Chapter 14: Undisclosed subject
After a nice date, they found themselves entangled on the living room couch. At first their kisses were insecure and hesitant, but now they were filled with lust and longing. At one point, Gohan's wet kisses wandered off, following her jawline to her neck, his large hands caressing her bare skin, just below her shirt. She herself began tugging on his shirt, hinting him to take it off. Without thought, he answered her desires, then gently pushed her onto her back to lay her down. He began to take her in with his eyes, admiring her beauty as he towered over her. She did the same, following the contours of his muscles with her soft hands. After they caught some breath, he closed the space between them again and continued to kiss her passionately. Gohan then moved his hands to the top buttons of her shirt and began to undo them one by one. However, when her first two buttons were undone, Videl stopped him and looked intensely into his onyx eyes.
"Rip it off," she said, panting in anticipation.
He straightened up slightly and placed both hands on either side of her collar, gripping the fabric firmly. He hesitated.
"Rip it!" now commanding him.
She could feel the tension in his muscles rise, knowing full well that he was only seconds away from ripping her newly bought shirt from her body. He pulled.
'Driiiiin', the unpleasant sound echoed through the room. With a jolt, she sat up, still panting heavily. That wasn't the sound of fabric being torn! In anger, she grabbed the device from her nightstand and smashed it against the wall right in front of her. The sound died – as did her alarm.
It was that damn dream again! The one with voluptuous themes involving her until recently missing friend. The boy that clouded her thoughts; the boy with that perfect upper buddy...
"Ugh!" she exclaimed, hating herself for thinking that way. That wasn't her. She wasn't the one falling hard for a boy, let alone craving him in such manners. What was wrong with her? She hated hormones, that's for sure!
Still annoyed and with a body that felt like burning, she rushed to her bathroom to take one very cold shower to calm herself down. Relieved that she'd managed to pull herself together, she prepared for her day at school. As always, her morning routine included a light breakfast in front of the 7am broadcast.
The first few news stories were nothing new to her, she had already heard about it through her police work. The third-or-so item, however, made her sit up. The broadcast took place in front of the state bank, where a blond curly-haired woman reported the item.
"There is still little known about the real facts surrounding the State Bank Robbery as all man involved have been silenced and have not told the police any details about their operation. Witness statements indicate that their goal wasn't to rob the bank at all, as all man didn't go beyond the lobby or asked for any money. Therefore, it is believed that it most likely had a political purpose, as the mayor was their intended hostage. But as we all know, their terror came to an early halt thanks to the heroic collaboration of the daughter of our World Savior Mr. Satan, Videl Satan, and our local superhero the Great Saiyaman."
The image jumped back to the studios, where the news host asked the blond reporter a question: "We were told that one of the criminals was released from prison last night, is this true?"
The female reporter on the scene came back into the shot, "Yes, that is correct. An unknown person bailed out former herpetologist Habas Erpeto, who is known for guarding the entrance during the State Bank Robbery, and has indeed been released on par. The police spokesperson assured that Erpeto poses no threat to society and he is being placed under house-arrest pending his hearing."
The shot was split, the news presenter appeared to the left, while the reporter could still been seen on the right. "Thank you Kate," he said, giving the blonde the cue to finish the news item.
"You're welcome Jimmy. Thank you for watching, I'm Kate Bridgerton and back to the studios."
"Oh no, Gohan!" exclaimed Videl and jumped off the sofa, grabbed her backpack and rushed outside. She had to check on him! She had to make sure he was okay! And not long after, she landed her copter on the roof of his building. Not caring to capsulate her aircraft, she ran to the sliding door and pulled the handle. She struggled, but after a few tries, she opened the door.
"Dende, is that you already?" asked a familiar voice.
Videl stumbled in and pushed aside the curtains. "Gohan, are you alright?!" she cried out, still engulfed in panic.
"Um... I'm doing better than yesterday, why?" Gohan asked, confused as to why Videl was now standing in the middle of his apartment.
'Oh my Kami, he was still safe!' she thought to herself, a sense of relief taking over her panicked state. But when she took a closer look at him, a slight panic set in again. Gohan was leaning against the counter, wearing only a very low-fitting baggy sweatpants. She blushed profusely as she turned away from the boy. "Please! Put on a shirt!"
"He! You're the one who always storms into my room without knocking!" he exclaimed, also red with embarrassment, as he went to his bedroom to fetch himself a shirt.
Videl swallowed, trying to get the image of his naked torso out of her head. When she opened her eyes again, her eyes fell on something atop a dresser. It were two framed pictures: a relatively recent one of Gohan with his mother and little brother, the other with a group of people. She recognized a few: Bulma, holding a baby boy; the noseless man, only without hair; the big green alien-looking creature, with both is eyes closed; and - all the way to the side - the rude guy who had flown her to school the other day, looking away from the camera in annoyance. Somewhere in the middle she saw Gohan's mother leaning close to a tall blond man with a big grin on his face. Both had their hands on the shoulders of a pre-teen blond boy standing in front of them. But Gohan wasn't in the picture. Somehow this all looked very familiar to her, but she couldn't think twice as Gohan came back into the room.
"Better?" he asked, as he appeared in his regular school clothes. "Now, tell me why you burst into my apartment all of the sudden?"
Videl looked back at Gohan, slightly disappointed that he could hide his muscles so well. She took a deep breath. "The person who poisoned you was released on bailed yesterday," she began to explain.
"I know," Gohan replied lightly, "I bailed him out."
"What?!" Videl was stunned, "What were you thinking?!"
"Relax, as you said yourself, this guy wouldn't have committed the crime if he had not been promised that his daughter would be helped. He's just a man who made bad choices in desperate times. And since he regrets his actions, I decided to bail him out and help him with his daughter's medical expenses. Everyone deserves a second chance."
"Why? Why do you want to take that risk?" she still couldn't believe her ears.
"Well, he got to me, nearly killed me, and I don't want that information falling into the wrong hands. So for his now sworn loyalty, I rewarded him. It's best to have the people who have the greatest treat to you, have by your side." he spoke wisely.
"Alright, I trust your judgement, but don't come back crying when he starts throwing darts at you again." Videl sighed, letting go of the subject.
Her stomach started to rumble when she realized she hadn't had much of her unfinished breakfast this morning. Without asking, she went over to the fridge and opened it, hoping she would find something to eat. But it was empty. Opening a few other cupboards, expecting Gohan had kept some food elsewhere, but again found herself empty handed.
"What? You literally have no food? I thought you were a big eater," she said, bewildered, "What did you have for breakfast this morning?"
"Nothing," Gohan shrugged, "I have to eat again sometime Thursday evening or maybe Friday morning." He looked at his friend's questioning face and felt the need to explain himself a bit more, "That bean they gave me when you found me has special abilities. It restores all physical trauma in an instant, which is why I briefly managed to get up back then, but you're also full for ten whole days. It hasn't been ten days yet, so I don't have to eat." He chuckled a bit, "But oh man, when my hunger strikes again, I'm so gonna eat my entire monthly budget in one sitting."
"Too bad," said Videl dejectedly. She wasn't looking forward to starting the school day on an empty stomach.
Getting were she came from, Gohan gave her a sympathetic smile. "Look, there's a bakery nearby. I'll buy you breakfast when we walk to school." He then realized something and felt a little uncomfortable. It wasn't that she'd never seen one of them before, but they'd never talked about it either. "Look, I've told you about my healing sessions, didn't I? That friend coming over to give it to me?" Videl nodded in response, so Gohan continued, "They could be here any minute now, but please, I want to ask you to treat them with respect. They're not your typical guys, so to speak."
"Is it your big green friend?" she asked him in a normal tone.
Gohan studied her and relaxed a bit when he saw that she wasn't repelled by the idea of meeting him again. "Yeah, Piccolo is actually my best friend. He's coming with another one like himself, so you can prepare for what you're about to see."
She nodded and at the same time there was a knock on the glass, announcing their presence.
"Come in," said Gohan, looking at Videl with a 'see, that's how you enter a room properly' smirk on his face. She just rolled her eyes in response as two beings entered the room. She expected them both to look the same, but to her surprise, one of them was much smaller, almost child-like, with a very friendly face.
"Hello there, Gohan, how are you today?" asked the smaller one of the two. Then he noticed Videl and offered her a smile too, "Hi, my name is Dende, a friend of Gohan. You must be Videl. It's an honor to finally meet you. You have done us a great service, thank you for that."
"A great service?" she asked, not understanding.
"By finding me," Gohan explained, as he sat down on his couch, lowering himself to Dende's level. "I'm doing better, Dende, although I'm still quite tired. Thanks for asking."
Dende walked over to the Saiyan hybrid and raised his hands, while Gohan closed his eyes and allowed himself a moment to relax. Videl looked puzzled as the light shone from the hands of the little green man. A growling voice distracted her from her stare, "Dende has the power to heal all physical injuries, but unfortunately cannot remove the remnants of poison in Gohan's body. The idea is that we let his immune system do the work to take care of that, healing the collateral damage twice a day." The big green guy looked at Videl and offered her a hand. "We didn't introduced ourselves properly, I'm Piccolo. I've known Gohan since he was a little kid."
With a slight hesitation, the raven-haired girl took his immense clawed hand into her own small one. "Nice to meet you, sir, I'm Videl, a school friend of Gohan's." she said politely.
"It's nice to see that Gohan has finally made a friend his own age," Piccolo said with a soft smile, standing back up straight and crossing his arms.
"All done!" Dende said with a smile, "See you tonight."
"Thanks again, Dende!" Gohan said gratefully.
Both Dende and Piccolo walked to the open door. As Piccolo passed Gohan, he'd put his large hand on the boy's head and ruffled his hair. "Take care, Kid."
But before they left, the smaller Namakian turned to Videl. "Ah, I almost forgot," he said and walked over to her. He raised both of his hands again, and as another glow radiated from it, a satisfying warmth also radiated through her body, concentrating in the lower parts of her back. "Here you go," he said, still offering her a friendly smile, "I've healed your old sports injury, see it as a thank you gift." Then he turned and followed Piccolo outside.
Gohan got up and stretched himself, a big grin written on his face. "Oh man, this feels so good!" he sighed with satisfaction. "Now we've been both patched up, shall we go get you some breakfast?" She nodded, still dumbstruck at what had happened. When she followed her classmate out of his apartment, however, she noticed that the framed photo of the group of people was missing from the dresser. Though she thought it was odd, she didn't gave it much thought.
After he bought her some breakfast, they walked to school. Videl looked at Gohan a little insecure, not knowing if she would offend him with the question. "May I ask you something?" she began hesitantly, "Are your friends aliens?" Gohan looked in her direction with a questioning look, and she quickly added, "Don't get me wrong, they just look so different."
Then Gohan let out a subtle laugh after seeing her embarrassed face. "Yes, yes they are. They are Namakians, from the planet Namek." His face relaxed again. "The smaller one of the two, Dende, he's Kami."
"Wait, are you saying he is God? As in the Earth's Guardian?"
"Yep," Gohan only said, enjoying her confusion.
"I have so many questions right now..." she couldn't think straight anymore, "How do you even meet a God, let alone help you personally."
"We were friends before he became Kami," he simply said, "But lets postpone this conversation, we're approaching school and I don't want people eavesdropping on such conversations."
"Fair enough," Videl agreed, "But you're going to answer me eventually, right?"
"That's a promise," he gave her one of his signature smiles, inadvertently stirring up her unwanted gut-feelings. She looked away to hide the small blush that rose.
They arrived at the school and, to Gohan's relief, he took their morning classes without much difficulty. Yes, he was tired, but his medication was effective. All in all it was a much better day than yesterday. And just like the day before, the four friends found themselves at their usual spot next to the oak tree during their break. Gohan was lying on the grass again, enjoying the fresh air and the warmth of the sun, when suddenly something fell from the sky onto his lap.
Reflexively, he looked up and saw a men floating in the sky, dressed in a very familiar superhero costume. He gave him a salute and immediately flew away. Gohan gave Yamcha a salute back in mind and then looked at what the man had given him. It was a small jar and when he opened it he found a small piece of paper next to some pills. He unfolded it and read, 'These pills will help you with your fatigue, they will be added to your prescription (twice a day) – Bulma'.
Fortunately for Gohan, none of his friends had noticed that Saiyaman had given him something, as they were all too focused on their conversation. However, the presence of Saiyaman himself did not go unnoticed. Erasa let out a fangirl cry, "Did you see that? It's Saiyaman!" She then turned to her best friend to tease her as usual, "I'm sure he came back for that second kiss, but he probably was scared off because you weren't alone." The bubbly blonde then gave her a wink and playfully stuck out her tongue.
Videl froze. She knew that her friend was only teasing her, but she was well aware that Gohan knew nothing about the incident between her and Saiyaman. And because he is the real Saiyaman, this can became a complicated situation.
"Wait what?" the boy in question asked, confused. "What is she talking about, Videl?"
She swallowed and cautiously looked over in his direction. She didn't want to engage the subject, not at all. But his serious deep frown told her she wasn't going to avoid an explanation.
"What did he do, Videl," Gohan's voice sounded firm and determined, almost warning her to better answer the question.
"Well," she swallowed again, "You see, there was a misunderstanding the other day and Saiyaman thought I was asking him for a... a kiss."
"A kiss..." Gohan repeated, raising an eyebrow in disbelief. "Did he in fact kiss you?"
"Oh, someone's jealous?" Erasa tried teasingly, but was immediately shut down by an uncharacteristic icy glare from Gohan. She had never seen him this serious.
"I already said it was a misunderstanding. Nothing serious happened. We talked it out and he apologized, so case closed," Videl said defensively.
"Alright, if you say so," Gohan said reluctantly, realizing full well she wouldn't give him any further information. He was also aware that this wasn't something to discuss with his two other friends around. It had to wait until later. He knew that Yamcha wouldn't cross legal boundaries, so it was indeed probably a misunderstanding, but it still didn't sit right with him. He let out an irritated sigh and stood up, hanging his satchel over his shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Videl asked, her defensiveness subsiding.
"I'm going home, I need to take care of something," his irritation clearly noticeable in his voice.
"Do you want me to take you home?" She offered.
"No thank you. Besides, you need to attend your next class," he said bluntly, and without waiting for a response, he marched off.
Sharpener raised his eyebrow, "What's his problem all of a sudden?"
Hi there!
To those who thought they read the wrong chapter in the beginning: Sorry, not sorry ;)
Also, I still don't know how I manage to make at least 2 chapters out of each intended one... My 10-chapter story is now going to be at least 20 chapters long... Dear Kami... And it's not that I'm adding extra stuff or anything, I still walk a straight path to the end. But I don't think you'll mind.
Anyways, have a nice Easter Holiday this weekend [for those who are celebrating it]!