regime though. It would have almost been as bad as if he'd let him go off into space unaccompanied. Who knows what Goten would run into.

Vaguely Gohan wondered over how protective he'd feel about his own kids if he was already worried about Goten flying off by himself. An ugly feeling hit him straight in the gut as he realized he could have found out in a few more months if things had gone differently...

The more Gohan looked at the book to distract himself, the more confused he got over Goten's discovery. It definitely was beyond Goten's level and maturity. So it wasn't one of his text books. Curiously, Gohan flipped to the back and sure enough there was a library code there.

"Mom took you to the library?"

He almost felt bad for his mom now. Goten in a library did not seem like it would go over well. Goten was awesome but being quiet and careful were almost foreign concepts to the youngest half Saiyan.

"No, dad did!"

Gohan's mouth opened in disbelief. Despite the instant surge of anger that accompanied the fact that their father, Goku, had turned up while he was away, Gohan was more shocked by Goten's news.

"Dad took you to the library?"

Picturing their dad willingly spending time in a library was even harder than imagining Goten in one. Not to mention the very thought of him was upsetting for obvious reasons. Jealousy also found its way in there somehow.

What made Goten so special?

"Uhuh, he was already on the roof taking a nap when I found him!"

Now that sounded a lot more like the dad Gohan knew.

"He was waiting for sissy to stop studying."

And back to the sensation of his stomach falling out once more. Without having to ask, Gohan knew exactly who Goten was talking about. You. He'd never gotten around to explaining to Goten that you and he weren't dating anymore. Three months...it had been three long months...

Gohan squeezed his eyes closed momentarily even as Goten leaned back and tugged on his hair.

"Why don't you ever bring me to play with her anymore big brother?"

Gohan clenched his jaw. The very thought of what had split you and him apart still boiled his blood. He could feel the anger rising. The hurt. You'd cheated on him. You'd ran off to go sleep with his dad…all because you'd been a little frustrated.  Gohan had flown off as his heart broke at the betrayal. And he'd stayed well away from you ever since. After all if you were just going to run off to his dad at every little turn…if you went back on your word so easily…there was no way to fix that. No way to make it work.

"It no fair!"

"What isnt?" Gohan asked as he did his best to unclench his teeth

"You guys are supposed to be gettin married. Just say you're sorry already. That way she can forgive you and come home before the baby is born."

"It's more complicated than that Goten."

"No it isn't," the younger sibling argued.

"We broke up."

Gohan practically felt his brother pause as he tried to understand those words. Goten leaned back over Gohan's head and frowned at him from his upside down position.

"Go say you're sorry."

"It wasn't my fault."

"What?" Goten asked and flipped off of his brother. His arms crossed over his chest as he tried to understand the whole situation. "What did she do big brother?"

"She...I...."

How did he explain monogamous sexual relations to his younger brother? The simple answer was that he wasn't going to. So red in the face, Gohan quickly came up with a parallel excuse.

"She ran off to play with dad when I stopped playing with her to go take a shower."

Goten blinked. "That's so stupid! You broke up with Sissy because she wanted to play with someone else?! She can play with whoever she wants. Don't be a big bully! You go say you're sorry right now big brother!"

And Gohan suddenly realized that he'd made the situation a whole lot worse by comparing what you did to playing.