School was out, a little earlier than was regularly scheduled, but so was the snow that had planned to start in the late afternoon; it had decided to start mid-morning. It was early afternoon in Satan City and the snow was blanketing the city. What was more uplifting was the fact that it was the last day of school before the winter holidays vacation.
Gohan did not see what the big deal was. His home was covered with way more snow than this on a regular winter basis, but he just shoveled out a path for his mother should she request it, or let it stay where it was, when he wasn't playing in it with Goten.
Students ran into the white wonder and the snowballs started flying. Gohan, books in hand, waited by classroom 109. Where he would normally wait for his friend Videl to walk to lunch with, he waited to walk out with. The students looked to be taking a test. The instructor kept a stern look upon her students who glanced at clock, gazed out windows, at each other. Apparently, class wasn't over until she said it was over. Not missing a beat, the instructor catches Gohan peeking in the small glass window, and giving a look that would scare Vegeta, watches him disappear. Gohan ducked back and waited by the wall.
Finally, a very confident student opens the door and floats out while students behind him drag their low spirits behind them. Upon getting their bearings about them, file their disappointment away for a later time and run into the winter wonder-warzone. Videl is the last to leave
"Hey Videl," Gohan greets as he falls into step with his friend.
"Hey Gohan," she replied bitterly and Gohan thought she must've been angry about being detained for the test.
"Your teacher scares me," Gohan fretted, trying to cheer her up.
Videl smiled. "She could be my dad's trainer and show him something," Videl laughed.
They walked to Videl's locker, she got her things and they left.
The Holidays have definitely started. Everyone was in good spirits. Besides the snowball fights, kids were chatting excitedly, some were even singing holiday songs. Though the words were follied, the traditional jingle remained and received their designated chuckles and snorts.
"At least it'll be a white Christmas," Videl grumbled as she and Gohan dodged snowballs. Gohan flashed a hand out, caught a snowball and handed it to Videl.
"Souvenir?" he questioned. Videl took the snowball and lobbed it at the back of a blond-haired, black knit capped student's head.
"Whoops, guess that's why I can't have nice things" she chided as they kept on. In the corner of her eye, Videl saw Sharpener throw a snowball at a tall, bald-headed man, who dodged just in the nick of time, leading the snowball to smash through the drivers-side window of a red truck in the student parking lot. Videl looked at Sharpener and then at her victim. Gohan followed her gaze and understood.
"Let's go," Videl hushed and they increased their speed until they were for enough to not seem involved in what was going to go down.
"Do you have to work today?" Videl questioned, leading the pair down the Main Street. The activity busted along the busy shopping lane, complimented by the decked storefronts, light posts, apartment windows…anything that could hold holly, ivy and all of her festive companions.
"No, not today. Tomorrow is my last day." Gohan worked on a tree farm chopping, preparing and packing the trees onto cars. They told him it was strenuous work. Maybe that was why the work went fast and the tips were big. Gohan only saw it as a way to help his mom and little brother and to buy them gifts for Christmas. "Actually, today I was going to buy gifts for my family and a few friends. Hey, if you don't have to hurry home, would you like to help me? I'm not exactly sure what to buy, especially for my mom."
"I don't have anywhere to be, so I'll go," Videl offered vaguely.
"Thanks," Gohan responded. "I already know what Goten wants. He and Trunks have been talking about some game for weeks. By the way, Goten has been asking me when you would be coming over; says he didn't want you to learn to fly because you wouldn't want to come over," Gohan told, growing more embarrassed as his story went on.
"I'll just have to stop by, that is, when after I get him a present," Videl stated, blushing in the slightest, turning away with the excuse of finding the main toy store. "Follow me." She led Gohan to a five story building with tall windows lit up with blinking twinkle lights and Christmas sale advertisements. "Is that the game?" she asked, pointing to a movie-sized poster of a few well-equipped men facing a horde of monsters.
"That will be it," Gohan confirmed, going inside. There were toys everywhere; shelves stocked with boxes, bins with red, blue, yellow bouncing balls, remote-controlled airplanes flying above their heads, action figures on displays, talking toys waiting for you to press here, classic toys, wagons, sleds, sliders and everything imaginable for a good time.
"I think Goten would enjoy going down our hills on this," Gohan mused, picking up a round, green, snow-slider with two handles on either side for balance.
"At the speed you all seem to travel, you'd burn right through the bottom," Videl huffed, holding up a blue one and pointing at the bottom.
"Heh, heh, so it'll be a challenge. I think he'll do fine with it. I'll, umm, take a spin on it to show you," he reassured, grinning and scratching the back of his head.
"I bet you would," Videl cracked, picturing it and holding back laugher. They took the green slider and went in search of the game. The shelf was nearly empty. The upright stacked boxes now lay like toppled dominos bearing only a few left. Videl picked one off the shelf and studied it before handing it to Gohan. "You've seen worse, you mentioned," Videl said casually. After picking up various other toys Gohan recalls his younger brother mentioning and a few he thought he might enjoy, purchased by Videl, she took him over to a well-known department store. This time, Videl offered her suggestions and Gohan could only agree, for he was clueless on what to get for his mother.
Having met his mother a few times, she confidently assumed a few well-received gifts: a soft fleece pajama set, a pair of earrings similar in shape, but different in color and a warm sweater. Gohan suggested a pair of sturdy snow boots in her size because she hates messing up her other shoes in the snow and slush, and frozen feet. A pair of warm slippers made it to the top of the pile.
After Gohan paid, Videl excused herself to go pick up an item her dad had ordered and told Gohan to take one more look around. As soon as she left, Gohan hustled back to the jewelry department and purchased a silver necklace with a pair of wings as its pendant. Turning crimson again, he stammered as he paid the man and hastily hid the purchase in-between other gift-wrapped items. If he thought he was bad at selecting the right gifts, he knew without a doubt that wrapping them would be even more difficult, so he paid a little more to have the gift wrappers do it for him.
Coming back with a bag of wrapped items, Videl led the way out, finding it hard to look directly at her friend.
It was a quarter to six when Videl arrived at the Son house. She told Gohan earlier that she would stop by later to drop of Goten's presents.
Landing in the front yard, Videl could not believe her eyes. The snow was deeper than it had been in the city, yet it seemed peaceful and pure; no plows to soil it, push it where it didn't belong, or cause a fuss, period. A path was dug out from the door down the road a while, but this was starting to fill with the still-falling snow. The snowman near the house, once started as a man of snow, but then turned into a monster: the creature of snow stood eight feet tall, and each segment had two branches stuck in on either side all the way to the top, where a traditional two pieces of coal stood for eyes and a carrot represented the nose.
Videl snorted. Nothing was going to be normal with this kid, but then again, he taught her to fly, so that aspect of his life she'd come to accept. Then she smiled. A snowman in the yard was simple fun and she had anything but simplicity.
Gohan must have sensed her touchdown for he opened the door and peered out.
"I see you've flown here," he greeted smiling. "You are really practicing!"
"I have a great teacher," she blushed and turned away, returning her attention to the snowman.
"Yeah, about that," Gohan began, embarrassed again. "It started out as a snowman, but then Goten wanted him to be bigger. He looks like a snow centipede if you ask me."
"Videl's here!" a small voice rang with excitement.
"Come on in," Gohan gestured and she walked in.
"Hey Goten!" Videl exclaimed as she dropped the large bag she had with her as Goten jumped up and hug-tackled her.
"Where have you been? I told Gohan to tell you to come over 'cuz we missed you hanging out here, but I bet he didn't say! Didn't you Gohan?!" the young boy, bearing a striking resemblance to his older brother, glared.
"I did, I did," Gohan defended, holding up two hands.
"I brought you something," Videl smiled and reached for the bag she had dropped. Goten's eyes lit up when she pulled out the colorfully wrapped presents with brilliant bows and laid them under the tree
"Who are those for?" he exclaimed in awe as she set them under the tall, decorated tree. The ornaments were mismatched, many hand-crafted including seven marble dragon balls and a few glass balls bearing the Capsule Corp logo.
"Gohan," Goten whispered. He and Videl looked at him. "Do you think mom knows about that broken ornament?" he whispered, pointing to the glass ball's top with a crescent top of a large C and the top that dangles from the hook are the only remains. The tiny shards of glass lay behind the pile of presents underneath. It looked as though Goten put the fragment back on impulsively.
"She knows," came a voice from the kitchen. Chichi entered the living room with a box of ornaments and a tray with three mugs of hot cocoa. "Honestly, can enough of these ornaments survive the month?" That was when Videl noticed a few bare spots on the tree.
"Sorry mom," the boys apologized in unison. They were a bit strong and when they were not careful, ornaments, along with other breakable objects tended to fall.
"I found these at a good price when I was out today, so use them to fill in the bare spots and BE CAREFUL! Hi sweetie," Chichi said, turning to Videl who offered to take the tray.
"Hi Chichi," she greeted in return. Chichi handed the box of ornaments to Gohan who proceeded to open it. Videl placed a mug of cocoa next to him on the table and handed one to Goten, who had his eye back on the presents. He took a drink and burnt his tongue.
"Videl, did you ever break any ornaments when you were putting up your tree?" Goten questioned, trying to soothe his scalded tongue.
"My dad has people who set up the Christmas tree, so they're pretty careful, I'm sure," she replied, faltering on her words.
"Do you get to help?"
"It normally just pops up one day," and seeing the look on her little buddy's face, added, "like MAGIC!" He didn't seem convinced.
"You should help us then!" he exclaimed as he went over to Gohan prying over the seemingly heavily taped box. Gohan lifted the cover and offered her an ornament to take out.
"Oh, you don't have to," she replied shyly. "This is your thing."
"Go ahead, teach this pack of wolves what it means to be careful," Chichi encouraged. From the corner of her eye, she saw her son's grins turn into sneer and a pair of guttural growls emitted from their throats.
Before the roughhousing commenced, Videl spoke up, "Alright." She took a gold bauble from the box and placed it on the bottom, taking the shattered piece off and collecting the shards. Goten took a silver icicle and float to the near top and placed it there. Gohan took a shiny red and white peppermint and placed it right in the middle of the bare spot. Chichi watched as all the ornaments disappeared onto the tree, more than filling in the bald patches and adding a little more color and light about it. The mugs emptied too as the contents cooled just slightly. Videl smiled at the work when they finished. Sure, nothing was perfect with matching ornaments, lights, garland, all in the perfect color scheme, but it was unique and radiant all the same. She guessed some of the ornaments were older, and had seen a lot of years. She did not have that.
"I hope to see this like this when I wake up tomorrow morning," Chichi scolded as she left the room.
"Videl, what is your favorite thing about Christmas?" Goten asked with bright eyes.
"Right now, I'm enjoying spending time with you guys," she smiled. "We used to have Christmas like this when I was little. We used to chop down a tree and decorate it. We used to string popcorn and wrap it around. We had homemade hot chocolate and opened presents bright and early.
"Gohan said your mom is not here anymore."
"She died when I was eight," Videl told him, missing her mom.
"Our dad died too. Maybe your mom knows our dad over there," he guessed.
"Maybe," Videl smiled. "Ever since my dad became famous, he's turned into a major Scrooge," she scoffed.
"If you don't have any plans sweetie, you can join us. It's not much, but you're more than welcome."
"It's perfect," Videl exclaimed before she could stop herself, and then blushed. "Maybe I can convince my dad to have a small comfortable Christmas."
"On Christmas Eve, we have dinner with Bulma and her family at Capsule Corp," Gohan told her. "She likes to go big, but it's all done by her family." Gohan turned to his mother and muttered, "Even Vegeta is forced to help." She laughed and he joined her.
"Can I open just ONE present?" Goten begged. Videl could not resist his childlike wonder and said just one, but then turned to Chichi and Gohan who shrugged. In a blur, Goten seized a small gift from under their tree, unwrapped it and gave a loud YEAH!
"This is just what I wanted Gohan! Thank you! I'm gonna start playing now so I can beat Trunks! He said he already knows his mom is going to get it for him, but he's going down," the small child continued as he went to his room to play.
"I better get going," Videl announced as she stood up.
"Leaving so soon?" Chichi questioned, rising also.
"I'm going to start on that white Christmas that I want and not what our servants have planned," she replied with a sly look on her face.
"Gohan, aren't you going to fly her home?"
"Mom, I was just going to say that!" Gohan said, more to the ground than anyone else.
"Good! That snow is really starting to come down." Gohan and Videl donned their jackets and made their way outside. The path was covered and the snowdrifts transformed the landscape into a pure wonderland, quiet in the dark.
"There's a few gifts in there for your mom and umm, you," Videl stuttered flushing and turning away. "You can open it when I'm not around."
"Umm, yeah, I took the li—" Gohan stopped and took a small wrapped box out of his pocket. Videl's eyes lit up as she took the box he handed to her.
"Thank you Gohan," Videl said earnestly, placing the box in her pocket.
"You know you are still welcome to come over on Christmas," he reminded her, their offer remaining.
"I'll keep that in mind," Videl winked and they took off into the night.
Merry Christmas!
Question: What do you think Videl got Gohan?