Chapter one

Hiyas peeps! Here's the first chapter in my lil story… kinda saddish, I think, but I try. ^_~ Aw, my Gohan-chan… plz r&r! Thankies! Luv, ~Vivi-sama

Chapter one

too late. Holding back his tears, he clung on to Pan tightly. If only I had been there when it happened...if only I had stopped the killer...if only she hadn't been wished back with the dragonballs once already...if only... Gohan shook his head off of guilty thoughts, and worked on comforting the sobbing Pan in his arms. "It's alright, Pan-chan...don't worry, everything will be alright..."

A head placed itself on Gohan's shoulder, and Gohan smiled.

"I'm sorry Gohan," his green mentor said gravely.

Gohan nodded. "I'm sorry too. Arigatou, Piccolo-san." His smile quickly faded away, for the moment of happiness had passed. "I just can't believe this happened...but I'll be alright. I'm more worried about Pan-chan here."

"I - I..." Pan wiped away her tears furiously, but more kept streaming out. Gohan's gi was quickly soaked right through. "Ka - ka - kaasan's gone! Oh, Touchan!" Burying her face back into Gohan's shirt, she muffled her shaking wails.

"Pan-chan!"

"Obaasan!" Pan released her grip on her father and ran into ChiChi's arms.

"Touchan. I'm glad you're here." Gohan forced a smile, but it was hard to do that once again. Memories of Videl kept crossing his mind, and it was all he could do not to break down and cry. But he couldn't; not with Gokou, ChiChi, GyuuMao, and Goten standing right there in front of him. He had to be strong. For Pan, for everyone...but mostly for himself.

Gokou looked at his son, his usual bright eyes darkened with grave. "I'm sorry about what happened, Gohan-kun. Videl was a great person, eh?"

"H-" Gohan swallowed, clearing the lump that formed in his throat just a moment ago. Videl was a wonderful person. "Hai."

Looking into his older brother's eyes, Goten tried to be cheerful. "Well bro, look at the bright side!"

Gohan sighed. Videl was perfect. "There isn't one."

"Aw, come on!" Goten playfully punched the brooding Gohan in the arm, then brought his hand back in a quick motion, blowing on it. "Ow! Talk about muscular arms!"

At that, Gohan burst out laughing. "You should be more careful Goten-kun! You might hurt yourself!"

Goten smiled sheepishly. "Gomen. I'll be more careful next time."

Careful...Videl was always careful...she loved to fight, but she would always be careful...especially ever since Pan was born... A lone, silent tear trickled down Gohan's face. Gokou saw this and opened up his arms, which Gohan stumbled into, weeping. Weeping over the loss of his love...his Videl...

"Wa - was it something I said?" asked a confused Goten.

Silence answered him, and GyuuMao gave him a quiet, curt nod.

"Excuse me, Mr. Son," interrupted a blue-haired man.

Quickly wiping away his tears, Gohan stood up and turned to the worker. His eyes were puffy, but something inside them was dark, as if they lay in the shadows. Pan looked up at her father, and even through her blurred vision, she could sense something different in his eyes. "Touchan..." she whispered, "You must be very, very sad."

"Yes, what is it Mr...?" asked Gohan, who had now straightened himself out.

"Yamada." The man reached out his hand formally, which Gohan accepted. "I am very sorry of your loss, Mr. Son. If you'd like, we could hold a funeral for Mrs. Son, or have her cremated or something...it's up to you."

Gohan's eyes turned another shade darker. "Leave her with me. I'll bury her."

Mr. Yamada nodded. "Very well. But I have some bad news for you. For some reason, there's absolutely no evidence of the person who murdered her. We've tried everything - fingerprints, clothing fibers, footprints, everything - but there's absolutely nothing! It's almost insane, we've never had a case like this before. The only sure evidence we have is that Mrs. Son was killed with a swift, strong blow to the head, and no bloodshed occurred. Any other traces of people in our house was only of Mrs. Son, yourself, and your daughter. I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do."

Anger swelled up in Gohan like a fury. "What do you mean nothing?! I want to know who did this to her!"

"Gohan-chan!" ChiChi quickly scolded. "If there's nothing they can do, there's nothing they can do!" Softly, she added, "But the rest of us will try. I'm sure Bulma will be able to get some leads on this case."

Gohan answered with silence. He refused to look at anyone, and stared off into the distance. Finally, he turned to Mr. Yamada and said quietly, "Arigatou. If there's nothing else you can do, please leave."

"Hai. Sayonara." The tall man left without another word. He called his crew together and they quickly gathered up their materials. Leaving quickly, it felt to Gohan like they had not been there in the first place.

"Hey Gohan, why don't you and Pan-chan come stay with Kaasan and I for a while? Maybe you'll feel better." Gokou smiled hopefully at his son.

"Yeah!" Pan slipped out of ChiChi's arms and rushed into Gokou's. She smiled for the first time since Videl's death. "I wanna stay with Ojiisan!" She looked over at Goten's still confused look. "Goten-ojisan, you're staying with us too, right?" she said sweetly.

Goten laughed, all confusion wiped off his face and replaced with a merry glee. "Sure, why not?"

"Yay!" Pan jumped into Goten's arms, giggling. "We can play games and have makeovers and spar and stuff!" she added excitedly.

"Sure, that sounds like fun," agreed Goten. "Wait a sec - makeovers?!"

Everyone but Gohan laughed, their tension slowly being released in their giggles. Smiling innocently, Pan clung on to Goten's neck, who lifted her up with a sigh. Gokou grinned at the two, his usual gleeful face back into place. "Well, I'm glad you got over that quickly."

"Well..." Pan turned serious at the comment, and nodded solemnly. Quickly, she replied, "I miss Kaasan...a lot...but I know that she'd want me to be happy." She looked up at the black-haired warrior with bright eyes. "And I intend to be."

Gokou gave another smile at his brave granddaughter. "Hey Gohan-kun, you're coming too, right?"

Shaking his head, Gohan replied, "Iie, Tousan, I want to be alone. I need time to think." His voice was soft and cheerful, but his dark eyes told otherwise. The others could feel the burden that had been dropped on the unlucky half-saiya-jin, for it shone through him as clear as a shard of glass. A broken, dangerous piece of glass, cutting through Gohan's vulnerable spirit like a knife.

"Sayonara, minna-san," Gohan added quickly before he flew off into the woods without another word. The others were left behind, standing and staring at the place Gohan had been just a moment ago.

"Talk about a quick exit," GyuuMao said in surprise. Solemnly, he added, "I hope the kid's alright."

Gokou looked worridly off into the distant sky. "Gohan's never acted this way before."

"He'll be alright." Everyone turned at the sound of Piccolo's monotone voice to find Piccolo's back turned to them. They couldn't see his face, but his voice showed enough confidence for them to believe him. "The kid's been through a rough time, but he's strong. He'll get over it... in time." With that, he let out a quick burst of ki and flew of toward the mountains.

"I believe in you, Gohan-kun," Gokou whispered softly so no one but Pan could hear him. Clearing his throat, he said, "Come on ChiChi, I'm getting hungry. Let's go home and have dinner!"

"How can you think about dinner at a time like this?!" ChiChi puffed madly. "My son is depressed and he needs our support!"

"Kaasan, I think we should leave Gohan alone for now," Goten told her gently.

"Nani? I will not leave my son in his time of need!" ChiChi protested. "Now, one of you pick me up and let's fly to him!"

Gokou sighed. "Hai, ChiChi-san." He picked up her wife and headed off, leaving the others in a trail of dust. Goten picked Pan off and flew low to the ground toward the Son house, and GyuuMao took the car that they had originally came in.

"Gokou! You're going the wrong way! This is the way to our house!" ChiChi yelled.

Innocently, Gokou looked at her. "Is it? Ah, you're right ChiChi-san. Gomen, my mistake."

ChiChi smirked. "Well? Aren't you going to turn around?"

Gokou shrugged. "Iie, ChiChi-san. Let's just enjoy the view." He smiled, then gently kissed ChiChi's protesting lips.

The rest of the way home, ChiChi was quiet.

~***~

Gohan kicked a rock out of his way. Yeah, like that's going to help. Stupid rock. Stupid people. Gohan could feel his anger rising, bubbling up inside him like it had a mind of it's own. He was so mad...at everything... SO ANGRY! His hair rose in an aura of bright gold, and his eyes to a pale, cold green.

He screamed in rage, rocks and leaves whirling around him. Trees broke and fell to the forest floor with unheard thuds as Gohan's screams were blinded with anger, and his aura growing larger and brighter than the sun.

Luckily, Gohan was far away enough from his home, and far enough from people to keep them from being harmed. But at that moment, Gohan couldn't have cared less. His Videl was gone forever, for reasons unknown and unexplained. But why?

This isn't fair...life isn't fair. She didn't do anything; she doesn't deserve this! Why couldn't it have been me instead? Gohan's insides felt like bursting, his glowing rage growing larger as this thoughts became strong and clear to him. Too much power...too much anger...just too much.

Panting, the golden-haired boy fell to his knees, and the aura disenigrated at the same moment. Black eyes blurred as they welled up in tears, tears of loneliness and unforgiveness. They fell in unsteady streams, glistening as they hit the dull ground.

"Whoever did this to you...will pay."

One step at a time, Gohan carefully stood up with a gentle force, yet a fury of darkness vibrated from his body in a fierce rage. All Gohan could hear was his heart; pounding madly within him, with only the need to fight.

No. Gohan wiped his eyes with embarrassment, despite the fact that no one was around to see him cry in the first place. It may not be fair...but I mustn't go crazy...

"Videl," he whispered up to the heavens. "I'm coming to get you."

~***~

"There. Finished." Gohan knelt down sadly, patting the last pieces of stray dirt on the ground. His Videl laid underneath there, to rest peacefully for all time.

Gohan looked around him, in reminiscence. This was the place where he first taught Videl to fly. He could still hear her stubborn voice, angry that she couldn't master bukujutsu right off the bat. He remembered the silence as she concentrated all her ki and steadily rose a few feet into the air. He could still hear her gleeful cries when she could finally soar across the sky, and as he watched her, her short hair whipped back behind her in joy. And he was proud of her. He was always proud of her.

He looked up into the sky with a slight smile across his features, brightening his face and making him look like an adorable little boy who had just wished for a puppy for Christmas. So full of hope...hope and wonder. "One day, Videl...I will be up there with you. And maybe we can be proud of each other."

Woo! You read this far! Sugoi! SUGOI! ^.^;; Ano… hope you liked it. =)