It Was Meant to Be

by BloodRed13

AU Gohanna is not your average girl, she's the first saiyan human hybrid ever born and a fierce warrior. She's into many of the same things other girls like, boys, shopping, boys at least she was until she meets Videl who's not quiet the tomboy everyone says she is.

4. I can live with it

AN: Okay so this edit took me way longer than I had anticipated, but I'd like you to know that this chapter is about 6,000 words longer than the original and I think your going to like it. There won't be an update next weekend, but I'll do my best to get the next one out the following week when I have a little more time. Anyway, this is a chapter edit, if you don't want to re-read, that's fine by me, you won't miss too many new details when I release the new chapter (9), but seeing as this took me weeks of editing I hope you'll read and review. Thanks and enjoy.

P.S. You don't need to read the authors note or end note below if this is your second read through. It's the same wording as before.

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AN: First off I want to apologize for the long wait. This chapter was just so hard to write and I think the same will be said for the next few chapters as well. I've decided to add a couple more chapter than I was originally planning on and I'm going to fit them in next so they won't be getting into the big scene for some time now. If you really want to blame someone for the slowness on the update blame my twin because my twin occupied all of my time this last weekend or their probably would have been a chapter update on Sunday, shame on you KJ, that's the initials for my twin's user name for . Anyway, no one could guess who would start this chapter and I guess this is my fault. I didn't give you guys enough clues so here's a couple of clues for the next chapter. One this person has been given a line in the story already, two this person has absolutely nothing to do with Videl, and three this person has not started a chapter yet. Now I think I've just given it away, but I thought Olivia would be the obvious choice for this chapter too so I could be wrong. So on with the chapter.

P.S.I am still, unfortunately, not the owner of Dragonball Z and can't claim any of the character's or basic plot line; I can however claim capverses, the coolest shoes known to the DBZ universe.

P.P.S.The color of the capverses is dedicated to my twin and again this story will not be featuring a male Gohan with a female Videl, so I don't know why you're still reading this if that's your hopes.

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It Was Meant to Be

Chapter 4: I can live with it

The moon's pale rays were slowly over powered by the rising sun in the pre-dawn sky. The dark blue haze of night lifted as the sun inched higher and higher over the horizon, staining the morning sky orange, pink, and gold. The new morning rays shown down on the world below it, chasing the lingering night shadows away. Beyond the tall black iron gates that encircled the estate, the strengthening dawn light penetrated the silk curtains covering the windows to light each room and hallway in the building, casting a heavenly light on its inhabitants. One such inhabitant bustled around the building, preparing to move from one room to the next in order to check on each area of the manor. She moved relentlessly with purpose and speed. It was her job and she excelled at it.

Olivia Blair had been up for an hour already, preparing for the tasks of the day. Like every other morning, she'd gotten up just before the sun, the dark pre-dawn sky welcoming her as she completed her morning calisthenics, a four mile run. It typically took a little over thirty minutes to complete, a time she would have abhorred ten or fifteen years ago, but now it couldn't be helped. She was no spring chicken, and she most definitely wasn't getting any younger. Either way calisthenics were always followed by a shower as she moved on to her own personal grooming. In and out in five minutes or less she never dallied. There just wasn't any time for that. She had a schedule to keep after all.

Hair up in a tight bun, she was dressed and out the door in minutes. She nodded at the guard stationed in her hallway as she strode purposely towards the first task of the day, overseeing the estate's security. As was part of her routine, she started with the surveillance teams for the property, preparing to check on the six men and women who made up the night surveillance complement. Olivia took security seriously, going so far as to assign two separate rooms in completely different areas of the building to maintain entirely separate surveillance feeds. She'd even taken precautions and limited the number of people aware of each room's location. As she saw it, security surveillance was on a need to know basis and frankly only Videl, Hercule, the six individuals assigned to each room and herself needed to know. Even then those twelve individuals only had the location of their own team rooms, a room that was moved on a yearly if not biyearly basis.

While the arrangement allowed for maximum security, it was not altogether the best set-up. All any particularly desperate individual needed to do was follow her on her periodic rounds as she visited the surveillance rooms personally several times a day. However knowing her own security weakness allowed her to work around it. She never simply walked right to the surveillance rooms. No, she always took some indirect path that had her stopping at numerous stations and areas before checking in on each team. It was this type of set-up and ingenuity that made her the best. It was what she'd trained for.

Today she was starting with the employee parking garage. Its sole purpose to allow any Satan Manor employee the option of leaving their vehicles decapsulized as they carried out their shifts whether they resided within the mansion or not. Although Olivia made it a point to discourage the early morning staff from residing away from the mansion, sometimes it couldn't be helped. Not everyone enjoyed the basic design of the staff housing.

Mr. Burke, one of the many security personnel, guarded the garage. Standing straight backed at attention his eyes shifted to focus on the small stern woman in front of him.

"Mr. Burke, I hope all is faring well," Olivia stated as she stopped to address the guard.

"Hai Mistress Olivia," Mr. Burke replied quickly, not wanting to waste any of her time by hesitating. "All shift changes have occurred without incident," he continued without missing a beat.

"Thank you, now for the list of the staff personnel that have already arrived," she commanded. Swiftly Mr. Burke retrieved his morning roster and began to list off the names in alphabetical order. Olivia nodded once at the completion of the list. It looked like everyone that needed to be here early was accounted for. That was always a good start to any day.

"Thank you Mr. Burke that will be all," Olivia replied as she turned on her heels and continued on her journey. With the sheer size of the mansion, she could not afford to linger. Olivia's black pumps echoed off the walls of each corridor as she made her way to several more key security locations, the quick, hollow sound a steady rhythm that kept her mind occupied and away from her real worries.

Following her fourth security stop Olivia shifted her attention to the first surveillance room for the day's rounds. Currently the room was tucked away between a series of storage rooms in a relatively isolated section of the building. She quite liked the isolation. There were only a select number of individuals that would need to visit this area of the building. From a security standpoint it made it easier to spot trespassers trying to get their hands on Satan Manor surveillance feeds. Entering the first surveillance room, Olivia addressed the three individuals immediately.

"Please report, did you find any new or suspicious occurrences?" she questioned the crew as they all scrambled out of their chairs to stand at attention at her presence.

"No ma'am, there have been no new occurrences since our last report," a freckled faced red-headed young man replied sharply, his eyes never shifting from their forward looking position.

"Thank you Mr. Frances," she said as her eyes quickly swept the interior of the room before she turned on her heels and left the room without further comment.

Daniel relaxed back into his chair with the rest of his team with a slightly confused look on his face. "I wonder what's wrong with Mistress Olivia," he pondered aloud as he mentally went over the last few minutes. 'Mistress Olivia is usually so thorough with our work station inspection,' he thought as he remembered her quick perusal of the area. It came without comment, neither verbal nor non-verbal. It just didn't sit well with him or any of them if the small frowns marring the faces of his two associates were any indicator.

It was just too strange. He could still remember a time when they were all pretty much new to the job where someone had haphazardly left a half empty bag of chips laying at a work station. It had taken all of a second before Mistress Olivia started in on the entire group. Their verbal berating had come in the form of softly spoken words, but the tone had been so cold it felt as if their hearts had frozen. The message had been clear. The Mistress expected order and cleanliness at all times, anything less than perfection was met with strict punishment that was always enforced to the letter. This was why it was downright unnerving for Mistress Olivia to leave without some remark either positive non-verbal cues or negative verbal punishments.

"I sure hope everything will be alright," Daniel added before returning his complete focus to the video feed in front of him.

While Daniel Frances was contemplating his Mistress's mood, said woman was making her way towards the second surveillance room. Again she stopped at several key security points, but as she crossed the mansion she also made it a point to check on some of the more basic household areas. She made a quick stop at the servant's wing, checking to make sure shift changes were being completed smoothly. She made a fast stop at the freight dock, both to check on the security in the area as well as to check the scheduled deliveries. She'd even made a stop by the kitchens. While there was still a good bit of time before breakfast, it never hurt to ensure the order of the kitchen. Videl was a voracious eater after all.

Each stop brought her closer and closer to her destination until she was in the middle of a bustling corridor. The second surveillance room was located in a particularly populated area of the mansion. While you couldn't track individuals in the area, it did allow for the room to remain anonymous. It was just another room in a corridor filled with them. The benefit of its location was the fact it made the room itself seemed altogether unimportant. Olivia liked this particular set-up only slightly more than the other. Hiding in plain sight was a skill she'd mastered early in her career and had come to heavily rely on it now.

Altogether her security room set-up was impressive. It allowed for the contingency that if one of the rooms was discovered, the other room would not be in a similar area of the building. It would slow down any would-be trespassers which would allow extended time to spot the individual acting in a suspicious manner. It was a system she'd been able to effectively work with minimal assistance for years. Olivia couldn't help her inner smile at the very brilliance of the surveillance room locations. Sometimes she really enjoyed her work.

'And sometimes I really hate it,' she thought with a small wince as her legs protested in pain at the pace she was taking. But it couldn't be avoided. She'd known the size of Satan Manor when she'd agreed to manage it nearly seven years ago. She would eventually need to sit down and re-organize, but it wouldn't be today. Unfortunately she never quite got rid of her nasty habit to procrastinate. She'll wait until she absolutely can't keep up anymore and not a moment sooner. And even then the situation would have to be dire.

Discarding the notion of change, Olivia entered the second surveillance room, cleverly named Surveillance Room Bravo. What could she say? She liked to know the exact purpose for each room without having to guess. Creativity really wasn't necessary.

Upon entering the room, Olivia was greeted by a familiar scene as the three individuals scurried out of their seats to stand at attention. She wasted no time.

"The report, were there any new or suspicious occurrences?" she asked to the room.

"No ma'am, we found nothing new since our last report, however…" Ms. Anova replied. Her dark features pulled into a frown as she hesitated in her response.

"Hai Ms. Anova, what unusual occurrence did you observe?" Olivia probed. She'd learned a long time ago that subordinates had to be treated with patience. They were easily intimated which resulted in hesitation when they brought forward information that they thought could distress her. After all no one wanted to be the shot messenger for bring bad news.

"Ms. Videl left her room again before her normal 0500 hours workout," Ms. Anova responded quickly, standing ramrod with steady eyes ready for any backlash that may come her way.

"What time did she leave her room?" Olivia asked. She just barely succeeded at keeping the worry out of her voice.

"She left her room at 0313," Ms. Anova responded promptly, clearly stowing away any personal emotions attached to the situation. Olivia scarcely avoided frowning. It appeared to be getting worse.

"And the location she travelled to?" she continued despite already having a pretty good idea. After all Videl had been visiting this particular type of room early every day for nearly two weeks.

"Ms. Videl headed promptly to lower workout room Delta Four before moving to room Charlie One, shortly followed by room Charlie Five. She is currently in workout room Delta Two," she replied quickly.

Her suspicions confirmed, Olivia turned on her heels and headed out the door. She still had work to do.

Anya glanced at her team following Mistress Olivia's exit, wanting to know if the others noticed her odd behavior. "Did anyone else get the feeling that the Mistress wasn't completely with us today?" She wasn't surprised when she received two nods in confirmation. So it wasn't just her. 'That report was a lot more stressful then it needed to be,' she thought as she slid back into her chair. But it couldn't be helped. Mistress Olivia was clearly worried over Ms. Videl's lack of sleep. The result of that worry was an ominous cloud that shook her to the core. She only hoped that whatever was plaguing Ms. Videl would stop soon, for everyone's health and sanity.

Several corridors down, Olivia was finishing her rounds of Satan Manor interior before she headed out to the central guardhouse. It was her normal routine. Check the internal security. Ensure the necessary staff personnel were up and starting the day's work. Check the external security. She repeated the pattern religiously, never deviating. It was her routine and she thrived off of it.

Ensuring that the Satan Manor was running smoothly and efficiently was typically a mundane task. After all Hercule was the reigning World Champion. There weren't too many people out there crazy enough to break into his home. No, the most she had to worry about were meddlesome reporters looking for a story. Olivia reminisced on some of the more daring reporters that had been caught on the estate as she walked the corridors passing gym after gym. She remembered one such dedicated reporter who had infiltrated the regular maintenance staff. He'd worked as a regular staff member for three months before trying to break into Surveillance Room Alpha. Needless to say he was no longer working in Satan Manor. In fact he was no longer working as a journalist. No, not when she'd taken the time and effort to blacklist him. She took security very seriously after all.

Striding down another corridor Olivia was ripped from her thoughts at the sound of rapid pounding emanating from one of Hercule's gyms. Upon further inspection she realized it was workout room Delta Two, the room Videl had just been reported to be using. While she wasn't all that surprised to hear the rapid hammering of fists beating on the punching bags that took up the majority of the space in the out-of-the way training room, it did worry her. Day after day for over a week Videl escaped to several different training room to destroy her father's punching bags, ruthlessly striking the defenseless items until their seams split and the bags burst. Each new day brought with it a report of a restless night from Surveillance Room Bravo and a new set of punching bags destroyed. If she wasn't so worried over the damage Videl was doing to her body, she'd be trying to think of more economic ways to replace said punching bags. But she was worried and investing in stronger fitness equipment was probably the last thing on her mind.

Currently on the forefront of her mind was Videl's health. As time went on and Videl received less and less sleep, Olivia's worry increased. Her concern only doubled when she thought about the damage she was doing to her hands by endlessly pounding away on punching bags. Those fears had been confirmed on Monday, the day of the horrible fire that had put Videl's life at risk, again. It seemed that every week there was some incident that put her at greater and greater risk, the fire only the most recent occurrence.

'That girl's going to be the death of me,' Olivia thought as she continued down the hall, there was nothing she could do now to lessen whatever worry or fear or stress Videl was feeling. It would do her no good to stand outside the room where the girl that was so much like a daughter beat her hands raw, further damaging the already injured limbs.

'First she runs head first into a burning building, then not only does she burn her hands on a scorching water tank valve, but she also almost gets crushed to death by said tanker,' Olivia continued as she remembered the doctor's assessment of the damage, first degree burns on various parts of her body with second nearly third degree burns on the palms of her hands all of that just from the fire. When you added in the damage done by her daily pounding on her father's punching bags, it was not a pretty sight.

'There is no doubt in my mind that Videl will be the death of me,' Olivia thought as she continued on her way to the central guardhouse. 'She rushes in head first into terribly dangerous situations and tries to hide any injury she may obtain in the process,' she continued as she remembered how she found out about the injury and near fatal crushing. It hadn't been from Videl and oddly enough it hadn't been from Saiya-girl either. While she could forgive Saiya-girl for not speaking up, after all the girl never stayed at a crime scene long enough to know that she was supposed to give a statement, Videl could not be forgiven. Saiya-girl was unaware that other people needed to know what happened, while Videl just blatantly skipped over the incident in her statement to the police. Videl knew better.

No, the only person brave enough to admit to witnessing the event, an event that Videl obviously didn't want to admit happened, was the little girl Videl had rescued from the fire. Nina, too young to realize Videl didn't want everyone to know about the fallen tanker, had informed her attending medic about the incident when she realized no one was checking up on her savior. She'd only had Videl's interests at heart and Olivia thanked every deity she knew for the little girl's caring soul. Olivia was going to have to send little Nina a small thank you gift. She'd send one to Saiya-girl as well for her timely save, but she was pretty sure finding out the superhero's location would eat up valuable resources. It would also take time she didn't have. Maybe she would make it a small side project.

'Hai that girl will be the death of me and I can even see the headlines now. Head of House Dies from Worry. I can't wait,' she thought dryly as she stepped outside, walking down the path that would take her to the central guardhouse. 'It can't continue this way,' she thought giving an absentminded nod to a guard that had rushed out of her way, standing completely off the path and facing her while she passed. 'One way or another, I will find a way to help her. I will fix this situation because I can no longer just sit idly by and watch as Videl destroys herself. I will probe and I will press and I will intrude on her life if I have to,' Olivia continued as she walked through the door and headed down the hall. 'I will help that girl if it is the last thing I do,' Olivia thought as she moved forward, continuing her duties for the morning. With any luck she'd be done quickly and she could re-check on breakfast. It was the one thing she knew hadn't changed about Videl, her appetite and she'd like to keep it that way. Turning a corner, Olivia was back on her regular routine. It was always good to have routine.

Back in workout room Delta Two, Videl was beating the shit out of another punching bag, hitting it again and again with a pair of cloth wrapped hands, stained pink at the knuckles. Giving the bag another solid punch, it burst, spilling sand all over the floor. 'Damnit, this isn't working,' Videl cursed to herself. 'No matter how long or hard I hit these bags, nor how many I break I can't get her out of my head!' Son Gohanna was plaguing her every waking moment, claiming every inch of her consciousness. "It just isn't fair," her frustration was punctuated by a solid punch to the wall, marring the pristine white surface with a deep red stain as her fist slid down it, falling back to her side.

Almost every night now, she was thrown from her sleep by the intensity of the erotic dreams she didn't want. Images of long muscular legs wrapped around her haunted whatever small amount of sleep she was able to obtain. Inky black depths, fathomless in their appearance entrapped her, tortured her for every moment she was awake. She could not escape.

It was disturbing how thoroughly Son could affect her. She couldn't sleep, think or process and it was starting to drive her insane. She longed for the days before the enigma that was Son Gohanna, longed for the ability to act rationally, to sleep peacefully, and to think logically. She longed for a night that didn't involve her hands deep within the confines of long, black hair that was perpetually messy. She longed for a night without the moans and groans of two very feminine voices, the heat of skin pressed together, the taste of hot sweat as bodies work together to reach a common goal, a lustful heated goal. It unnerved her how easily she could get lost in those midnight eyes, unwillingly pulled in to a destination she wasn't sure she wanted. So she tried not to focus on it, throwing herself into every other endeavor she could get.

Her newest venture was uncovering the identity of Saiya-girl. 'Why hide behind a mask if you're one of the good guys?' Videl asked herself on numerous occasions. She didn't trust Saiya-girl fully despite the fact that she had saved her life. 'I won't fall at her feet just because she save my life.' She wouldn't do that for anyone and she most certainly didn't expect anyone to do that for her, so Saiya-girl would be no exception. 'It doesn't matter how many times she saves people, as long as she wears that disguise I can't possibly trust her,' she continued as she pulled herself up from her spot against the wall. She was going to continue to doubt Saiya-girl's intentions until she was given definite reason not to. It was both the way she worked as well as the best way to distract her thoughts away from Son. As long as she was thinking of Saiya-girl then she couldn't possibly think of Son.

Glancing at the clock resting on the wall above the doorway, Videl took account of the time. 'Six o'clock, great that leaves me plenty of time to shower and get down to breakfast,' Videl thought as she started to make her way back up stairs. Letting her mind wonder, her thoughts went back to her new vexation, Saiya-girl. 'What is it about that girl that reminds me of Son?' Videl asked herself as she entered her room. 'Maybe it's just because Saiya-girl is so nerdy that the only person I know that can match or surpass her in that department is Son,' Videl pondered as she stripped down and stepped under the showerhead. While the hot water poured over her overtaxed muscles, Videl laughed at the memory of Saiya-girl's last performance.

There had been a bank robbery the other day with ten heavily armed thugs. Not the hardest job she'd ever had to do, but certainly one of the larger ones. When Saiya-girl finally got to the scene, ten or so minutes after Videl, she immediately started her ridiculous poses. With her hands above her head and feet spread apart into a lunge, Saiya-girl spouted preposterous lines about there being no satisfaction from crime and good always triumphs over evil. She'd wasted time going through pose after ridiculous pose instead of simply subduing the crooks surrounding her. It was a completely absurd performance that resulted in each thug either rolling on the ground laughing their guts out or staring blankly at her a lost 'what the fuck' look firmly in place. While their distraction made them easier to dispatch it didn't change the fact that the whole routine was extremely annoying. It was just plain unnecessary.

"That girl has no idea what she's doing," Videl mumbled under her breath as she stepped out of the shower and toweled off. 'She can't possibly think any of that is cool or impressive.' But deep down Videl knew that Saiya-girl did in fact believe her 'dynamic' poses and 'epic' speeches about protecting the innocent were cool. That was what made it all the more pathetic to watch. 'More like impossible to watch.' After Videl was fully clothed and ready for the day, she headed downstairs where she knew breakfast would be waiting for her, a meal she never missed.

"Good morning Ms. Videl," said the burly man working in front of one of the many stoves that resided in the kitchen.

"Morning Craig," Videl replied as she passed the brown haired man wearing an 'I cook for the Champ' apron. She knew it was his favorite apron.

Entering the dining room Videl saw her papa already sitting down at the table. "Good morning Sweet-pea," he greeted briefly looking up from his morning paper as he flipped to the next page.

"Morning papa," Videl replied while sitting down. When she looked up again she saw Olivia walking through the door as put together as always, black pencil skirt and red blouse neatly pressed with her dark hair pulled high into a tight bun. Videl couldn't help but feel as if there was something off with the woman. She seemed strained, or perhaps stressed. 'I hope I'm not the cause for that,' she thought as she watched said woman join them at the table.

"Good morning Ms. Videl, Hercule," Olivia greeted already reaching for her morning cup of tea.

"And a good morning to you too Mistress Olivia," Hercule replied playfully, setting aside his paper.

"Hercule," Olivia warned as she glared at him, "you know I don't like it when you call me that. It's completely inappropriate."

"Hai, but that's what makes it all the more entertaining," Hercule laughed as the food was brought in and placed in front of them. "And what are friends for if they can't do a little teasing every once in a while?"

"Hopefully friends that respect each other," Olivia responded before taking a small sip of her tea. There was just something refreshing about a cup of earl gray with a splash of lemon in the morning. Glancing to the unusually silent left, she caught a glimpse of Videl picking at her plate, moving the food from side to side. It was clear from the unfocused look covering her face that her mind was elsewhere. "Ms. Videl, you do know not to play with your food so please do refrain. Food is for eating and nothing more," she lectured. She just barely managed to keep her concern from showing on her features. It was just so out of character for Videl to not eat.

"What!? My baby girl's not eating! Now I know something must be wrong," Hercule yelled from his spot at the table. Olivia sent a scathing glare his way. It was a look that commanded him to finally act like a normal, sane individual and use his inside voice. Properly chastised and looking sheepish, he continued at a more reasonable volume. "I hope you're not still worried about the party pumpkin because I told you it was more than alright for you to go."

"No," Videl said quickly before she started eating.

"What's troubling you Videl?" Olivia asked clearly not convinced by Videl's quick response.

"I'm fine," Videl said with more force behind her words as she started eating with renewed vigor. 'Damn, she dropped the formalities,' Videl thought as she tried not to look up from her plate. 'She only does that when she's really worried,' she continued as guilt slowly built up in her heart. She hated making the people she loved worry.

"No, my dear you are not fine," Olivia said while giving Videl a hard look. She made it clear that she wasn't going to let this one go. "If you were indeed fine, then you wouldn't be spending hours locked away in your father's gym beating your fists raw instead of sleeping. So there is indeed something amiss."

"It's nothing, really," Videl answered, her eyes focused solely on her plate as she refused to look at them.

"Pumpkin, you know you can tell us what's bothering you," papa said in an attempt to coax a truthful response from her.

"I said I was fine, if you don't believe me then that's your problem," Videl nearly yelled as she violently stood, her hands firmly placed on the table's edge. "Look I have to go. I don't want to be late for class," she continued as she turned to leave. Of course it was a lie. They all knew what time school started and Videl still had another fifteen minutes before she had to leave.

As Videl left the room, her second plate only half eaten, Hercule looked over at Olivia. "Good grief, what am I supposed to do now?" he asked running a frustrated hand across his face.

"I am afraid there isn't anything you can do. It seems apparent that she doesn't want to talk about it, and we both know Videl cannot be coerced into doing something against her will," Olivia instructed a calm façade up in place to reassure Hercule and to hide her own worry. "Unfortunately it seems we'll just have to wait. As it is now, she'll seek us out if she's really in need of our assistance. She may be stubborn, but she is not foolish."

"I know that," Hercule said with a sigh, "I just wish she would confide in someone."

"Perhaps she already has," Olivia consoled. "She is a teenager. I don't believe confiding in authority figures is at the top of her acceptable conduct list. She is far more likely to confide in one of her friends."

"You're probably right," Hercule replied to his closest friend as he began to eat, ignoring his cold eggs in favor of his equally cold bacon. Bacon never went bad. "Thanks," he added on a moment later.

"You're welcome," she responded quietly. She needn't ask him what he was thanking her for because it was always the same. It was a 'thanks' for being a friend, a true friend. It was times like these when she was reminded of a time long past. It was times like these that she missed her best friend the most. She missed the camaraderie and the wild antics of youth. With an internal sigh she took another sip of her tea. 'It looks like I'll need to make a phone call soon,' she thought as her mind wondered to the only other friend she had left. It had been awhile since their last chat.

While Olivia reminisced on old friends, Videl raced away from the Satan mansion, ignoring the looks of concern painted on the faces surrounding her. 'What's with this place? Can't they mind their own damn business?' she thought a she turned down another corridor. But it wasn't the first time that the staff had shown the depth of their compassion, their worry and their care. She could still remember the last time she was sick, nearly six years ago. Practically the entire staff had visited her in her room, leaving behind little knick-knacks and kind words, a teddy bear or a balloon or a funny little card. Then they would each stay and chat with her for a while, keeping her company, knowing how much she hated being bed bound, stuck in her room unable to leave. They had comforted her, giving their own little tidbits of advice on how to get better, each home remedy cheering her up just a little bit more as they attempted to concoct each solution with whatever they had on hand. She'd felt loved in that moment, happy that they'd all been a little reluctant to return to work, glad that they'd decided to spend their break keeping her company. She had needed the comforting words then, still angry over the death of her mother, still saddened by her papa's willingness to risk his life for the world.

For that comfort she would always be thankful, but now, now she just couldn't take their worried stares and creased brows. It was all too much, the depth of their concern, and she knew she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve them. She had no right to take their heartfelt concern, no right to watch them worry. No matter how much they were willing to give, this time she just didn't want it. She didn't feel comforted by their worried looks or earnest platitudes. She didn't feel loved by their actions. No, with every word and every look she was overcome by an unyielding guilt. Each gesture added to its weight as it crushed her, suffocated her, and choked her. Day by day, it became harder to ignore.

And she hated feeling guilty. Hated the responsibility of knowing that she was needlessly worrying folks that cared for her when her problems were so insignificant. Compared to sickness and sadness, her latest difficulties seemed downright embarrassing. It wasn't about dreams filled with blood and gore. Those were old nightmares that she'd long sense learned to handle. They weren't dreams about death and disaster, waiting, lurking around every corner. Those she could just say fuck it, suck it up and continue on with her life as if they didn't exist. They were old news, all different variations of the same concept. And had it been any of those types of dreams plaguing what little sleep she could obtain no one, not the staff, not her papa, and especially not Olivia, would have noticed a change in her behavior because there simply wouldn't be one. She was stronger than that to let old news rattle her.

But those weren't the type of dreams invading her unconsciousness, violently waking her up in the middle of the night, sweating and panting. Dreams that left her shaking and wired, so keyed up that if she didn't get up and do something, anything physical, she'd lose herself. It was that extreme reaction that startled her, that and the unknown. She just didn't know were these dreams were coming from, why she was having them. There was just no logical reason for her to be experiencing them. So no, she couldn't confide in the staff that adored her, not when she wasn't even sure what she needed to confide in the first place. It just seemed as if all of these dreams, these feelings were coming out of left field. And if she didn't know why then how was she going to explain it to someone else. She just couldn't.

So she felt guilty. She was worrying everyone around her and there was nothing she could do to ease their fears. There were no placating words she could speak, no soothing sentences she could string together because they simply didn't believe her. They didn't believe the lies she was trying to pass off as the truth and the truth, what they really wanted to hear would probably scare them, shock them. So it was a no brainer why that option was off the table. And there was no way she was telling parental figures any portion of her erotic dreams. She wouldn't disclose such intimate information even if the subject matter was more socially appropriate; starring a guy in her unwanted yet not completely undesired dreams. 'If I can help it, I don't ever want them to know,' Videl thought as she spotted the school's Orange Star gates. She couldn't share this with them. At least she wasn't in the habit of sharing anyway so this secrecy wouldn't be completely uncharacteristic of her. She was just going to have to live with the guilt. It wasn't like this would last forever. Her little problem was going to have to end one way or another.

Crossing the threshold of the school, Videl picked up the pace, heading straight for her locker in order to grab the material she'd need for her first couple of classes. 'At least I don't have to worry about anyone at school prying into my private life,' she thought, books in hand. Turning on her heels she headed towards her classroom, entering to the loud bustle of conversation as she found her customary seat. It only took a few seconds for her to immerse herself in the latest gossip courtesy of her best friend Erasa, willingly allowing her mind to go blank as she escaped from her worries. She needed the reprieve even if it would only last so long.

Gohanna wasn't running late, not really. She just wasn't leaving her house at her regular time. Normally she'd be out and on her way to class right after breakfast, but today she'd been held up. A fact that had thrown off her carefully created schedule, a routine she was finally able to fall into and follow for a week and a half now, so while she wasn't really running late, she was off her perfectly formed routine, and she still wasn't sure why. All she knew was that her mother could be extremely tiresome when she wanted to be.

'I still don't know why mother's in such a good mood,' Gohanna thought as she reviewed the events of the last few days. There wasn't much that her mother knew about other than her showing up a little late on Monday and the party she had asked to go to that same day. 'Could it be the party?' Gohanna asked herself as she flew through the sky, making her way to Orange Star High. 'Knowing mother, she probably has this warped fantasy about the whole idea. She probably thinks some handsome young man asked me to go with him and we'll have such a great time that we'll get married and give her lots of grandchildren to spoil. It would be just like mother to come up with something so ridiculous, so preposterous, and so absolutely absurd about my life.' And it was that nonsensical idea that had worried Gohanna all week, 'yeah, that and the events of Monday afternoon, the longest day of my life.'

'That was also possibly the worst day of my life,' Gohanna thought with a frown as she spotted the school just beyond the horizon. 'I've never felt so afraid, so helpless in my life. Not when Uncle Raditz kidnapped me, not when we were facing down Frieza and his impossible power. Not even when the Androids and Cell wreaked havoc on the Earth, causing pain wherever they went. There has been so much that I've feared, and yet that fear never once felt like the fear of watching Videl race into a burning building. Nothing else has made my heart stop and turn to ice. Nothing else has felt like the cold hand of death reaching into my chest to rip out what was left of my heart,' Gohanna thought as she reflected on that horrible day. 'All I know is that I never want to experience that again,' she concluded pushing that train of thought aside as she landed on top of the roof.

She took a quick look around before hitting the button that would hide her costume. The last thing she needed was a repeat scare of Wednesday where she hadn't been careful. She'd managed to hit the button hiding her costume with another student on the rooftop. 'I think her name was Angela,' Gohanna thought absentmindedly as she started down the stairs heading for her locker. 'All I can say is that it's a good thing I checked to see if she had really seen anything, or I would have been so paranoid that someone had discovered my secret that I'd have probably done anything.' Luckily Angela didn't have her contacts in and thus hadn't seen a thing. In fact she'd been up on the rooftop looking for said items. After realizing that she had nothing to worry about, Gohanna had even offered to help in the search for her contacts. They were eventually able to find them which was a good thing because Angela was virtually blind without them. 'It's sad really, that she probably wouldn't be able to see her own hand even if it was placed right in front of her face.'

After retrieving her books, Gohanna headed to class. 'At least I learned a valuable lesson from the experience,' Gohanna thought as she went up to her seat. 'Never let your guard down.'

"Hey, guys," Gohanna greeted as she took her seat. "What's up?"

"Oh nothing," Erasa said as she finished checking her make-up. "We were totally just talking about Aspen's party tonight."

"I can hardly wait," Sharpner said as he flexed his arms, admiring their shape.

"Shut up you idiot," Videl said with a glare. "All you're thinking about is how many girls you can impress with your arms, pathetic really. You do know that it's not going to work."

"And why won't it work?" Sharpner asked without looking up from his current admiration. "Chicks dig these guns."

"Only in your dreams," Videl said with a roll of her eyes. "We all know it won't work because no girl has ever fallen all over you because of your 'guns' and they're not going to start now."

"Look there's no need to be jealous Videl," Sharpner said, clearly ignoring her last comment. "There'll be more than enough of me to share."

"Please, I'm not interested," Videl said while turning around so that she was facing Erasa, her eyes wondering over to Gohanna for a moment. "But I will introduce you to my fists if you keep it up."

The threat wasn't all that uncommon. Gohanna had heard similar statements over and over again in the short time she'd been hanging out with the trio. At first she'd been a little worried. If Videl was serious, she could do a lot of damage to a guy like Sharpner. But as it turned out there was really no reason to worry. Even though it had only been two weeks in those few days she'd been around the small group she'd discovered just how close they really were. They were friends as close as family and though Videl threatened, she would never hurt her friends. That just wasn't the type of person she was and Gohanna couldn't help but like that about her.

Another thing she'd come to realize in her short time with them was Sharpner's true motives. While he made open advances towards Videl, his eyes were usually focused on Erasa. And although the dizzy blonde didn't seem to notice, it seemed that Videl was aware of that fact. It seemed that Sharpner's advances along with Videl's follow up threats were one of the ways that they bonded. It was their own playful banter, and Gohanna was honored to be a part of it.

Gohanna turned her focus to the front of the room as Mr. Stone entered the room, starting the class without much fanfare. Everywhere around her students immersed themselves in his lecture, learning the history of the planet. "The Ox Kingdom was founded in…" Mr. Stone began his lecture and strangely enough Gohanna was finding it nearly impossible to stay awake. She couldn't focus. Her head nodded up and down as she drifted in and out of consciousness, not quite asleep, but not completely awake. It was almost maddening, drifting in and out of a lecture that she typically enjoyed. Mr. Stone usually gave a riveting lecture and Gohanna would be the first to admit her love for a good lecture, but she just couldn't seem to keep her eyes open.

What made it worse was the fact that this wasn't the first time she'd had trouble staying awake in class. In fact as the week went by, she found herself struggling more and more with remaining conscious during class. But it really wasn't her fault. She always managed to get to bed at a decent time, never staying up past ten o'clock, but like Monday she couldn't seem to stay asleep at night. In fact it seemed she was making a habit of waking up around one o'clock. Each morning she was thrown from her sleep and she'd be too amped up to even try to go back to the world of dreams. And that lack of sleep was starting to worry her. As the hours added up she couldn't help but remember that the body needed sleep. That biological imperative still held true even if she wasn't completely human. As it was, she wasn't entirely sure how much longer her body could go on like this. The ware was already taking its toll on her as it affected her classroom performance. Hopefully that would be the extent.

'Dende, I wish I could just stay awake, but this not sleeping is really getting to me,' Gohanna thought groggily as she jerked her head back up and began writing again. 'And the worst part is that it's really not my fault. I didn't choose to be forced awake every night. I never chose to be haunted every night by a certain blue eyed vixen. But every time I try to sleep I can't seem to dream of anything or anyone else. It's like she's waiting for me, forcing my mind in places I never knew I could go, never once imaged I could create,' she continued as she glanced over at the object of her nightly fantasies. 'I don't think I can last much longer under these circumstances, certainly not at my best,' she justified as she turned back to the board to try writing notes on a subject she probably knew better than the professor.

Jotting down the notes for the lecture, Gohanna tried her hardest to stay focused on the subject at hand, but it was a losing battle. There was just something magnetic about Videl that pulled at Gohanna's senses and forced her to pay attention. She wasn't entirely certain what it was, but she found that as time passed, she started to care less and less. 'She really is something special,' she thought as she finally gave up trying to focus on the lecture. It wasn't like Mr. Stone was going over something she'd never heard she justified as she let her thoughts wonder. 'She's smart and beautiful, and strong and fierce,' she thought as she forcibly pulled her eyes away from the subject of her thoughts. 'And she's incredibly stubborn,' she continued with a small smile as her gaze gravitated towards the partially open window.

She let her mind drift back to that horrible Monday, let if fall back to that burning building. 'Hai, she's more than stubborn, not even willing to admit she's hurt or in pain,' she thought as she remembered Videl's reluctance to seek medical attention. Gohanna wasn't entirely sure why she'd stayed after saving Videl from certain death, but she had. She'd been uncharacteristically rooted to her spot beside the smaller girl, hovering over her as statements were collected and wounds were tended. 'I just, I couldn't let her out of my sight,' Gohanna thought as she reviewed her actions. Like now, there had been something pulling at her, keeping her there until she was certain everything was alright, Videl was alright.

Shaking the melancholy thoughts from her mind, Gohanna allowed herself a small internal chuckle at the memory of Videl's 'check-up'. As it was trying to get Videl to seek medical attention was like trying to convince Vegeta to take a day off from training. Suffice it to say it was nearly impossible. 'I'm actually surprised Videl is as easy to manipulate as Vegeta is,' she thought as a small smile traced her lips at the memory. 'All it took was a little teasing and a small challenge to get her to cave,' Gohanna continued as she brought her eyes back to her notes. 'I should probably file that knowledge away for later use,' she thought as she hesitantly snuck another look at the object of her growing affections. The sight of downcast eyes and long black lashes hiding those ocean blues caused her chest to ache. There was some emotion there that she just couldn't name. It screamed at her as she continued to watch studious lithe hands scribbling down lecture notes.

'Of course now that I think about it, it really does make perfect sense. There are just too many similarities between Videl and Vegeta for my method to coerce him to not work on her. Like Vegeta the only way to get him away from his gravity chamber is to bet him that he can't go without it. It's the only way I know to force him to spend quality time with Trunks that doesn't include some form of training,' she concluded as she forced her eyes back to the front of the classroom. She should at least make one more attempt at paying attention and writing notes.

'I don't know what I would have done had I been unable to convince her to see the medic,' Gohanna frowned as she once again failed miserably to pay attention to Mr. Stone's lecture. 'She's just so obstinate,' she sighed as she remembered the damage, her own eyes fighting to look back over at Videl. 'Even though my vision was obstructed by my helmet, I could see the burns through her leather gloves,' she continued, her eyes finally settled on gazing out the window. 'And the burns weren't the only damage to her hands,' she thought as her head fell into her waiting hand, propping it up as she continued to stare out at the clear blue sky. Gohanna absentmindedly noted that it was the wrong shade of blue.

Her hands were bruised and raw, the result of overuse and abuse, but not caused by her crime fighting activity. Gohanna had been present for most of those calls and there was just no way she could have caused that type of damage in such a short span of time. 'But why?' she asked herself with a small sigh. 'What could possibly cause you to ignore the signs of your own body? What could possibly warrant ignoring that request to stop hitting? There's no way this is healthy for her,' she continued as she contemplated the subject. 'Could it be she's worried about something? Is it school related? She does get pulled away from class to fight crime on a pretty regular basis. Well, whatever it is it…'

"Ms. Son, would you like to tell the class what you find so fascinating outside?" Mr. Stone interrupted her train of thought.

"No Sensei," Gohanna responded as she snapped her head back to the front of the room and scrambled out of her seat.

"Then please pay attention," Mr. Stone said as he turned back around and resumed his lecture.

"Hai Sensei," Gohanna replied as she sat back down. 'Looks like I better try to pay attention, or at least fake it like Sharpner does on occasion.' So Gohanna went back to listening to the lecture and taking notes only to find moments later that her notes weren't looking much like notes at all. In fact they looked like sketches, or doodles, all of which featured Videl. 'Dende, what has gotten into me,' Gohanna thought as she ripped the page from her notebook and shoved it into her bag.

As the day went on Gohanna's exhaustion and unfocused thoughts found her being called on at least once during every class. "Ms. Son" could be heard so often that she was being to catch the attention of her friends.

"Hanna-chan, are you alright?" Erasa whispered during Japanese Literature.

"Huh, what was that?" Gohanna asked as she came down from another day dream about two ocean blue eyes.

"I asked if you were like totally okay," Erasa repeated clear worry on her face.

"Oh, I'm fine," Gohanna replied but upon seeing Erasa's skeptical look elaborated, "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Well, if that's all then you're still totally on for Aspen's party right?" there was hope in her eyes.

'There must be something really special about Aspen's party,' Gohanna thought as she focused in on her friend. "Hai, I'll be alright to go."

"Good because it would just be horrible if you couldn't come to the first major party of the year," Erasa said looking far more relaxed than before. "And I can totally get Videl to let you borrow her notes to like fill in the gaps if you need me to Hanna-chan."

"No, you don't have to ask," Gohanna said as she glanced over at Videl. "I'll do it. It's really not a problem."

"Well, if you insist Hanna-chan, but Videl can totally be a bit," Erasa paused for a moment, searching for the word, "difficult, hai, she can be way difficult to work with. It's like tons easier if I just ask her because we've been besties for so long."

"Hai, I guess you're right, she can be stubborn at times, but I'm sure she won't mind my asking," Gohanna replied before turning her head back to the board, least Mrs. Nakamura catch them both talking. She would hate it if she got Erasa in trouble too. 'Plus I need an excuse to talk to Videl,' Gohanna added in her head. 'She doesn't really talk to me unless it's to insinuate something. I'd like to hear her voice in a non-suspicious tone sometime. It has been quite a while now.'

After Gohanna's conversation with Erasa, the day didn't seem to go any faster like usual. In fact each class hour seemed to slow to twice its normal length while lunch, Gohanna's favorite period of the day, and break, where Gohanna typically tried to take a nap seemed to speed by, lasting almost no time at all. 'You know, they usually say that time flies when you're having fun, but what they never seem to mention is how it drags when you're not,' she thought as she remember the day.

Even gym, which was normally an easy class, was particularly difficult as Coach Carlson decided he wanted the class to play baseball again. So Gohanna spent the entire period trying the hide her powers. She'd thought she'd gotten lucky when Videl had put her on right field again, but that was not the case. It was impossible to fall asleep when it seemed like every student was breaking the mold and hitting ball after ball in her area. It should have been impossible as the majority of her class was right-handed, but that logic just didn't seem to work today. And to make the day worse Videl kept glancing over at her suspiciously. 'It's as if she thought I was hiding something,' she thought with a sigh as she headed over to her locker. 'That's definitely not the way I want her to look at me,' she added before she could stop herself.

Gohanna let loose a loud groan as she leaned her head against her locker. 'Stop, stop, stop,' she chastised herself by punctuating every word with a light bang of her head to her locker. 'It's bad enough I can't get her out of my dreams, I can't keep thinking about her while I'm at school. Not like this. It's completely inappropriate,' she thought as she continued her rhythmic banging.

"Keep that up and you'll give yourself a headache Son," Videl said while opening her locker. She didn't bother to look over at her as she shifted through her things.

'Wow, where did she come from?' Gohanna internally questioned, momentarily startled by Videl's sudden appearance. 'I must really be out of it if she can get this close to me without me even noticing,' she continued as she cease her light banging and instead laid her head against the cool metal. "Hai, I know I've just been having a bad day," Gohanna replied before pulling her head back to finally open her locker.

"No kidding? I hadn't noticed," Videl replied sarcastically as she closed her locker.

"Oh, I was almost afraid that I'd created a distraction in class, but it's good to hear it was all in my head," she replied clueless as she aimlessly continued shifting through her locker.

"No, you definitely created a distraction in class," Videl began only to quickly amend her statement. "I mean I don't think any one person has been called out that much in one day let alone one class," she hurriedly continued as she shut her locker.

"But didn't you just say," Gohanna looked up questioningly as Videl turned to lean her back against the locker.

"Really Son? Have you never heard of sarcasm? Exactly what planet did you say you were from again?" Videl teased before glancing down the hall.

"Videl, Hanna-chan, like don't move from that spot," Erasa called out to them before Gohanna had a chance to reply to that awkward question. Erasa was rushing down the hall, Sharpner trailing at her heels.

"I'm not going anywhere yet, Erasa so you can slow down," Gohanna called back over her shoulder, internally thankful for the interruption. She wasn't entirely sure how she was going to respond to Videl's last comment. Somehow she didn't think it would go over very well if she mentioned what planet half of her bloodline was actually from.

"Hanna-chan, I was wondering how you were going to get to the party. You live so far away, I totally don't think you'll have enough time to like get home, change, then get to Aspen's in time for the party," Erasa huffed out when she arrived at Gohanna's locker.

"Don't worry Erasa, I already planned to go to my family friend's house," Gohanna said as she shut her locker. "She's my godmother and I kind of promised her I'd let her dress me. She's always wanted to, but never got the perfect excuse until now. So that means I'll most likely regret it," she continued with a laugh, her hand resting on the back of her head in typical Son fashion.

"Oh, don't worry, I like always pick out Videl's clothes for these things. She has like zero fashion sense; oh don't you dare look at me that way. You know I'm totally right," Erasa replied while giving Videl a pointed look. She didn't bother to wait for a response. "Anyway, despite all the totally unnecessary protests I always manage to make her look like absolutely a-mazing. She even gets tons of date offers, although she'll never accept any of them," she continued as she waved her hand in the air, sweeping Gohanna's worries aside.

"So basically you won't be the only one suffering tonight," Videl added as she crossed her arms. She'd probably seen the confused look Gohanna just knew was plastered across her face.

"Now don't you dare be that way Videl," Erasa chastised playfully.

"Yeah, you always look super-hot after Erasa gets her hands on you," Sharpner added with his standard one track reply.

"Shut up Sharpner," Videl replied automatically while rolling her eyes.

"Hey, I'm just telling it like it is," Sharpner said as he put his hands up in defense.

"Okay, so I'll see you guys at Aspen's," Gohanna said as she started off towards the door backwards, still facing her friends as she talked to them.

"Hai, of course," Erasa replied. Just as Gohanna was about to leave, Erasa called out again. "Hey Hanna-chan wait. We can totally walk with you if you want," Erasa added at the last moment.

"No, no that's alright," Gohanna said quickly, too quickly if the look on Videl's face was any indicator. "It's out of the way, and I'm sure it will slow us down. Thanks for offering," she managed to add before rushing out the door. There was no way she was sticking around to give herself a chance to stick her foot further into her mouth.

Videl watched Son leave suspiciously. 'What's up with her?' she asked herself as she continued to look out in the direction the girl in question had just left. 'There was no reason for her to act that way towards a simply question, none at all. No, she is definitely hiding something, something important about this family friend of hers, but what is it? And why does she never say her name? It wouldn't take that much time to explain who she was talking about,' Videl theorized. There were just too many odd things about Son Gohanna. Before she could get a chance to continue to ponder and contemplate the mystery that was Son, Erasa brought her back to the real world with a tug of her arm.

"Bye Sharpner," Erasa called out as she linked her arm with Videl's tugging her out of the building in the process. "We'll see you in a few," she waved with her free hand as he headed in the opposite direction towards his car. "So should we like walk to Satan Manor or drive?" she asked her captive friend as they continued down the street. "You know what, let's like totally walk," she continued without pause giving Videl no opportunity to protest or answer in any way. "It's like such a beautiful day, why waste it in a stuffy car?"

"Erasa," Videl started only to be cut off by her talkative friend.

"I know, I know, I totally know what you're thinking, and I promise I won't like go totally overboard this time," she continued clearly not worried about how her interruption would go over with Videl. She glanced over quickly at her best friend only to see her normally angry expression replaced by a calm one. Erasa's brows furrowed in confusion, calm Videl was never a good sign.

"That's what you said last time," Videl began calmly.

"Oh, I totally don't remember that," Erasa was quick to lie as she remembered exactly what she'd put her bestie in. Denial was always best with Videl.

"But you did," Videl replied quickly, clearly unwilling to allow her friend to get carried away with the conversation. "And do you know what? Last time I was so dolled up, no one would leave me alone," she snapped. Erasa sighed in relief. Now this was an emotion she could work with. Angry Videl was a familiar Videl.

"Is that all?" she asked innocently.

"Is that all? My skirt was so short I was afraid to bend over or risk flashing everyone at that party," Videl replied angrily.

"But you looked so cute," Erasa nearly squealed, completely unable to feel sympathy for her best friend's plight.

"You know how I hate the attention," Videl replied quietly, her eyes downcast as she nearly let go of the arm linked in her own. "It's a complete waste of time and you know that," she added as Erasa tightened her grip on her friend. "There's no way any one of them will be able to defeat papa in a spar. He's the world champ for a reason you know." It was common knowledge in Satan City that any boy who dared to even try to date Hercule's daughter had better be able to beat him in a fair fight. 'Papa losing in a spar is just never going to happen,' she thought dejectedly. But she was okay with that. She'd already given up on dating. Boys in general were stupid anyway so it didn't really make a difference. 'I'm just glad I haven't met a boy I like because then I really would be depressed.'

"Videl, you mustn't give up yet," Erasa pleaded with her best friend, squeezing the arm she held on to tighter. "I'm absolutely positive that if you found a boy you like really, really liked your dad would totally let you date him. Your dad loves you, and he'd totally do anything to make you happy. He's just a little overprotective. And even if he doesn't like totally cave, Ms. Olivia is so awesome she'll make sure you can date whoever you want. I just know it," she continued happily, her positive outlook, bubbling over as she pulled her friend along, speeding them up in the process.

"Maybe you're right," Videl sighed heavily. "If I find him," she continued unaware of how the statement sounded. To Erasa it was dejected, almost hopeless, and her bubbly energy took a sharp hit at the sound. 'Oh Videl,' the blonde thought sadly as she continued to pull them along. She didn't have to be a genius to know what her friend was thinking. 'You really shouldn't give up hope just yet,' she thought. 'The situation's not hopeless. You're not hopeless.'

"There is totally no ifs about it Videl," Erasa added firmly. "You're a wonderful person. A bit cranky at times, but definitely wonderful," she paused for a second, halting them on their path. "No, you're not wonderful. You're totally spectacular. You're like the most amazing person I know, so no ifs."

"But…" Videl tried to protest, but Erasa wasn't going to take any more negative thoughts from her bestie.

"Nope, no buts. You're going to find you're special someone or I'm totally going to play matchmaker and find one for you," she said as she pulled on the arm in her grasp. "I'll find someone or die trying," she declared happily as she resumed walking. She should probably dally less. They did have a time restraint and Videl was impossible to dress.

"Thanks Erasa," Videl replied softly causing the smile on Erasa's face to grow to gigantic proportions.

"Think nothing of it. You know I just want you to be like totally happy. Even if it takes a gazillion years and everything I have, I won't stop trying until you're absolutely gaging with joy in your love life," she declared determinately. She wasn't sure what had gotten into her, but looking at her bestie's forlorn expression was just too much. It was as if she'd just given up on love already and she just couldn't have that.

"So, whatever makes me really happy," Videl replied after a moment, breaking the tension. Erasa stole a quick glance at her bestie, noting the mischievous glint that could only mean she was up to no good. She had a feeling she knew what Videl was hinting at which was definitely not going to happen. She loved playing dress up way too much to let her bestie guilt-trip her.

"Well I wouldn't say whatever makes you happy," She corrected quickly. "I'm still totally going to dress you up tonight no matter how much you protest," She continued. Glancing over again she saw an argument ready to burst from her friend so she amended her statement. "I will however totally promise to like not get completely carried away like last time."

"Thanks Erasa, that's all I'm really asking for right now," Videl said as they continued on to the mansion, turning the conversation towards more trivial topics.

When they finally made it to Satan Manor, Erasa raced them up to Videl's room, expertly navigating the maze of corridors. "Come on Videl, we totally don't want to draw the process out any longer than it has to be," she said as she hurried up the stairs and turned the corner. In her haste she nearly hit someone. It was only her exceedingly good luck that she managed to avoid impending collision. "Oh, hello Ms. Olivia," she greeted upon seeing the familiar stern face looking down at her. Tugging on the hand still clasped in her own she continued down the hall. She was on a mission. There was no time to stop for pleasantries.

"Good afternoon Ms. Erasa, Ms. Videl," Ms. Olivia called out to them clearly amused at the scene before her as Erasa continued to rush down the corridor, whisking away her friend before she could respond in kind.

"Erasa slow down. There's no rush," Videl complained as she was roughly pulled along.

"Oh no, I'm your bestie. I know you. You're going to totally drag this out so there is most definitely a rush," she replied sternly without stopping.

"But I didn't even get a chance to say hi," she whined as they finally made it to her room.

"Don't even. You see her like every day. You totally don't need to say 'hi'," Erasa replied with a roll of her eyes as she flung the door open and entered. "Now on to the most important task of the evening," she nearly squealed twirling around to face her friend.

"Yay, fun," Videl dead panned as she watched her best friend skip merrily towards her walk-in closet.

"Oh, don't be that way. We both know you secretly like to dress up," she said as she ducked into the large closet. "Now let's find you something totally awesome to wear," she squealed, her muffled voice carrying across the room.

Walking across the room Videl sat down heavily onto her bed. "At least this torture session has a time limit," she mumbled unhappily.

"What was that?" Erasa asked popping her head back into the room.

"Nothing, nothing, I was just thinking we need to hurry so we can swing by your place. You need to get changed too," she answered quickly, hope alight in her eyes. After all her best friend took forever to get dressed.

"Don't be silly," she giggled happily with a wave of her hand. "I already have my outfit picked out for tonight. We totally have plenty of time to find you something just a-mazing to wear for the night."

"Yay, now we get to spend most of our time here," Videl replied dryly, her unhappiness clear as day.

"Quiet you," she admonished with a finger. "I am totally doing my bestie duty by dressing you for this party. So you have two choices. Sit there out of the way or totally come join me in this closet," she continued before ducking back into the closet, not bothering to wait for an answer.

With a loud sigh Videl flopped back onto her bed. "I'm fine right here," she replied demurely as she look up at the canopy effectively blocking her view of the ceiling. She had absolutely no desire to willingly aid in her own torture. She wasn't a masochist.

In moments her friend was calling to her. "Vid-chan, come over here and try this on," she commanded leaving no room for argument.

Dejectedly Videl hopped off her bed and slowly shuffled across the room. She didn't even bother to look up as she enter the closet with her friend. It wasn't like she needed to. All she had to do was hold her hands out and wait for Erasa to drop whatever monstrosity she'd managed to dig up into her waiting arms. She despised walking into this closet, her closet and was glad she normally didn't have to. Everything she wore on a regular basis was neatly folded in the draws of her armoire securely situated against a wall in the main area of her bedroom. All that closet had in it were the results of a horrible shopping trip she'd been forced to fund.

'One time,' she thought angrily as she remembered the reason for Erasa's, I mean her shopping spree. 'All it took was one fucking time. It's not my fault she doesn't like my tastes in clothes,' she continued as she remembered the horrified expression covering her best friend's face when she'd come over to torture, I mean dress her for their first social outing together. She'd taken one look at the former contents of her closet and turned right around, dragging them both back out the door and to her house. 'It's also not my fault we're not the same size,' she sighed as she hastily put on the clothes in her hands, not bothering to look at it. It wasn't like her opinion mattered anyway. 'And I still don't understand why we needed to buy an entirely new wardrobe,' she thought still a little peeved about the whole ordeal.

"Nope, that just won't do," Erasa said with a small shake of her head before heading back into the closet.

Videl sighed again as she began to take the offending articles off. This could take a while.

One hour and fifteen different outfits later found Videl scowling at the latest monstrosity her friend was trying to get her to wear. There was just no way she was going to wear that, none. It didn't matter if Erasa promised this was the last one. She had standards damnit. A half an hour later found Videl uncomfortably dressed in said unwearable outfit. A pair of dark red skinny jeans so tight she wasn't all that sure she'd be able to bend over in and a skin tight black t-shirt that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Videl crossed her arms over the large red eye centered on the shirt in an attempt to cover herself while eyeing her best friend warily as she fiddled with her make-up kit.

"Stop that," Erasa commanded, looking up only briefly before returning to her peruse of her mobile make-up kit.

"Stop what?" Videl asked in response, arms tightening over her chest. She felt so exposed and they hadn't even left the room yet. Kami-sama help her. It was going to be a long night.

"Uncross your arms. You're going to totally wrinkle that shirt and completely ruin the outfit," she replied with a roll of her eyes, still focused on the make-up kit before her.

"Well what do you expect? Some of us don't exactly like to be on display," she snapped harshly, completely not caring if she hurt her friend's feelings or not. She just wasn't in the mood to play nice.

"Is that it?" her friend replied unaffected by her tone before she ducked back into the closet. She probably expected snarkiness at this point.

"Is that it!?" she yelled. "You could accurately guess my bra size in this shirt! I refuse to be the center of dozens of perverted fantasies just so you can exercise you inner fashionista," she continued heatedly unaware that her friend had re-entered the room.

"Here put this on," Erasa said completely unfazed by her little tantrum as she handed her a red silk vest, the same shade as her jeans. "It'll preserved your modesty," she continued with a giggle before she turned back to her make-up kit.

"Ahhh!" Videl screamed in frustration. She was grateful for the vest, but unhappy Erasa was still going to make her go out like this.

"Now sit down. I totally need to do your nails before we can move on to your make-up," she ordered, pointing to the chair in front of her vanity mirror. "Don't worry, I'm painting them black," she continued before Videl had a chance to complain. Black was actually one of her favorite shades to paint her nails which meant she had no room to complain. Fuck, Erasa knew her too well.

Fifteen minutes later and Videl was finally done. She'd managed to negotiate her make-up down to just simple eyeliner and eye shadow at the cost of three inch heeled black leather boots. All in all it was a compromise she could live with. It even seemed like her best friend was in a good mood because she'd let her wear her favorite black leather fingerless gloves free of charge. With one last look into her full length mirror, Videl compared her current outfit with previous ones. While she wasn't a fan of Erasa's current choice, it was definitely a step up from the last atrocity she'd worn. She shivered at the memory. That leather mini skirt and barely there top still gave her nightmares to this day. She still wasn't sure how Erasa managed to convince her to wear it. Compared to that mess, this outfit was downright conservative. 'Well, most things would be conservative compared to that so I'm not sure if that's saying much,' she thought as she turned away from the mirror to watch her friend finish packing up her make-up kit. 'Well, it could be worse.'

"Come on Videl," Erasa spoke, breaking her friend out of her thoughts as she dragged her towards the door. "We've got to get going. I still totally need to change and do my make-up before we can pick up Sharpie," she continued as she hurried down another hallway. Erasa maneuvered about the manor with a familiarity that Videl secretly loved. It was comforting that her friends never got lost in the maze of rooms and corridors. It made the huge manor feel a little more like home with their familiarity. It reminded her that they were more than friends; they were family that made a point of watching out for each other. Like their party routine.

Like normal, the girls would get dressed while Sharpner did whatever guys did with their free time before getting dressed himself. Once they were all dressed and ready for the party, the girls would go pick him up so that they could all arrived to the party together. It was a safety precaution that developed after they'd had a small mishap from taking separate cars. Erasa had needed an excuse to leave a party because of an annoyingly persistent boy that had trouble with the word no and Sharpner had gotten drunk from the punch that none of them had known was spiked. Videl had been the obvious choice and had taken them all home but the next day they'd had to go back to pick up Sharpner's car because he hated capsulizing his baby. So now instead of risking the chance that they might want to leave together, they would just go together in order to avoid all of the trouble.

It wasn't long before Videl was nearly shoved into the driver's side of one of the many cars lining the private section of the Satan Manor garage. The sleek black machine was probably Erasa's favorite although she always made a point of refusing to take it. Apparently she only liked riding in it and looking at it as a car like this one was 'totally too high maintenance' for the resident gossip queen. Shifting into drive Videl exited the garage and made the familiar trip to the Edge household. Erasa's house while obviously not a mansion wasn't exactly the smallest of homes either. In fact it was a fairly large white two story home with four Romanesque columns holding up the second floor balcony. Despite the sheer size of her home it wouldn't have surprised anyone who really knew the dizzy blonde. Large estates were kind of a natural result of having two lawyers in the family after all.

Her parents had both attended the most prestigious law school in the world. In fact they'd attended that same school at about the same time as they met and fell in love at that very place. Mr. Edge had been in his final year of law school while Mrs. Edge was just starting her first year. Videl always thought the story of how they met was hopelessly romantic, although she'd never in a million years share that opinion with anyone else. But what could she say, the idea of meeting someone and being instantly taken with them was just too whimsical to ignore. Despite what some may believe, she was still very much a girl. She was not immune to romantic gestures and stories.

However sometimes Videl felt sorry for her best friend. It couldn't be easy having both of your parents as accomplished lawyers. When your father was part owner of his own practice, the Law Office of Edge and Anderson, and your mother was a prominent local politician there's a lot of pressure to succeed. And while it would surprise most people to find out that her best friend was a straight-A student, Videl knew that she didn't particularly want to follow in her parents' footsteps. It was certainly going to be difficult for Erasa to break that news to them, but Videl swore she'd be with her friend every step of the way.

Hopping out of the sleek vehicle Videl followed her best friend through the doors of the two story home. Following her best friend up to her room on the second floor, Videl noticed the absences of both elder blonds. 'Must be date night,' Videl thought to herself as she caught a glimpse of the family dog, an ash colored mutt her friend had lovingly named Cinnamon. Videl internally smiled at the familiar sight. She couldn't help but love coming over here.

With a small shake of her head, Videl opened the door to Erasa's room. Like always the pink interior made her cringe as she strode across the bubble gum pink carpet before plopping down on quilt covered surface of her bed. She sat back patiently and waited for her friend to head over to her closet to grab her prearranged outfit, not bothering to even fake interest in the entire process. At this point in their friendship they were both very much aware that she wasn't going to do a damn thing. But neither of the really cared at this point.

"You know I'm a little impressed you managed to pick your outfit out ahead of time," Videl commended as she flopped back on the plush bed. The white ceiling was a welcomed break from staring at the pink walls. She still wasn't sure how her friend managed to find that many pink colored posters.

"Yeah, but I've totally got to learn how to use my time wisely. At least that's what the parentals are always saying," she replied as she began getting dressed. "Plus if you totally take forever to get you ready. It's just not practical for both of us to waste hours on getting ready," she continued sarcastically. "I don't really want a repeat of last year were I'd spend an hour searching for something to wear only for us to be completely late to whatever party we were going to. We couldn't even claim fashionable lateness either," she added as she pulled her skirt on. "It is just so much easier to plan my outfits in advance. This way we get even more time to gussy you up," she stated while walking over to her vanity mirror.

Sitting up Videl eyed her friend as she started on her make-up. "You know, you don't really need all of that make-up," she commented after eyeing the vast assortment of cosmetics covering the vanity's surface. "You look beautiful enough without it," she added nonchalantly.

"Now aren't you just the sweetest," Erasa gushed without pausing in her application. How she managed to not poke her eye out was anyone's guess.

"Yeah, yeah," she dismissed awkwardly. She hated when her friend got this way. It wasn't like she was incapable of issuing complements. She just simply preferred not to.

"While unbelievable sweet you already know how much I just love getting dolled up for a party. It's fun," she replied happily. Videl was amazed that the giggling mess that was her best friend was still able to one stay in her seat and two continue to apply her make-up. Talk about talent.

"Whatever," Videl replied with a roll of her eyes. Her friend was just a tad too bubbly at the moment. It was best to just let the silence calm her down a bit.

Finishing her make-up with an exaggerated flourish Erasa hopped off her chair and headed for the door. "Come on, we've still got to grab Sharpie," she said as she yanked Videl from her spot on her bed. In moments they were out the door and back in the car. Erasa sure could book it when she wanted to.

The drive to Sharpner's took no time at all. It was of course the biggest advantage of her friends living so close together. And it certainly made it easy for her to pick them up and drop them both off when they were done.

Pulling into the drive way of modest two story home Videl just barely stopped herself from leaning on the horn like normal. Sharpner's mom had the window open and was currently waving them inside. From the looks of it, their friend wasn't quite ready to leave. Throwing the car into park, Videl stepped out of the vehicle trailing behind her blonde chattering friend as they headed towards the tan colored home.

Throwing a quick greeting to Mrs. Pencil, Videl yelled up the stairs. "Sharpner, what's the hold up?" Videl asked as Erasa pulled her up the staircase.

"Just hold your horses. I'll be down in a minute," his muffled voice called back.

"No need," she replied as she was dragged the last few steps to the second floor. "Erasa has us coming up so I'd hurry up. That is unless you want to get caught with you pants down again," she continued an amazed tilt to her voice. She remembered clearly a time or two then Erasa had burst into his room unannounced dragging her behind. Unfortunately her best friend had absolutely no sense of privacy or personal space for that matter. At least Erasa had had the decency to blush. She almost laughed as she remembered the mortified look on his face at being caught with his pants down pink heart covered boxers on display. That look almost made up for the unholy sight, almost. Let's just say she hadn't let him forget that moment of embarrassment. 'Hopefully he's learned his lesson,' she thought as reached his partially open door.

Luckily he was adequately dressed by the time Erasa burst through his bedroom door. "Gees woman I said I'd be down in a second," Sharpner said while he finished buttoning up his shirt.

"Don't pout Sharpie," Erasa replied as she walked over to his desk and plopped down in to his chair.

"I'm not pouting," he replied as he searched around for his wallet. "I'm just tired of you always busting in here."

"Yeah, well, you know Erasa," Videl replied as she pointed over to her. "She can't sit still and wait for anyone."

"Well, just learn to knock," he replied as he stuck his newly found wallet into the back pocket of his faded jeans.

"Anyway, what's taking you so long?" Videl asked as she sat down onto the familiar red bedding.

"Lost track of time at the gym," he responded distractedly. "Have you seen my watch?" he asked briefly looking up at his friends.

"No, this is your room not mine," Videl snapped.

"It's over here Sharpie," Erasa replied from her spot at his desk.

"Thanks Erasa. Anyway I spent too much time at the gym and didn't get back here until about fifteen minutes ago," Sharpner explained while he grabbed a pair of white tennis shoes. "And we all know how long it takes me to shower," he added with a childish shrug. And as personal as the information seemed they had actually had that competition. Like all of their other competitions Videl had won in by a landslide. While Videl had won the fastest shower with a sub five minute time, Sharpner had dragged on to nearly fifteen minutes. His is excuse had been his high maintenance hair. Considering how much effort he put into it, she could believe him. Glancing up from her spot on his bed, she noticed him heading for his door. "Are you ladies coming or what?" he asked looking back briefly at his stationary friends.

"Of course Sharpie," Erasa replied as she hopped of his chair.

"Yeah, yeah we're right behind you," Videl added grumpily before sliding off the bed and following them out the door.

"Hey, do you think we should have asked Gohanna if she needed a ride?" Sharpner asked as the group made their way to the front door.

"Oh my gosh I like totally forgot," Erasa gushed, a hand coming up to cover her mouth as they made it to the car.

"Don't worry about it Erasa," Videl consoled her friend as she unlocked the car. "I have a feeling that even if we'd asked she'd have said no," she continued as she slid into the driver's seat. "Plus it's not like we know where her godmother lives."

"Yeah, you're probably right," she replied as she settled into the seat next to her, calming down enough to just enjoy the ride.

In what felt like no time at all the trio found themselves in front of a large house nearly surrounded by vehicles. Music boomed from the structure, emanating from within the mansion as well as from the gated backyard. The estate was large and old, perfectly fitting as Aspen came from old money i.e. somewhere down the line his ancestors had been important to one of the twelve original kingdoms. The mansion while significantly smaller than Satan Manor was more than large enough to play host to the entirety of Orange Star High School which was a good thing because by the end of the night just about that many people would be here. It was after all the first major party of the year. If you wanted to be anybody then you had to come this event.

Fortunately this was not the trio's first rodeo. While the placed was bound to get packed, they'd managed to arrive early enough to section off their own little corner and claimed the spot for the night. After all it wouldn't due to find out later that the only available seat was the lap of some horny teenage boy.

"Hey, Sharpie," Erasa called as she began to walk back to the front door. "I'm going to look for Hanna-chan. I'll see you in a bit." And Erasa was off, with no way to tell if she'd be back anytime soon.

Videl looked around to see who else was already here. It was the usual early birds, the horny guys with hopes of having unsuspecting girls forced to sit in their laps due to limited seating, and the other little groups that hated being forced to sit on someone else's lap, mostly girls but some guys were scattered among them.

"Hey Vid-chan," Sharpner called as he sat down. "What're you doing looking around this dump? You know I'm all the man you'll ever need," Sharpner said playfully while Videl gave him a death glare.

"Sharpner," Videl growled out between her teeth.

"I know, I know, don't call you that, right. I got it already," Sharpner sighed as he got back up and flexed his muscles at a pair of girls a little ways off.

"If you know it so well, then why do I have to keep reminding you?" Videl asked as she sat down in their spot.

"You let Erasa call you it," Sharpner whined without looking at her too engrossed with showing off to shift his focus. "Aren't I your friend too?"

"Erasa doesn't try to use it while we're in public or she'd get the same warning. Now stop complaining you idiot," Videl said as she shifted in her spot in her attempt to get a better look at the people surrounding them.

"Don't look now, but I think Erasa got side tracked," Sharpner said as while pointed towards the two walking figures heading their way.

"No you idiot," Videl said as she looked over at the girl Erasa was chattering away with. "That's Son." Looking uncomfortable from the excess of leering stares aimed at her and a little lost at the rapid chatter Erasa was subjecting her to, Son moved with a grace that didn't quite belong to a geek, let alone the super geek that she was. "Gees Erasa, she just got here. Give the poor girl a break," Videl called out to her friend. For whatever reason she had a particularly insistent urge to save Son from her talkative best friend.

"Oh be quiet you," Erasa waved her hand at her in a shooing motion. "Hanna-chan and I are discussing very important matters."

"Oh really, and what would that be," Videl asked skeptically. "Hair? Nails? Clothes? Or maybe boys because we all know how dire those subjects can be," she continued sarcastically causing Sharpner howl with laughter. The boy was nearly rolling on the floor at Erasa's annoyed huff.

"I'll have you know that I am not that shallow, nor am I that dull," Erasa replied sharply, completely unmoved by Videl's sarcastic nature.

"But Erasa, I thought we were talking about those things," Son interjected completely confused with the turn of events. She probably needed a better teacher for her social interactions. Videl burst into a fit of laughter at Son's innocent reply, laughing so hard she barely noticed when Sharpner actually fell out of his seat. It gave a new perspective on the phrase 'rolling on the floor laughing'. Erasa's face was priceless. Covered in a light blush as she huffed again in frustration, she was probably never going to live this down. "Was it something I said?" Son asked still very much lost in this current conversation.

"It's nothing Son," Videl said as she was the first to compose herself. "Well, I wouldn't say 'nothing', but you shouldn't worry about it."

"Oh, well, if you say so," Son was clearly uncomfortable.

"Anyway, I'm going to ask one of those lovely ladies over there to dance. See ya in few," Sharpner said once he'd finally managed to pick himself of the floor. "By the way, nice up-do Videl," he added while brushing off his clothes.

"Yeah, well thanks. Don't forget to give it a rest between slaps," she replied off handedly as he walked away. "On a more positive note," she began as she turned back towards the rest of their little group. "Don't you look cute tonight," she continued unable to stop herself from eyeing the tall girl in front of her. 'More like hot,' she amended as she continued to admire her lithe form, I mean outfit. 'Yeah, outfit,' Videl said to herself, not completely convinced. She focused on her short green and black plaid skirt barely long enough to cover the essentials. It accented long toned legs that green and white knee-high socks did nothing to hide. Forcing her eyes from the sight of long lithe legs, her eyes caught sight of her tight quarter sleeve black blouse. Perhaps the blouse was a little too tight if the strain her ample chest caused against the material was anything to go by. It felt like she might pop out of her top at any moment.

Confused over her own emotions Videl wasn't entirely sure how she felt. Pulling her eyes away from their current perch, Videl settled on tracing the light blush covering the other girl's cheeks. Unable to resist, Videl stepped forward and slid a finger behind a green and white checkered suspender. "I'm really digging the suspenders," she added as she released the elastic material.

"Thanks," Son replied shyly, reflexively moving her hand up to the spot Videl had just released. Videl nearly did a double take. Had she actually touched her there? Crap. What was wrong with her? She needed to show more restraint. "But the only part of this outfit that I like are the capverses," she continued pointed down to the green and white shoes laced high on her feet. The two interlocking black C's in the middle of a white circle on the side of the shoe were the trademarked logo for that shoe brand, a Capsule Corp. original.

"Well, you can't go wrong with a classic," Videl added as she took a step back, eyes lightly roaming the room around them. 'I guess it's a good thing Son doesn't wear similar outfits to school,' she thought with a frown. She was most definitely not enjoying all the attention her newest friend was getting.

"Uh, yeah that," Gohanna stuttered completely embarrassed by all the attention she was receiving. "Ah, you both look nice," she finally managed to spit out as she turned partially towards her normally chatty friend. She wanted, no needed to bring Erasa back into the conversation. 'Be careful what you wish for,' she thought nervously. All week she'd wanted Videl to talk to her more. She'd wanted Videl to look at her with something other than suspicion and now. Maybe she'd asked for too much. Having Videl's undivided attention was just too overwhelming. It was hot. It was stifling. It was all consuming and she didn't know how to handle it. So instead of dealing with it she redirected the focus onto someone who was used to being in the spotlight, Erasa. She was better at holding Videl's attention anyway.

"Why thank you Hanna-chan," Erasa giggled with pleasure. "As you may already know, I take all compliments directed at Videl today as I totally made this," she paused to point at the slightly annoyed looking Videl. "Happen," she finished with a flourish pointing out her handy work.

"Gee thanks Erasa, you always know what to say to make a girl feel so good about herself," sarcasm rolled from her in waves. "I'm not going to stand here and be your mannequin," she continued before turning on her heels, probably off to get some type of refreshment.

"Oh don't worry about her," Erasa said as she linked her arm with Gohanna's, pulling her attention away from the girl that plagued her dreams. "She totally overreacting. Total drama queen if I do say so myself," she continued as she moved them forward.

As the conversation continued Gohanna found her mind drifting back to Videl. 'Red is definitely my new favorite color,' she thought as she remembered the effect Videl had had on her. One look and she'd wanted, well she wasn't entirely sure what she wanted, but she knew it probably wasn't appropriate for a public setting. 'And Videl with her hair up is just so enchanting. She's just so beautiful it's a shame that her long dark locks normally hide that. Just think if she were to cut it,' she shivered at the idea. Shaking her head lightly she attempted to bring back her focus. While Erasa could gossip with the best of them, even she would notice if Gohanna let her mind drift too far away.

Failing miserably to focus on the conversation at hand her thoughts of Videl brought her to one very unpleasant conclusion. 'Oh Dende, Vegeta was right,' she admitted to herself remembering the most embarrassing conversation she'd ever experienced in her life, and that was saying a lot considering she'd had to sit through Vegeta's version of 'the birds and the bees'.

On Monday following their customary spar, Vegeta had deviated from the traditional 'out of my Gravity Chamber brat' and had instead ordered her to sit down. By now she was more than use to the annoying way he never called anyone by their name, unless of course you counted the way he used her father's given name, but nothing could have prepared her for the abrupt, graphic conversation that followed. There had been no introduction, no warm up to the subject, no 'remember when we talked about' start to the conversation. Instead he'd just jumped right in to a very graphic explanation on Saiyan nature. He'd gone on and on about the raw, savage way that Saiyans could take their mates if they resisted their Saiyan urges. Apparently force, a lot of force, was typically involved.

Even the memory of such a graphic description sent a shiver through her body. However what had confused her the most had been the why's of the conversation. Vegeta never administered his strange form of Saiyan parenting unless he had a reason. And let's face it, he wasn't a very complicated guy. His reasons were normally pretty obvious, but his reasons for that particular talk hadn't been made apparent until today. After she'd had her customary playtime with Trunks, she'd managed to beat Vegeta so badly that he'd needed to be taken to the regeneration tank. She'd thought she'd finally gotten lucky. She wouldn't have to endure another embarrassing conversation and she could probably get out of Capsule Corp. without having to deal with his ridicule over whatever Bulma managed to get her to wear.

Unfortunately her luck hadn't been as strong as she had hoped because when Bulma had finally finished winning the fight over make-up and hair she'd managed to run right into Vegeta on her way out. Towel draped across his neck she'd been ready for anything. Expecting some negative commit over human pruning she'd been completely thrown by his commit about finally taking his advice. Her reflexive response of what had only prompted talk about her completely un-Saiyan-like attempts to attract 'her chosen mate'. It took a moment for everything to finally sink in, but when it did she was quick to correct him. That had resulted in him annoyingly commanding her to 'stop being a fool'. Apparently both her scent and recent behavior pointed to a chosen mate.

Sighing softly to herself, she tried not to remember the added embarrassing command to 'start acting on' her instincts. He had basically told her to go have sex. And she was pretty sure parental figures were definitely not supposed to give that type of advice.

While she'd left the place that was like a second home to her completely skeptical of Vegeta's sanity, now looking at Videl, thinking about her made her question her own sanity. Vegeta was never right. He couldn't be.

'But I can't deny the urge I get by just looking at her. Wanting to take her to the nearest empty room and ruin her lovely outfit would definitely be considered a Saiyan mating instinct,' she thought as Erasa pulled her in the direction of Videl's punch bowl. 'But there must be something wrong with my Saiyan instincts because Videl is most definitely not male and thus completely off limits. Mother would probably kill me if I brought Videl home instead of some boy,' Gohanna sighed again. Things just weren't going her way. 'What the hell is wrong with me?'

'I wish she would stop walking,' Videl thought as she filled up her cup again for drink number four. She didn't particularly care that the punch was spiked. In fact she counted herself lucky that it was because now she had an excuse for whatever inappropriate behavior she may or may not succumb to. 'That skirt of hers lifts up just a little with every step that she takes and it's driving me crazy.'

"Hey Videl," Erasa cheerfully greeted as she came up beside her friend. "I've come to force you to socialize, after all I am the bestest bestie in the world," she continued laughing giddily. Turning to fully face her best friend Videl watched at her smile turned into a worried frown in less than half a second. Unfortunately she was a little too far gone to really care what anyone thought. "Videl, sweetie, how many of those have you had?" she asked pointing towards the newly empty cup still clasped in Videl's hand.

"Let's see," Videl struggled with her mental count, finally settling for just using her fingers. "Four, yep this was number four," she finally managed.

"Sweetie, why don't you put that down and come dance with us?" Erasa asked. Videl missed the confused look that Son was throwing the other girl.

With a shrug Videl tossed the cup aside. "Sure, why not?" she replied as she allowed her best friend to drag her to the dance floor Son trailing close behind them. It was probably a big risk dancing next to Son in her current state, but she couldn't stop herself from wanting to be close to the girl. She was magnetic even to her inebriated state. On the plus side she was so intoxicated that if her hand 'slipped' she had an excuse. She was actually kind of hoping for a drunken accident like that anyway. Hey, what could she say? It wasn't like she had anything to lose at this point in the game.

To say that Gohanna was confused would have been an understatement. Had they really been talking about dancing just a minute ago? With the way her thoughts had been drifting in and out of that conversation, it wouldn't have been a complete impossibility.

"Hanna-chan," Erasa's sudden whisper startled her from her thoughts. "I am so sorry for the little change of plans back there but I just had to get Videl away from that horrible punch. She knows its spiked which leaves me completely baffled on why she would possibly drink so much, but that's really beside the point. Can you like totally help me distract her? I'd just hate for some sleazy guy to try and take advantage of our little Videl which by the way is probably like every guy here except Sharpner of course. So we just have to keep an eye out for the total sleaze-balls too."

"Yeah, you've got a point there and don't worry so much, I like dancing," Gohanna replied equally as softly. It wouldn't do for Videl to overhear them. "But didn't she drive all of you here?"

"Oh dear, that completely slipped my mind," she said slightly worried. "Well, I guess we'll just figure that little dozy out later."

After a short nod, Erasa turned back to their inebriated friend and did what she did best, gossiped. It still surprised Gohanna the sheer range of things that she could do while gossiping. Apparently even complicated dance moves couldn't stop the gossip queen. Unfortunately it didn't take long for Videl to tire of both gossip and dancing. It also didn't take long for a cute guy to ask Erasa to dance. So it was left up to her to entertain their typically angry friend.

It should have been a simple task. Head over to their previously claimed spot, sit down and awkwardly bob their heads to the music booming throughout the house. Unfortunately as they made their way over Gohanna spotted Sharpner already there. It looked like he was successfully smooth talking a rather pretty girl. Looking down at the girl beside her then back up to the scene in front of her, she made a quick change of plans. 'Disaster avoided,' she thought she lead Videl away from area. 'There's just no telling the types of things Videl might say to completely ruin Sharpner's chances with that girl.'

"Hey, where do you think your taking me Son," Videl protested as they continued to walk away from their sectioned area.

"Oh, well I thought we could," Gohanna paused as she tried to come up with a plausible excuse. 'Come on Gohanna think,' she chided herself. "Ah, go outside?" she finished hoping beyond hope that Videl had missed the nervous question her excuse had turned out to be.

"Find, I just don't want to dance anymore," Videl said as she crossed her arms over her chest clearly missing the uncertainty in Gohanna's answer.

She led them outside and under the stars. "Aren't they beautiful?" she asked as she leant against the patio banister.

"Hai, they are," Videl said quietly as she too looked up at the black sky. "I use to watch the stars every night before I went to bed," Videl confided after a long pause.

"Really?" Gohanna asked a curious smile on her face as she looked down at the girl next to her. She hadn't expected anything more from Videl so she was pleasantly surprised when she continued.

"Hai, I still do on occasion," Videl replied sincerely.

"I use to star gaze when I was younger too," Gohanna admitted as she continued to look at the girl beside her. The moonlight lit her pale face making her even more radiant than Gohanna had ever seen before. She was like a porcelain doll in that moment, frail and vulnerable. Something stirred inside of her as she took a step closer to Videl. 'I just want to take you in my arms and protect you from everything,' she thought with a soft sigh. 'Even if you don't need me to,' she added as she shifted slightly, angling her body so she could better look at the girl that continually invaded in thoughts and dreams.

"You know there's just something about the stars that makes everything okay," she said as she turned to briefly look at Gohanna before her gaze flickered back up to the stars.

"Hai, they do have that wonderful, calming effect about them," the taller girl added despite the fact that she'd stopped looking at them a while ago. She'd been too captivated by the wonder beside her to bother looking up at the marvels in the sky.

"You want to know what I like about them the most," she asked as she turned back around to look at Gohanna again. "I like how they never change, not really anyway. They're always up there looking down on us, watching us, protecting us. They're that one constant that you can always rely on no matter what's going on in the world. It's a nice feeling."

"Hai it is," she replied completely awed by the girl before her. Marveling at the depths of a girl that by all means would probably not remember too much of this conversation tomorrow. Videl was just amazing.

"Are you ready to go back inside?" She had asked out of courtesy. It was getting colder and while it didn't really bother her it would probably bother Videl.

"No, not yet," she replied as she turned her gaze back to the dark sky above them. "I want to look at the stars just a little longer."

Gohanna was happy to oblige. There was just something about being out here that was refreshing. It was as if they had fallen into their own private little world and she was pained to give it up so soon.

"Isn't this the most beautiful sight you've ever seen?" Videl continued after a short pause.

"Hai, it is," she replied but she wasn't referring to the stars anymore and she knew it. "It's just so captivating."

And just like that Gohanna was caught in the snare that was Videl. Surprisingly enough it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. 'I'm not sure this is right, this attraction, this all-consuming burning need, but even if it's not. I think I can live with it,' Gohanna thought as she continued to stare at Videl, completely enthralled by her ether beauty.

---

AN: Wow, that was a long chapter. I hoped you loved that little romantic scene at the end because I certainly did. Anyway thanks for sticking with the story and as always review, review, review. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad, I want to hear what you think and guess, guess, guess because if you can guess the character who will start the next chapter before I get it up I'll one see if I can fit your username into the story and/or two give you a bold letter shout out at the beginning of the next chapter.

BloodRed13