A/N: As usual, poor Videl. Heehee

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

Lethal

10: Awakening

"Be careful. When she wakes up, she won't remember anything you told her. She'll be very agitated and might not even clearly recall who you are. Take it slow and wait until she's figured things out for herself before you start telling her what happened. Even a small slip-up can bring the memories back to the forefront of her mind and she'll be able to remember everything, which means I went to all that effort for nothing. Tread carefully."

The disembodied voice felt very far away. As soon as I heard the words, they were forgotten. My mind was in a thick haze of confusion—where was I? Who was talking? What had they said? What did it mean? As I slowly became conscious, the feeling came back to my appendages and they would stir slightly as a tingle passed through them. Either I had been knocked unconscious or drank a lot of alcohol the night before. My eyes opened slowly to take in the new day…

Goku was sitting at the foot of the bed with his legs crossed Indian-style. I sat up very quickly in surprise and slumped over again when my head started pounding furiously. Yep, must have been alcohol. The person speaking hadn't been Goku, so I had no idea if I had imagined it or they were really in the room. More importantly, Goku didn't have a shirt or pants on, just black boxers. Dread spread through me as I checked to see what I was wearing and only discovered a white nightgown. Oh no.

"We went to Bulma's party last night," Goku said, "and you uh… drank a lot? I mean, you drank a lot." He was rubbing the back of his head with a strangely focused look on his face. "Anyways, everyone's going there again tonight and I figured you could come with us. You and Gohan have school tomorrow so we'll make sure you're home early enough to get some sleep."

Through my sleepy haze, I vaguely wondered where my Saturday had gone to. I cradled my head in one hand and threw back the sheets to get out of bed, but Goku was there in a heartbeat to push me back down on the mattress. He shrugged sheepishly when I shot him an acerbic glare. What was he doing? If I wanted to leave, I had every right to, tired or not. It was just a little hangover. Besides, if he and I had… been together, I needed to go home and make sure everything was still in order. Goku was a big guy and though I couldn't remember it, he probably had a huge—

"Videl? Are you awake?"

Gohan was standing across the room in the doorway, eyes locked on his father rather than me. I tried sitting up and Goku easily pushed my shoulders down to keep me from doing so. His son stepped inside without looking away from his father and took a seat beside me on the bed. It was hard not to notice the body language between the two of them—Goku suddenly looked stiff and uncomfortable while Gohan gently touched my arm. I glanced between the two of them and sighed.

"Look, if you're mad because I slept with Goku, don't be," I said.

My statement made Gohan actually growl a bit, but he seemed to remember his place and stopped. Goku stared at me in shock for a moment before he burst into laughter, actually doubling over from the sheer force of his giggles. My cheeks got hot and I pulled up the sheets with my newly released hands, hoping I could disappear underneath them. I didn't know anything about this weird family and I was already causing problems between them.

"Is this true?" Gohan asked coldly. "You know you were supposed to wait."

"No, she's just half-asleep," Goku said, finally starting calm down. He wiped tears from his eyes and chuckled a bit as the remnants of his laughing fit left him. "You know me, I hate clothes so I like being as naked as possible. She must have put things together the wrong way. Sorry about that."

"Well… good." Gohan lightened up a little now that his father was no longer pinning me to the bed. "We're at dad's house, Videl. He brought both of us here last night. But don't worry, you didn't do anything stupid and neither did I. If you want, we can go flying later and I can show you some caves I traveled through as a kid. Oh, and my mentor Piccolo is here!"

Goku shook his head quickly and Gohan immediately backtracked, saying Piccolo wasn't feeling well and probably couldn't come out to see us. I was too exhausted to be suspicious and I was definitely in the mood to fly around a bit. But as I struggled to remember how exactly flying worked, certain pieces of the memory were completely blank. It wasn't that I had difficulty fully putting the story together. Parts of the event were actually scrubbed out of my mind, like an eraser had carefully cleaned it out.

I made a mental note to never drink again as Goku offered me a cup of water. Gohan talked a bit more about the night before and promised to pick me up later so we could do all the things he had suggested. After he left, I felt kind of relieved. It wasn't that he was bad company, but I didn't think I was up to spelunking through caves for the entire day. My father was probably worried sick and I had to make sure he knew I was okay before anything else weird happened.

"Do you have a phone I can use?" I asked.

"Phone? Nope. Who do you need to talk to? I can go there myself so you can relax."

"It's my dad so I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Mr. Satan? Oh, we already talked to him!" Goku patted my leg and left his hand lying on my thigh. "He said he understands what happened and he isn't mad at you. Don't worry about it. Just relax and try to recuperate for the day, okay? You had a rough night."

That didn't seem like my father. He was always overreacting, freaking out over minor things. If I was home more than ten minutes late, I'd get an earful until I apologized. The second Goku told him I was hanging around a bunch of men the night before my father should have gone ballistic. Between the gaps in my memory and the way Goku and his son were acting, I wasn't sure if they were even telling the truth. I set my cup on the nightstand and sat up in bed under Goku's watchful eye.

"It's so weird," I said, "but I feel like I should be afraid of you." I squeezed my eyes shut and rubbed my aching head. "But all I can remember is positive things, like all of us going on a picnic and swimming for the afternoon. And when you taught me how to fly. Do I have amnesia?"

"Maybe," Goku said quickly. "Do you remember anything else about when Gohan—I mean—I taught you how to fly?"

"A cave with some pretty crystals in it, but that's about it. Why?"

"Just curious. You and I get along pretty well, huh?"

Something didn't feel right. Regardless, I smiled at Goku and nodded to put him at ease. I could ask questions later instead of jumping into it immediately after waking up. He crept beside me in bed and sat facing me with a huge, happy grin on his face. We chatted for a little while about the events of the past few days to refresh my memory and by the time we were finished, I was feeling much better. But a little piece of me still held onto the notion that the Son family was lying to me.

The day was starting to ebb away so Goku left me in the room to change into the clothes Bulma had left behind for me. Getting out of bed was a difficult task, but I managed to get to my feet and put on the plain jeans-and-a-tee combo. Apparently it was a casual party. I called Goku back in when I was ready and was surprised to see him in black pants and a matching black shirt. Normally he wore the orange training outfit wherever he went. He had tried to brush his hair but it didn't work out.

"See? I can look nice," Goku said, gesturing at his clothes.

"You look great. So what is this party for? Just because?"

"It's a… celebration." He smirked slightly as the word left his mouth. "We're all really happy to have you as our friend, and we wanted to introduce you to everyone."

Everyone? I had yet to meet a few people, but I thought I'd been acquainted with most of the group. "Well thanks. For not knowing me for very long, you guys are really friendly. I don't think I've ever seen a happier family before. You're all very close."

Goku's smirk grew and he nodded in agreement. As he led me out of the bedroom, my eyes fell upon a huge lock on the door. It was another thing I had missed—

My eyes widened.

That's the lock that keeps Goku trapped inside under the full moon when he goes insane because he has the blood of an extinct alien race called the Saiyans running through him and he knew I knew so he followed me home and attacked me in my bedroom and wouldn't let Gohan come because Gohan has come of age and now he's becoming a rampaging monster, too, and Gohan and I were kissing and Vegeta appeared to interrupt us because aren't supposed to be together because he's only half-Saiyan and they want me to become a full Saiyan so Goku and I can have kids and restart their race—

"Videl? Are you feeling okay?"

No. I was not okay.

Through the roar of blood in my ears, I managed to nod and keep acting stupid. They had wiped out my memory but everything came back in one big rush because they didn't quite do it right. Oh Kami, what was I going to do? Ignorance was bliss and I couldn't play that card anymore. But it was my only hope if I didn't want some 'Kai' picking around in my brains, trying to make me an obedient zombie. Goku gently touched the small of my back, flooding my mind with my memories.

Goku brought me here Friday night and lied about not being able to bring me home because he wanted to mark me but he's a gentle guy, Kami bless him, and he couldn't do it so he just slept beside me and Bulma came over in the morning and they were talking and I heard them saying they wanted me to become a Saiyan and I panicked and tried to run away and I offered Goku the chance to bite my neck and he refused; he wanted it to 'mean something' and he knocked me out and now I'm—

"You look kinda pale," Goku said. "Maybe we should skip the party."

"No," I said, "it's fine. I'm great. I can't wait to meet everyone else. You're such a nice family!"

It was a goddamn lie. They were not nice. Goku pinned me down by my neck for Kami's sake. He and his son both wanted to gnaw on my neck. Bulma was a mad scientist intent on rewriting my very DNA. Chi-Chi acted like everything was perfect in her little world while her youngest son ran amok with his father. They were all abnormal and I had let myself be lured into their group. If I let my emotions get the best of me I would have my memory wiped even further.

Goku watched me walk down the stairs to make sure I wasn't lying about feeling fine and we left his tiny house. He took my hand, interlacing our fingers, and placed his fingertips to his forehead. The serene view disappeared. It was time to start acting.

Reviews/comments/questions

super saiyan 4 chichi- Bulma's the craziest one!

TFSrules- Yes, in this Goku is a little bit of everything. He's constantly torn between what's right and what he wants. Poor guy.