Author Notes: And thanks to the recent winter storm, I had inspiration for this again. Yay. Cute stuff.

Pairing: Goku x Chi-Chi

Words: 1,828

AU Setting: High School

~!~ Just Another High School Romance ~!~

~!~ Part 4: I Walked With You ~!~

It was one of those days when Chi-Chi really despised the school's uniform dress code. Girls not being allowed to wear pants was just absurd, though she appreciated the chance to wear her dark leggings. Her several layers of dark leggings. Most other girls in the school did the same, so she wasn't the only one making herself look a little less flattering for the sake of comfort.

Still, when she glanced out the window, she shivered. Frost was building around the window edges, making it difficult to see, especially from a seat that was on the opposite of the room from the outside. Still, she could tell that the very atmosphere was dark and dreary. Dreary and cold. As many times as she wished for snow, she also wished for it to be summer again. Dancing in the rain under a hot sun sounded so wonderful right now.

Chi-Chi sighed as her class was dismissed, and she packed her books into her bag, frowning at the little binder she used to help keep track of Goku's progress in their tutoring sessions. (She wanted him – and his grandfather – to be able to see his progress by the end of the quarter after all).

Of course, with the weather as it was, she was going to have to cancel their daily after school meeting. He'd be happy to get out of work, but she knew she would be missing the little extra time she got to spend with him. The little moments of trying to get him to focus, of him making her laugh even as he distracted the both of them. No wonder Goku had so many friends in so many different spectrums of the high school social classes. There was just something...well...he was simply fun to be around.

Stepping out of the classroom while she finished sliding into her coat, Chi-Chi felt her eyes widen when she caught the familiar wild black hair among the crowd of students rushing to get outside. He had his own winter coat and scarf, which reminded her to tie her own, and he was standing there against the far wall just in front of her classroom door. She took a moment to stop in the doorway and stare back, surprised to see him actually waiting on her, and as soon as his eyes found hers, he seemed to light up with his usual grin as he hopped across the hallway.

"Hey, Chi-Chi," he said as he grabbed her hand. "Come on. You gotta see this."

She blinked down at where their hands touched, noting how he was already wearing gloves, too. "See what?"

He grinned and tugged her along down the hallway as he explained. "Well, I know you talk about the snow you used to get wherever you grew up, and it doesn't really snow here very often because it's usually much warmer. But look -"

By the time he'd finished talking, they had reached the school's entrance. Goku pointed up to the dreary sky, and Chi-Chi felt her eyes widen at what she saw. Childhood memories flooded her mind as the soft little flakes fell from the darkened and murky clouds. Memories of sliding on the hills near her old house, of her father giving her free reign to explore the mountain in the snow with exceptions of course. Ever since she moved here for the better high school education, she'd miss the snowy winters of her childhood, and she'd mumble about it whenever the weather turned cold.

Turning to Goku's bright and watchful eyes, Chi-Chi felt her own grin break free. He'd remembered. He'd listened. She never could tell when he paid attention, but she'd been so sure he wouldn't care about her nostalgic ramblings. Apparently he did.

After a few moments of staring at each other, Goku suddenly broke the connection with a loud exclamation, his eyes growing wide as he looked out over the falling snow – and the inches already piling up. "Oh crap! My bike's gonna be frozen!"

Before she could comment, Goku rushed off to the bike racks located outside the school. If he had remembered to drop her hand, she might have followed him anyway. Instead, she was pulled right along with him, trying desperately to keep her feet steady even as she was forced to match his faster than average pace.

"Goku!" She called, trying to get his attention as he dragged her around. "Goku, be careful, there's -"

Ice.

The slip happened as if in slow motion. They were mere steps away from the bike rack when the fast pace suddenly took a new turn and Chi-Chi knew he had lost his balance on a patch of invisible ice. Somehow, Goku still managed to keep his feet on the ground, but it was an awkward slide the whole way. Chi-Chi, on the other hand, could only keep herself in control for so long, not with his grip still tugging her along for the ride.

She closed her eyes as she felt her feet lose traction, as her arm ached against a new pull. Her shoes weren't the best for such a situation and it didn't take long for her own weak control to drop away from her. She only hoped when she fell it wouldn't be…

...soft and warm?

Chi-Chi blinked her eyes open and found herself staring up at Goku's apologetic smile. "Hey, sorry about that. I kinda slipped on something there. Good thing the bike rack was so close, huh?"

The bike rack. Chi-Chi turned her head to see that his back was against a frozen rack full of very frozen bikes. Still, he'd somehow used it to get his balance and turn around in time to catch her and keep her from falling. Though a part of her wanted to think about how fast that made him, she was a little too focused on her current position to worry about the how anymore.

In his arms. She was in his arms. Her face was in his chest. And… Oh he was so warm, too, and he kind of smelled like Christmas; well, like a pine tree at least, but that was probably because he lived out in the woods and -

"Chi-Chi?" His voice was so close; she could almost feel it rumble in his chest from here. "Are you okay?"

At his question, she felt her face heat up as she fell back into reality. What was she doing? Too close. Way too close. For way too long. She pushed away from him, noting how he easily let her go, though his arms did kind of hover in the air for a moment.

"I'm f-fine. Thanks."

His head tilted to the side, snow falling from one of his hair's outrageous spikes at the movement. "Are you sure? Your face looks red."

"Oh my gosh!" The exclamation dropped out before she could hold it back, and she turned away quickly. Best to start walking now. Yeah. Walking. "I'm fine, Goku. I should really just...get back to the apartments. You know, before the weather can get worse."

"All right," he said, followed by a strange clunky sound, like something heavy was just broken or pulled free. "I'll walk with you."

"Huh?" She stopped and turned as he walked up to stand beside her. "You don't have to...Goku, what are you doing?"

He blinked, as if not understanding the question. Since he wasn't going to explain, Chi-Chi stood in that one spot and stared at his confused grin with wide eyes. He'd freed his bike from the frozen rack, but now he just had the frozen bike slung over his shoulder. As if it was nothing. So casually. He really was the strongest guy in the school; if his martial arts skills were as good as his strength and speed, then no wonder Master Roshi was so upset over Goku being banned from the tournament. He certainly wasn't the smartest, though. The icicles on the bike were already poking into his coat and breaking off to slide down his back, whether he noticed or not. Good thing his bag was on his other side, and she hoped his coat was thick enough to keep him warm as all that ice melted around him.

"Oh, my bike?" Goku said, glancing over his shoulder as if he could see it. "I figured it would be easier to carry like this, since riding it isn't gonna happen. Would have been nice if we could still ride it, though, huh?"

She blinked out of her initial amazement and found that she couldn't stop staring at his eyes as the snow fell between them. They really needed to get home as fast as possible. There was no telling when or if the storm would take a turn for the worse, and she did not want to be caught out in the middle of it. After all, so much snow was already on the ground…

"Goku," she muttered. "You should probably just go straight home. You live out in the country and it's a long way to -"

"What? No, I want to walk you home." The pout on his face, the words he didn't realize he said… "What if you slip on ice again? I gotta be there to catch you."

Turning away to hide her blush, Chi-Chi decided to at least start walking. She could argue on the way. Oh, but it was such a sweet thing to say, to do. She didn't want to tell him not to follow her.

In fact, he actually skipped ahead of her. "Here. I'll go a few steps ahead and you can follow me so we know you can't slip on -"

"Goku," she interrupted. "Now you're just being silly."

"What?" His pout was real but the shine in his eye made her certain that he knew exactly what he was doing. "I know it's my fault you slipped the first time, but this way -"

"Goku," she said again as she walked up to stand next to him, hands on her hips this time. "Don't be ridiculous. Walk with me like a normal person. Just promise me one thing."

His smile lit up everything around them, like a bright beacon in the middle of a cloudy, dreary winter refusing to go out. "Yeah, sure, what is it?"

"If the storm gets bad, promise you won't try to walk all the way home by yourself."

"Oh," he blinked, then smiled. "You're really worried, huh? I didn't know a snow storm could be that bad."

"Goku," she sighed. "Just -"

He laughed, shifting the bike over his shoulder as he turned and prepared to start walking again, though he kept his shining eyes on her. "All right, all right. I promise. But that means you'll have to deal with me all night at your place."

This time when she turned to keep walking, the blush refused to leave.