Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Where Angels Fear to Tread ❯ The Last Day ( Chapter 11 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Lady Foeseeker 
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction | Genre(s): | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 07.22.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 296 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction | Genre(s): | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 07.22.2004 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 296 | Status: Completed
Where Angels Fear to Tread
Part 11
The Last Day
Disclaimer: Um...it's been awhile. Here's a refreasher. Me no own, you no sue, roses could be red, and violets are supposed to be blue.
Firegirl: Um...thanks? I really like my leg...
Amyante: When will he learn to fly? Very Very soon. ^_^
*Bows* wow, with all these death threats...I actually feel loved...that's really sad. Thank you for reviewing, all of you.
But, that's beside the point!
ENJOY!
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"You all know that your projects are due tomorrow, right?" The teacher of Gohan's Skills For Living Class told them. "It will be half your grade. Please make sure I get them at the BEGINNING of class. Have a great day!" She dismissed them smiling happily. This was always the best part of the class, seeing the students reactions to their projects.
Gohan and Videl hesitantly approached her desk. "We need to ask you something." Gohan twisted his hands in from of him. "Videl and I adopted out charge. How would that change what we do to the paper?"
"It won't. Just mention it. I'm surprised you adopted him while you two are still in school. Is money going to be a problem?"
"With where we work?" Gohan shook his head. "Not at all. And Bulma and Okassan will babysit and he's got Trunks and Goten to play with. We thought it to be best since we all got so attached to one another."
"Oh?" The teacher raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I know what child you took."
"One of the older ones, Kurt Wagner." Gohan flipped open his wallet. "This is our son."
The teacher's eyes widened at the picture of Kurt. "So you are the group that took the mutant. Well, I can see why if you ignored his appearance. He seems to be a sweet child. Even if he does look like a demon."
"He has the most problem with people that don't deal with...the different people on a regular basis." Gohan admitted. "Like at school or on the street. So far, though, the people that deal with us on a regular basis accepted him quite readily."
"That's nice to know." The teacher offered a tiny smile. She wasn't FOND of mutants, per say, but after living in a city with people like the great Saiya-Man and Hercule, it wasn't anything to be frightened of. If they got out of hand, there would be people to take care of it. "Have your project done and I'll see you tomorrow." The teacher waved them out.
"Thank you very much, ma'am." Gohan bowed and Videl waved. "We'll see you tomorrow." The duo chorused.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"Kurt!" Goten gasped, racing toward his friend. "Are you okay? Oh man, I'm so sorry!"
Kurt gave a tiny groan. "Ouch." He grumbled. "When did Vegita-san start hitting me so hard?"
"When he meant to hit ME." Goten giggled. "I'm soooo sorry! Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine, Goten. Where's Trunks?"
"Being a distraction. Are you ready to go fight again?"
"Let's go!" Kurt giggled. Gohan would be so proud if the three of them defeated Vegita again. Well, A normal Vegita. They were still no match for the Saiya-Jin when he was in Super Saiya-Jin mode.
Gohan's training had gotten steadily harder and more difficult, but Kurt didn't mind. Gohan had said that once Kurt mastered this new level of Martial Arts that's he would begin teaching the boy how to fly. Kurt was really, really looking forward to that. He knew he'd gotten stronger, and Gohan had been teaching him to control his ki. Right now, he didn't have a lot of control over it, but he could shoot small blasts at people. Enough, Gohan had told him, to keep him safe when the Demi Saiya-Jin was not around.
"Goten! Kurt!" Bulma appeared at the door to the gravity room, set low enough that she could enter without getting flattened. It was only three times earth's gravity for Kurt's sake. He couldn't go any higher yet.
"What Bulma-san?" Kurt dodged another of Vegita's punches before the four had to halt to listen to the blue-haired woman.
"Videl and Goku are here. Piccolo showed up as well." She turned to leave. "Oh, and Vegita needs to get cleaned up. We have to leave for a charity ball in about two hours. Trunks, did you want to stay here or go with Videl? She said she'd take you and you could just spend the night there."
"I want to go with Kurt, if that's okay with him?" Kurt nodded at Trunks and the lilac haired boy continued, "I just have a tiny bit of Homework to do and I think Kurt has some too. Can I?"
"That's fine. Do you have your overnight things ready? Go and grab your stuff." Bulma said. "Videl's in the living room when you've gotten your things."
Trunks scampered off while the other three followed Bulma from the room. Vegita disappeared at the stairs to get ready to leave and bulma followed the other two to the living room. Videl smiled upon seeing Kurt and waved to Goten as he went to glomp her. "Videl!" the mini-goku squealed. "I haven't seen you in AGES! At least a week!"
"Two days." Goku corrected his youngest son. "Besides, they'll be moved back home by next Saturday."
"Thank Kami." Videl sighed. "It's awful trying to live in city limits. Do you have any idea how expensive food is there?"
Kurt followed the conversation with a slightly fearful expression. Did they regret taking him? "Yeah, and you have two growing boys." Goku laughed.
"Only Kurt is growing. Growing out doesn't count." The woman smirked. "It's little wonder your mate hates your eating habits!"
"I do believe you and Gohan have papers to finish?" Goku raised an eyebrow. "I think you had best leave."
Videl laughed at Goku's slightly pouty look due to the jib on his appetite and he picked up Goten. "Well, we need to go." He waved. "Ja ne!" He set two fingers on his forehead and disappeared.
"I'm ready to go!" Trunks called, skidding to a stop in the room. "C'mon!"
"No teasing Gohan too much." Videl reminded him. "We have homework as well, and I can't stop him from throwing you out the window."
"I can fly." Trunks snorted. "Let's just go." He got ready to take off as Videl grabbed his collar.
"We live in the city right now, remember?" She giggled slightly. "We have to take the copter."
Trunks made a face. "Oh yeah. Forgot. The city...joy..."
Videl just shook her head and got behind the controls.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kurt drew in a deep breath as he and the others got home. Trunks made a face. "No wonder you can't wait to move home." The apartment was slowly returning to it's bland white state. They had already repainted Kurt's room, and the kitchen. All they had left to paint was the family room and to remove some of the furniture to their house.
"Well, a lot of it's already gone." Gohan reminded the younger Demi Saiya-Jin.
"Yeah!" Kurt grinned. "I already have my room there painted! And decorated! We moved all my posters already too. I'm really excited, especially since we live really close to Goten. I've never had a friend next door before!" Kurt exclaimed, then added in a mutter, "Never had any friends either."
Trunks frowned as Gohan and Videl shared a look. "You do now. And you have a family." Gohan smiled gently and Kurt gave a tiny smile. "I think you two need to do your homework now. Videl and I have a paper to write."
Trunks wrinkled his nose and stuck his tongue out. "I hate homework."
"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." Gohan shook his head. "Too bad I don't care. You have another several years of it...at least twenty-two anyway."
Trunks wasn't pleased but Kurt just shrugged. "Whatever." The mutant shrugged. "So, Tousan, when are you teaching me to fly?"
"I think sometime in the next week. You've got the hang of that new stuff I was teaching you, so once this term is over, we'll have plenty of time to start." Gohan settled at the computer that they had moved from the library to the family room so they could patch the holes in the walls from the pictures. "It will be so nice to get home." Gohan sighed. Kurt gave him a strange look. What difference did a house make? He would soon find out.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"This is wonderful!" The teacher had glanced at the results of their project the day before and smiled at all of them. "Most of you did very, very well!" Her voice rose in pitch, "But the best group by far was Gohan and Videl's. It takes a lot to care for a baby, but to incorporate a child that has been abandoned and hurt, mentally and physically, so often in his life and integrate him into their home as they did was amazing! And to Defend him with everything they had, even when they knew it might bring repercussions with their grade, showed how dedicated they were to making their family real."
Gohan blushed and Videl gave an embarressed laugh while the teacher spoke about them excitedly. "I'm very pleased with how you all did," The teacher went on, "So almost all of you get A's."
The whole class gave a sigh of relief.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kurt tilted his head in surprise as he entered Gohan and Videl's actual house next door to the Son residence. "Wow, this is really nice!" He admitted. "It didn't look like this the last time we were here."
"I know," Videl shrugged off her coat and shook her hair free of the restraing ponytail it was in. "Chichi and I have been cleaning it up a lot more, getting rid of the sheets covering the furniture we didn't take and all that, and Gohan and Goku were repainting several of the rooms. Not to mention we had to re-hang all our pictures and everything."
Kurt nodded and looked about with trepidation. This was so wonderful, but what if they changed their minds? What if they decided he didn't fit in with their decor or that he was too much trouble or that he needed to much work? What if they sent him back like all the other people before? His face paled. They COULD, quite easily. There was a period of nearly two months to get the paperwork logged in.
"We even got your room done, Kurt." Gohan smiled at the boy. "Would you like to see it? It's a little different than the one at the apartments. I know you didn't get a chance the last time we were here."
Kurt's eyes grew wide. "Really?"
"Yeah. We decorated it very much the same, but not entirely. Mostly because the room isn't square anymore." Gohan waved a hand indicating that Kurt should follow him and Videl upstairs.
The house wasn't large, but it wasn't small either. It had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, dining room, family room, library, and basement.
Kurt's room was upstairs, at the rear of the house. The windows were dormers so the room slanted on one side. An identical room stood across from it at the opposite side of the hallway. His room was painted the color of the summer sky and his posters were tacked neatly to the walls. "We just used sticky tack," Videl peeled off one corner of a poster to show the mutant, "so that you can re-arrange the posters if you would like."
Kurt shook his head in disbelief. "No one has ever done anything so nice for me!" He hugged Videl around the waist, crying into her shirt. The woman lifted up the boy and he buried his head in her shoulder. "You're the first people to ever do anything like this for me!"
"You're our SON, Kurt." Gohan gently rubbed circles around the child's back in a soothing motion. "Of course we will do things like this for you."
Kurt only sniffed harder. "It's just so hard to believe." He finally admitted. I feel like...I actually belong."
"Good," Videl smiled, "because you do."
Kurt lifted his head and looked around in wonder. "My home." He whispered, testing the words out on his tongue. "My family."
The words had never sounded so sweet.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kurt had finally mastered the technique Gohan had been teaching him before he could learn to fly. Shooting ki blasts had become almost second nature and drawing out his energy was quickly becoming quite easy.
He would learn to fly today.
He would also be turning eight.
"Kurt!" Gohan yawned, stumbling down the hallway, "Time to get up for school!"
"I'm awake!" The boy grinned. He wondered if his parents knew about his birthday today. He was eight now!
"You ready for flying lessons?" Gohan stretched. He'd obviously gotten the heavy sleep his race required once a week the night before.
"Hai!" Kurt chrirruped. "Did you know that today is-"
"Hurry up you two!" Videl shouted up the stairs. Gohan gave him an apologetic look.
"She summons. We'd better hurry." He lifted Kurt onto his shoulders and rushed down the stairs.
Kurt sighed in disappointment. Today was his birthday, but no one knew. He supposed he should have figured that would happen. Things had been so different from what he was used to, and he HAD hoped that they would give him a birthday party, but he also knew a freak like him didn't deserve it. Kurt sighed. It figured.
"We'll have to hurry to get you to school on time." Videl sighed. She turned to Gohan a questioning look in her eyes.
"I was going to send him with Goten on Kinto'un." Gohan admitted. "but I will fly him myself if you'd like."
"No, no. I bet he'd like the cloud. He CAN ride it, yes?"
"I would imagine so." Gohan shrugged. "We'll have to find out. Are you finished with your breakfast, Kurt?"
"Hai, Otousan." Kurt sounded slightly dejected, but Gohan ignored it.
Instead, Gohan lifted Kurt from his chair and settled the boy on his shoulders before walking outside. "KINTO'UN!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, making Kurt give a slight wince.
Then, the boy's eyes widened. A smallish yellow cloud sounding a bit like a sputtering car flew towards them. "What is THAT?" Kurt breathed.
"Kinto'un." Gohan laughed at the boy's wonder. "Hop on. We need to see if you fall through. I doubt it though."
Kurt shrugged and jumped from Gohan's shoulders, trusting that if anything happened, the Demi Saiya-Jin would catch him. He bounced lightly as he hit the cloud and giggled in delight. "You have to be pure of heart to ride it." Gohan explained.
Kurt's head shot up. "There must be a mistake then!" Kurt cried. "I can't be pure-I'm a demon!"
"No you're not." Gohan jumped onto the cloud next to Kurt. "You, my son, are a boy. Now, you and Goten are going to school together. He'll tell you how to direct Kinto'un, okay?"
"Hai, Otousan." Kurt looked startled as Gohan dropped his backpack onto the cloud and began counting backwards from five.
At zero, Goten raced from the other house across the clearing. "Like clockwork." Gohan muttered to himself with a slight laugh. "Have fun you two!"
Kinto'un, with Kurt riding, and Goten raced away into the morning light.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kurt was slightly upset that no one seemed to remember his birthday, but they had already done so much for him that he didn't feel he had the right to say anything about it. His head dropped towards his desk as the teacher continued to speak, her lecture seeming to last forever. When lunch finally rolled around, he didn't get a chance to tell either Goten nor Trunks about his birthday (Trunks was in detention and Goten offered to help clean the blackboards for Setsuna-sensei). But, on the bright side, he didn't get beaten up today!
The mutant smiled to himself as he exited the school unscathed and was surprised to find Gohan standing in front of the building, arms crossed and appearing bored. "Come on, Kurt." Gohan waved a hand. "We're going straight home, but we need to stop at the store first really quick, okay?"
"I though you had work today?" Kurt frowned in confusion. "Didn't you?"
"I took the day off to work at the house. We need to get plaster." Gohan opened the capsule car and the two hurried to the store before Gohan picked Kurt up and flew towards their home at a leisurely pace.
Neither said a word until they reached the younger Son residence and Gohan put the boy down. "Let's go on in." He gestured to the door.
Hesitanly, Kurt entered.
"SURPRISE!!!" Bulma turned the lights on. "Happy birthday, Kurt!" Goten giggled.
"We're sorry we stayed away, but Goten can't keep his mouth shut and we were afraid he'd spill so we ended up in detention and cleaning erasers." Trunks made a face.
"You knew it was my birthday?" Kurt gasped. "You-you bothered throwing me a party?"
"Of course, little one." Gohan stroked his hair gently. "Now don't you want to open your presents?"
"I have presents?" Kurt's eyes were wide in awe. "I've never had presents before. Never ever!"
"Never?" Chichi's eye grew teary. "Well if I ever meet the people that never gave you anything, I'll kill them!"
"O-Obassan, you don't have to, for me." Kurt hugged her. "I'm not worth that."
Chichi shook her finger at the child. "Don't tell me what you're not worth!" She scolded. "I say you are so you are and my boy thought so to. And Goten obviously agrees or he would have been fighting with you ALL the time!"
Kurt blushed. "I...I...thank you, Obassan!" He sniffed and hugged her. "No one's ever said anything so nice."
Chichi smiled and hugged him in return. "Now they have."
It was the best night ever.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
(A/N) Well, I got another chapter out. I'm writing a little at night, every night, so chapters should be a little faster since I've got me a schedule all figured out. Well, I hope you like this new chapter. I've got plans for the future, and you'll probably hate me when I'm done, but never fear, you will love it!
Well, hope you liked! Review, please! Flames are for s'mores!
Ja ne!
~*~Lady Foeseeker~*~
Part 11
The Last Day
Disclaimer: Um...it's been awhile. Here's a refreasher. Me no own, you no sue, roses could be red, and violets are supposed to be blue.
Firegirl: Um...thanks? I really like my leg...
Amyante: When will he learn to fly? Very Very soon. ^_^
*Bows* wow, with all these death threats...I actually feel loved...that's really sad. Thank you for reviewing, all of you.
But, that's beside the point!
ENJOY!
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"You all know that your projects are due tomorrow, right?" The teacher of Gohan's Skills For Living Class told them. "It will be half your grade. Please make sure I get them at the BEGINNING of class. Have a great day!" She dismissed them smiling happily. This was always the best part of the class, seeing the students reactions to their projects.
Gohan and Videl hesitantly approached her desk. "We need to ask you something." Gohan twisted his hands in from of him. "Videl and I adopted out charge. How would that change what we do to the paper?"
"It won't. Just mention it. I'm surprised you adopted him while you two are still in school. Is money going to be a problem?"
"With where we work?" Gohan shook his head. "Not at all. And Bulma and Okassan will babysit and he's got Trunks and Goten to play with. We thought it to be best since we all got so attached to one another."
"Oh?" The teacher raised an eyebrow. "I don't think I know what child you took."
"One of the older ones, Kurt Wagner." Gohan flipped open his wallet. "This is our son."
The teacher's eyes widened at the picture of Kurt. "So you are the group that took the mutant. Well, I can see why if you ignored his appearance. He seems to be a sweet child. Even if he does look like a demon."
"He has the most problem with people that don't deal with...the different people on a regular basis." Gohan admitted. "Like at school or on the street. So far, though, the people that deal with us on a regular basis accepted him quite readily."
"That's nice to know." The teacher offered a tiny smile. She wasn't FOND of mutants, per say, but after living in a city with people like the great Saiya-Man and Hercule, it wasn't anything to be frightened of. If they got out of hand, there would be people to take care of it. "Have your project done and I'll see you tomorrow." The teacher waved them out.
"Thank you very much, ma'am." Gohan bowed and Videl waved. "We'll see you tomorrow." The duo chorused.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"Kurt!" Goten gasped, racing toward his friend. "Are you okay? Oh man, I'm so sorry!"
Kurt gave a tiny groan. "Ouch." He grumbled. "When did Vegita-san start hitting me so hard?"
"When he meant to hit ME." Goten giggled. "I'm soooo sorry! Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine, Goten. Where's Trunks?"
"Being a distraction. Are you ready to go fight again?"
"Let's go!" Kurt giggled. Gohan would be so proud if the three of them defeated Vegita again. Well, A normal Vegita. They were still no match for the Saiya-Jin when he was in Super Saiya-Jin mode.
Gohan's training had gotten steadily harder and more difficult, but Kurt didn't mind. Gohan had said that once Kurt mastered this new level of Martial Arts that's he would begin teaching the boy how to fly. Kurt was really, really looking forward to that. He knew he'd gotten stronger, and Gohan had been teaching him to control his ki. Right now, he didn't have a lot of control over it, but he could shoot small blasts at people. Enough, Gohan had told him, to keep him safe when the Demi Saiya-Jin was not around.
"Goten! Kurt!" Bulma appeared at the door to the gravity room, set low enough that she could enter without getting flattened. It was only three times earth's gravity for Kurt's sake. He couldn't go any higher yet.
"What Bulma-san?" Kurt dodged another of Vegita's punches before the four had to halt to listen to the blue-haired woman.
"Videl and Goku are here. Piccolo showed up as well." She turned to leave. "Oh, and Vegita needs to get cleaned up. We have to leave for a charity ball in about two hours. Trunks, did you want to stay here or go with Videl? She said she'd take you and you could just spend the night there."
"I want to go with Kurt, if that's okay with him?" Kurt nodded at Trunks and the lilac haired boy continued, "I just have a tiny bit of Homework to do and I think Kurt has some too. Can I?"
"That's fine. Do you have your overnight things ready? Go and grab your stuff." Bulma said. "Videl's in the living room when you've gotten your things."
Trunks scampered off while the other three followed Bulma from the room. Vegita disappeared at the stairs to get ready to leave and bulma followed the other two to the living room. Videl smiled upon seeing Kurt and waved to Goten as he went to glomp her. "Videl!" the mini-goku squealed. "I haven't seen you in AGES! At least a week!"
"Two days." Goku corrected his youngest son. "Besides, they'll be moved back home by next Saturday."
"Thank Kami." Videl sighed. "It's awful trying to live in city limits. Do you have any idea how expensive food is there?"
Kurt followed the conversation with a slightly fearful expression. Did they regret taking him? "Yeah, and you have two growing boys." Goku laughed.
"Only Kurt is growing. Growing out doesn't count." The woman smirked. "It's little wonder your mate hates your eating habits!"
"I do believe you and Gohan have papers to finish?" Goku raised an eyebrow. "I think you had best leave."
Videl laughed at Goku's slightly pouty look due to the jib on his appetite and he picked up Goten. "Well, we need to go." He waved. "Ja ne!" He set two fingers on his forehead and disappeared.
"I'm ready to go!" Trunks called, skidding to a stop in the room. "C'mon!"
"No teasing Gohan too much." Videl reminded him. "We have homework as well, and I can't stop him from throwing you out the window."
"I can fly." Trunks snorted. "Let's just go." He got ready to take off as Videl grabbed his collar.
"We live in the city right now, remember?" She giggled slightly. "We have to take the copter."
Trunks made a face. "Oh yeah. Forgot. The city...joy..."
Videl just shook her head and got behind the controls.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kurt drew in a deep breath as he and the others got home. Trunks made a face. "No wonder you can't wait to move home." The apartment was slowly returning to it's bland white state. They had already repainted Kurt's room, and the kitchen. All they had left to paint was the family room and to remove some of the furniture to their house.
"Well, a lot of it's already gone." Gohan reminded the younger Demi Saiya-Jin.
"Yeah!" Kurt grinned. "I already have my room there painted! And decorated! We moved all my posters already too. I'm really excited, especially since we live really close to Goten. I've never had a friend next door before!" Kurt exclaimed, then added in a mutter, "Never had any friends either."
Trunks frowned as Gohan and Videl shared a look. "You do now. And you have a family." Gohan smiled gently and Kurt gave a tiny smile. "I think you two need to do your homework now. Videl and I have a paper to write."
Trunks wrinkled his nose and stuck his tongue out. "I hate homework."
"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." Gohan shook his head. "Too bad I don't care. You have another several years of it...at least twenty-two anyway."
Trunks wasn't pleased but Kurt just shrugged. "Whatever." The mutant shrugged. "So, Tousan, when are you teaching me to fly?"
"I think sometime in the next week. You've got the hang of that new stuff I was teaching you, so once this term is over, we'll have plenty of time to start." Gohan settled at the computer that they had moved from the library to the family room so they could patch the holes in the walls from the pictures. "It will be so nice to get home." Gohan sighed. Kurt gave him a strange look. What difference did a house make? He would soon find out.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
"This is wonderful!" The teacher had glanced at the results of their project the day before and smiled at all of them. "Most of you did very, very well!" Her voice rose in pitch, "But the best group by far was Gohan and Videl's. It takes a lot to care for a baby, but to incorporate a child that has been abandoned and hurt, mentally and physically, so often in his life and integrate him into their home as they did was amazing! And to Defend him with everything they had, even when they knew it might bring repercussions with their grade, showed how dedicated they were to making their family real."
Gohan blushed and Videl gave an embarressed laugh while the teacher spoke about them excitedly. "I'm very pleased with how you all did," The teacher went on, "So almost all of you get A's."
The whole class gave a sigh of relief.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kurt tilted his head in surprise as he entered Gohan and Videl's actual house next door to the Son residence. "Wow, this is really nice!" He admitted. "It didn't look like this the last time we were here."
"I know," Videl shrugged off her coat and shook her hair free of the restraing ponytail it was in. "Chichi and I have been cleaning it up a lot more, getting rid of the sheets covering the furniture we didn't take and all that, and Gohan and Goku were repainting several of the rooms. Not to mention we had to re-hang all our pictures and everything."
Kurt nodded and looked about with trepidation. This was so wonderful, but what if they changed their minds? What if they decided he didn't fit in with their decor or that he was too much trouble or that he needed to much work? What if they sent him back like all the other people before? His face paled. They COULD, quite easily. There was a period of nearly two months to get the paperwork logged in.
"We even got your room done, Kurt." Gohan smiled at the boy. "Would you like to see it? It's a little different than the one at the apartments. I know you didn't get a chance the last time we were here."
Kurt's eyes grew wide. "Really?"
"Yeah. We decorated it very much the same, but not entirely. Mostly because the room isn't square anymore." Gohan waved a hand indicating that Kurt should follow him and Videl upstairs.
The house wasn't large, but it wasn't small either. It had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, dining room, family room, library, and basement.
Kurt's room was upstairs, at the rear of the house. The windows were dormers so the room slanted on one side. An identical room stood across from it at the opposite side of the hallway. His room was painted the color of the summer sky and his posters were tacked neatly to the walls. "We just used sticky tack," Videl peeled off one corner of a poster to show the mutant, "so that you can re-arrange the posters if you would like."
Kurt shook his head in disbelief. "No one has ever done anything so nice for me!" He hugged Videl around the waist, crying into her shirt. The woman lifted up the boy and he buried his head in her shoulder. "You're the first people to ever do anything like this for me!"
"You're our SON, Kurt." Gohan gently rubbed circles around the child's back in a soothing motion. "Of course we will do things like this for you."
Kurt only sniffed harder. "It's just so hard to believe." He finally admitted. I feel like...I actually belong."
"Good," Videl smiled, "because you do."
Kurt lifted his head and looked around in wonder. "My home." He whispered, testing the words out on his tongue. "My family."
The words had never sounded so sweet.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kurt had finally mastered the technique Gohan had been teaching him before he could learn to fly. Shooting ki blasts had become almost second nature and drawing out his energy was quickly becoming quite easy.
He would learn to fly today.
He would also be turning eight.
"Kurt!" Gohan yawned, stumbling down the hallway, "Time to get up for school!"
"I'm awake!" The boy grinned. He wondered if his parents knew about his birthday today. He was eight now!
"You ready for flying lessons?" Gohan stretched. He'd obviously gotten the heavy sleep his race required once a week the night before.
"Hai!" Kurt chrirruped. "Did you know that today is-"
"Hurry up you two!" Videl shouted up the stairs. Gohan gave him an apologetic look.
"She summons. We'd better hurry." He lifted Kurt onto his shoulders and rushed down the stairs.
Kurt sighed in disappointment. Today was his birthday, but no one knew. He supposed he should have figured that would happen. Things had been so different from what he was used to, and he HAD hoped that they would give him a birthday party, but he also knew a freak like him didn't deserve it. Kurt sighed. It figured.
"We'll have to hurry to get you to school on time." Videl sighed. She turned to Gohan a questioning look in her eyes.
"I was going to send him with Goten on Kinto'un." Gohan admitted. "but I will fly him myself if you'd like."
"No, no. I bet he'd like the cloud. He CAN ride it, yes?"
"I would imagine so." Gohan shrugged. "We'll have to find out. Are you finished with your breakfast, Kurt?"
"Hai, Otousan." Kurt sounded slightly dejected, but Gohan ignored it.
Instead, Gohan lifted Kurt from his chair and settled the boy on his shoulders before walking outside. "KINTO'UN!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, making Kurt give a slight wince.
Then, the boy's eyes widened. A smallish yellow cloud sounding a bit like a sputtering car flew towards them. "What is THAT?" Kurt breathed.
"Kinto'un." Gohan laughed at the boy's wonder. "Hop on. We need to see if you fall through. I doubt it though."
Kurt shrugged and jumped from Gohan's shoulders, trusting that if anything happened, the Demi Saiya-Jin would catch him. He bounced lightly as he hit the cloud and giggled in delight. "You have to be pure of heart to ride it." Gohan explained.
Kurt's head shot up. "There must be a mistake then!" Kurt cried. "I can't be pure-I'm a demon!"
"No you're not." Gohan jumped onto the cloud next to Kurt. "You, my son, are a boy. Now, you and Goten are going to school together. He'll tell you how to direct Kinto'un, okay?"
"Hai, Otousan." Kurt looked startled as Gohan dropped his backpack onto the cloud and began counting backwards from five.
At zero, Goten raced from the other house across the clearing. "Like clockwork." Gohan muttered to himself with a slight laugh. "Have fun you two!"
Kinto'un, with Kurt riding, and Goten raced away into the morning light.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kurt was slightly upset that no one seemed to remember his birthday, but they had already done so much for him that he didn't feel he had the right to say anything about it. His head dropped towards his desk as the teacher continued to speak, her lecture seeming to last forever. When lunch finally rolled around, he didn't get a chance to tell either Goten nor Trunks about his birthday (Trunks was in detention and Goten offered to help clean the blackboards for Setsuna-sensei). But, on the bright side, he didn't get beaten up today!
The mutant smiled to himself as he exited the school unscathed and was surprised to find Gohan standing in front of the building, arms crossed and appearing bored. "Come on, Kurt." Gohan waved a hand. "We're going straight home, but we need to stop at the store first really quick, okay?"
"I though you had work today?" Kurt frowned in confusion. "Didn't you?"
"I took the day off to work at the house. We need to get plaster." Gohan opened the capsule car and the two hurried to the store before Gohan picked Kurt up and flew towards their home at a leisurely pace.
Neither said a word until they reached the younger Son residence and Gohan put the boy down. "Let's go on in." He gestured to the door.
Hesitanly, Kurt entered.
"SURPRISE!!!" Bulma turned the lights on. "Happy birthday, Kurt!" Goten giggled.
"We're sorry we stayed away, but Goten can't keep his mouth shut and we were afraid he'd spill so we ended up in detention and cleaning erasers." Trunks made a face.
"You knew it was my birthday?" Kurt gasped. "You-you bothered throwing me a party?"
"Of course, little one." Gohan stroked his hair gently. "Now don't you want to open your presents?"
"I have presents?" Kurt's eyes were wide in awe. "I've never had presents before. Never ever!"
"Never?" Chichi's eye grew teary. "Well if I ever meet the people that never gave you anything, I'll kill them!"
"O-Obassan, you don't have to, for me." Kurt hugged her. "I'm not worth that."
Chichi shook her finger at the child. "Don't tell me what you're not worth!" She scolded. "I say you are so you are and my boy thought so to. And Goten obviously agrees or he would have been fighting with you ALL the time!"
Kurt blushed. "I...I...thank you, Obassan!" He sniffed and hugged her. "No one's ever said anything so nice."
Chichi smiled and hugged him in return. "Now they have."
It was the best night ever.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
(A/N) Well, I got another chapter out. I'm writing a little at night, every night, so chapters should be a little faster since I've got me a schedule all figured out. Well, I hope you like this new chapter. I've got plans for the future, and you'll probably hate me when I'm done, but never fear, you will love it!
Well, hope you liked! Review, please! Flames are for s'mores!
Ja ne!
~*~Lady Foeseeker~*~