Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z, it's characters and likenesses, are all own by Akira Toriyama and the creators of the animated series. The characters are used for my amusement and are not being written for money purposes.

This story is rated R for sexual content and strong/explicit dialogue.

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Note two: Chapter Zero can be found at storyid=1261432.  The events of this chapter begin immediately after the conclusion of Chapter Zero.  Constructing a summary of Chapter Zero will take too much time and effort, and I only have enough of that to write this.

Note three: all questions asked in reviews will now be handled via email.  I advise all reviewers who have a question or concern with the story to leave their email addresses when they review, or email me themselves with a question or concern.  My email is always available, and I do check it often.  This will be the last time I take up space for responses.

Early reads were done by sage of angst and PsYChO.

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Parallel and Perpendicular

A romance fiction/story by ShaggyDiz

Chapter One: You May Think You Hate Me

Part One: The First Signs of Something Off

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                "Now, I will proceed to go over the day's events with you," Mr. Lou stated to the class.  It had only been a minute or so since Videl had arrived to class in which the majority of the class put their heads down and soundly went to sleep.  Most of them had forgotten how to go to sleep early in the evening, so when the time came to finally prepare for school, most had just received a few hours worth of sleep.

                Gohan, of course, knew much better.  Still, he was slightly bored as well, wondering what the day was all about.  He figured it to be important, seeing as the teacher had put great emphasis into this.  From what he could gather though, no one seemed to care, and it was only a few minutes ago that people were happily shouting his name.

                He noted that Mr. Lou started the lecture of what to do on the first day of school.  There was to be a general gathering of students in their respective homerooms, followed by a syllabus of the first class.  The next two periods would see them gather in the auditorium, as the principal had prepared a "rousing" speech for the day.  Afterwards, the regular class schedule would begin.

                His attention span lasted two minutes more than the rest of the students.  He soon placed his chin on his hand and let his arm support his drooping head.  Gohan looked to his right for a moment, seeing the two blonds – Sharpener and Erasa – out cold.  A quick glance to his right showed Videl kicking back in her seat, not really caring if her back became bent and awkward.  He thought for a second – quite stupidly as well – about what a female "Igor" would look like.  He decided not to ask that question to the black haired girl next to him.

                A conversation was in order.  "Does this happen every year?" he asked Videl.  Down at the bottom of the class, the teacher's voice, while somewhat upbeat, was beginning to get monotone in length.  Gohan knew he would soon join the ranks of the sleeping students.

                Videl gave him a quick glance before nodding.  She then bent forward, reaching into her bag and pulling out a pen and paper.  Quickly scribbling something on it, she slid it down to Gohan, who read the two lines briefly:

                Can't really talk.  Teachers always pick me out of a crowd of thirty.

                Gohan frowned.  That's odd, he thought.  Why would someone be so… wait a minute?  "Teachers?"   He stole a look at Videl before going to the paper himself, taking her pen to write out a quick note.

                Why "teachers"?  Something happen?  Videl's eye twitched, but she let it slide.  She couldn't vent on Gohan, knowing that he was a new student.  He wouldn't understand anyway.  Or he might, but she couldn't tell him just yet.

                Trust was in order, and trust couldn't be established after five minutes.

                A story for another time, she wrote back.  Gohan read it before looking at her.  He read her eyes and understood enough that it definitely was for another time.  He put his focus back to the front of the class, seeing as Mr. Lou was pulling out a series of papers.  He also pulled out a heavy hardback book, stood on his chair, and dropped it seven feet to the floor.

                Nearly all the students were up in an instant.

                "Now, since I've taken care of the boring stuff," he emphasized, "I will be handing out the syllabi to your Human History class."  He moved down the aisles, handing a stack of papers to each of the students at the end of each row.  He came up to Videl's row and gave the girl another snide look before dropping the papers on her desk before moving along.

                That's the second time he's done that today, Gohan thought to himself.  He stole a quick glance at Mr. Lou, seeing that with everyone else, he carefully placed a stack of papers on each of the students' desks.  Something is definitely up…

                "I'll give you several minutes to look over this and talk with your friends.  I need to step out for a minute," Mr. Lou said upon returning to his desk.  He placed the remaining papers on his desk and exited the room.  By then, most of the students were engaged in some sort of discussion.

                "Damn!" Sharpener stated, stretching his arms back and letting out a lengthy yawn.  "That was the most boring 'welcome to school' introduction I've heard."

                "Sharpener… you've slept through them all," Erasa said, giving him a deadpan look.

                "And you weren't even in school when you were sleeping," Videl followed, having an equally deadpan look on her face.

                "Really?"  He set himself into mock thought, rubbing his chin briefly before shrugging.  "Ah well.  This was boring."

                "Yeah," the girls agreed.

                It was a sudden switch of direction, as all three of them turned to the silent member of their group.  "What?" Gohan muttered, feeling very self-conscious and nervous.

                "So Gohan," Erasa started for the three of them, "Did you transfer here?"

                "Well – "

                "He actually was home schooled," Sharpener answered for him.

                "I could have – "

                "Really now?  And they made him a senior?  With us?"

                "Well, I am – "

                "Oh yeah!  This guy is a genius!  He practically aced his tests."

                "Guys?"

                "I know that!  He said so himself when he introduced himself this morning!"

                "Guys?"

                "Wow Erasa… it's never like you to pay attention that much."

                "I think I might give up."

                "Sharpener!  Take that back!"

                "Yeah… getting out of this erupting volcano…"

                "What?  It's a compliment.  You actually paid attention for once… you never do!"

                "This syllabus looks – huh?"  A tap on his shoulder interrupted his outer monologue.  He turned to face Videl, who had an amused look on her face.  "What's so funny?" Gohan asked, tuning out the developing argument behind him.

                "They do that all the time.  You try to get into a discussion with them, and they ignore you completely before talking about you like you're not there."

                He quickly glanced at the blondes.  "I see… when will they snap out of it?"

                "Soon enough."  She turned so she was facing him completely.  "Home schooled, huh?"

                Gohan nodded.  "Mom's idea.  It was also her idea to get me out of the house to make some friends."

                "Thus, the high school setting?" Videl asked, waving her hand around for emphasis.

                He nodded again.  "I knew it was coming for a while… it was all just a matter of when she decided to let go of her… um," he leaned in close, not wanting anyone else to hear, "'little boy'."

                Videl raised an eyebrow.  "Really now?"

                "Yeah.  I wonder why she didn't do it sooner, seeing as I have a younger brother and all."

                "That's cool.  I have a younger sister myself.  She is quite cute."

                Gohan smiled.  "I have an idea… if, um, you're up to it."

                "You have an idea?"

                He frowned.  "Is that a bad thing?"  She couldn't help but laugh.

                "Oh boy… Gohan, you have much to learn here.  Your mom was right in sending you to high school.  We can show you the ropes," she said, pausing for a second before looking over his shoulder at the blondes.  "Well… I can show you the ropes at least.  Now, tell me this idea of yours."

                "Since you said that your sister is cute, we should have a contest between our siblings, see who is cuter."  He smirked after finishing it, and for a moment, he thought he was cool.

                "Gohan, a word for the weary: never say 'cute' around here again.  Even I would beat you up for it."  Gohan's smirk faded away.

                "Oh…"

                "Don't worry about it though.  If we can, we'll do it in secret.  Where do you live at anyway?"

                For a moment, he wondered if he should just lie to her about where he lived.  West City was an option Gohan could have stated, but for now, he didn't care if she knew where he lived.  "I live in the four-three-nine mountain area."

                Silence filled the immediate area.  Videl was speechless about that, and Gohan thought that maybe he could have elaborated for her.  He didn't notice the dead silence from behind him.  If only he hadn't tuned out the couple's argument then maybe he could have heard that pin dropping behind him.

                "The four-three-nine mountain area?" Erasa shouted from behind, startling Gohan so much that he fell forward, slipping out of his chair and landing on the floor, face down, somehow ending up underneath Videl's seat.  He turned his body and tilted his head slightly so he could see Videl's face.

                "I take it that was the thing that snapped them out of that spat?"

                "Yup," she nodded.

                Gohan pulled himself off of the floor, climbing back into his seat before setting his gaze on Erasa.  "Remind me next time before you yell in my ear.  My hearing is… quite sensitive."

                She seemed to ignore that last comment.  "The four-three-nine mountain area?  That place is over five hundred miles away!  It'll take at least five hours to get here!"

                "Actually, I got here in three hours…"

                It seemed that nothing would stop her tirade.  "I mean, look at this!"  From out of nowhere, she pulled out a map, detailing the single massive continent of the planet.  Also appearing from out of nowhere was a pointer stick.  Gohan had "confusion" written all over his face, and Videl slapped her head rather loudly, knowing where this was going.

                "How did she do that?" Gohan whispered to Videl.

                "Don't ask.  I still haven't figured out the physics of it."

                "Oh," he nodded, keeping an eye on Erasa the whole time, hoping beyond all hope that she didn't turn violent then.

                "This is Mt. Paozu," she started, pointing to the eastern side of the map, circling around the spot on the map.  "And this is Satan City," she did the same, circling a city south and west of Mt. Paozu.  "See?  See!  Five hundred plus miles!  How does one person get from 'here' to 'here'?" Erasa shouted, quickly moving her pointer back and forth between the city and the mountain area.

                "Um… you should stop now Erasa," Sharpener pointed out from behind.

                "Silence pawn!  I'm not finished."

                There was a loud throat clearing from behind Videl, to which the four of them turned around, finding Mr. Lou standing over them.  He smirked briefly, completely ignoring Videl with the smirk.  "Having fun?" he asked.

                "Not really," Videl muttered.

                "What was that, Ms. Satan?"

                She turned in her seat, staring right up at the teacher.  "Not.  Really."

                It was there that Gohan noticed that "twitch" in her eye.  He noticed it earlier when he made the mention of the teachers on the paper.

                Defiance.  It was the obvious trait he noticed.  He still lacked basic understanding of its look, but he had an idea of what it did look like.  Why she would be defiant to a person of authority is beyond him.  There was a deeper meaning to it.

                He wondered for a moment if he should ask the blondes behind him about what this was all about.  No, he thought, Mom raised me better.  I'll ask her directly, but not now.  I won't do anything stupid to jeopardize this.

                The stare down between Videl and Mr. Lou lasted all but a few seconds.  At its end, the teacher let out a little smirk.

                A knowing smirk.

                Gohan didn't like that either.

                "I believe everyone has had sufficient time to read their syllabus," Mr. Lou said, moving back down the aisle.  "Now, the principle had announced over the speakers about a minute ago that the planned meeting has been moved up to now.  If you will please gather your things and make your way down to the auditorium, I'm sure that he could make this little thing go a bit faster."  He stood by the desk, making sure that all the students left the room before him.

                Gohan was the last to leave, making sure to stay behind Videl when they left.  He noticed walking past the desk that she and the teacher made another sniveling glance at each other.

                It took all of ten minutes to realize, from the moment Videl stepped into the room this morning until now, that Gohan's first and only year of high school would be an interesting – and troubling – exercise in self control.

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End Part One

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