Beyond the Murky Emotional Haze

"The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart."

Saint Jerome (342 AD - 420 AD)

Gohan was seated in his first period class, literature, as usual next to a very bubbly Erasa. Videl's previous antics hadn't eased up the anxiety in him one bit; rather, he was beginning to think it was one of those "silent" phases of women. A shrewd former monk had, much to his reluctance, made him somewhat knowledgeable in the art of analyzing women, and all their actions. It is a subject to be broached circumspectly as you must take careful steps—something you would do if walking on the rim of a volcano, which could erupt at any given time—to ensure a painless discovery. Women seem to seek refuge in two states when vexed—especially if it is by their mate; one of them is to bust an aneurysm and launch a steady stream of accusations accentuated by a piercing tone. The other, the more dangerous of the two, is the implementation of the "silent" treatment, in other words, when a male pushes her patience too far, you get an abrupt change of punishment; silence. Personally I believe it is better to expend the little extra energy required for the silent treatment, but opinions are what they are; merely opinions.

Man I hope Videl isn't pissed at me, because she sure is silent today. What did I do? How come I never know what I did wrong? How come this stuff always happens to me? Geez, I'll never understand women.

"GOHAN!"

"Uhh…yes Erasa?"

"Were you even listening to me?" She looked at him, irritated at his attention span, or lack thereof.

"Sure I was, just some things on my mind, that's all." He replied, the notorious grin and head-rub quickly coming into action.

"Well, as I was saying," she gave him a glare which almost did his mother justice, "I think the new Ralph Lauren Fashion Show was a little too much, you know what I mean?" Gohan just nodded along, paying absolutely no heed to what had been said, still pondering over Videl.

"Man, Erasa, can you please shut up?" Sharpener was literally banging his head repeatedly on his desk, as if that would somehow slow Erasa down.

"Hmph, Sharpener, you wouldn't know fashion if it came right up to you and bit you in the ass, you...you...ASS!" She heaved, her bubbly mood momentarily dissipating, as annoyance and irritation replaced it.

"Err...very smart Erasa, applause please..." Sharpener commented, obviously thinking that his sarcastic retort was of the utmost hilarity, and when noticing no comforting smiles, or even encouraging snickers, he resumed his pouting.

Before Erasa and him could engage into anymore bitter quarrels, the teacher arrived, Gohan not knowing if it was a blessing or a curse, and started with the day's lesson.

**************************************

Lunch had arrived, and Gohan decided it was best to make up with Videl now before the "silent" treatment got too much out of hand. He still didn't know what he did that was wrong, or anything he had done that would irritate Videl as it had, but something was bothering her, and he was absolutely sure it was him. He had a knack for that sort of thing, especially with Videl...even his alter ego couldn't be saved from that tendency.

She was walking a little ahead of him, moving ever so gracefully on her cat-like legs, heading for the courtyard outside. He quickened his pace, and soon caught up to her as she still had that vacant stare plastered on her face.

"I'm sorry," he said, a little ashamed that he hadn't said it earlier.

She looked at him, her cerulean eyes scrunching up in perplexity, "What?"

Gohan inhaled deeply, then went on with his apology, "I said I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For whatever it was I did that made you mad."

She looked at him curiously, then giggled, much to his relief, "What made you think I was mad at you?"

"You were giving me the silent treatment all morning today. Of all the four classes we had since the morning you hadn't said one word to me. Not even in the morning on the terrace."

"And you thought I was mad at you because of that?"

"When someone doesn't, or refuses to, speak to you it usually means they are mad, and when a woman does it, then that almost always is the case."

"Did you happen to notice that I hadn't said a word to any other person in school all day?"

"Err...umm...no...I guess..." She looked at him with a bemused expression, as he continued to stutter through his lines, suspiciously like Saiya-Man, "I guess I was worried so much about the fact that you were mad at me, I didn't notice." He smiled sheepishly, hands habitually rubbing the back of his head.

Though Gohan didn't know it, this brief display of his concern brightened Videl's mood completely, and she jabbed at his shoulder playfully, "Man Gohan, I don't believe you. Most guys would go to hell and back before uttering an apology, and you apologized for something that you didn't even do!" Deep inside, Videl was absolutely glowing, the fact that Gohan cared for her enough to fret all day about her was pretty flattering. She mentally winced, at these girlish thoughts that invaded her brain from time to time. Where were they coming from?

"Heh, no I was just worried. So you're not mad? Then why so silent?"

She looked at him, still retaining her dazzling smile, "Don't worry about it, just some things concerning home. You know dad, and all his trips." She fibbed, not wanting to allude to the fact that she suspected him of being her cause for annoyance these last few weeks, and her cause for attraction as well.

Gohan nodded, and both of them walked over to the giant oak tree, where the deeply shadowed park bench dwelled. They sat down, as Videl took out her lunch that was neatly packed in a brown paper bag, while Gohan unleashed the rather abundant contents of his capsule. Still gawking at the amount of food this boy consumed, Videl started on her own peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"Why do we have to always eat here? It's so gloomy!" Erasa complained, as she slumped into the seat beside Videl.

"That's cuz nerd boy here eats so freaking much." Sharpener answered, not bothering to look at Gohan's reaction.

"Hey! It's not that bad!" Gohan cried indignantly, feigning emotional pain.

"He's right Gohan, you may very well have the entire GNP* of Ethiopia over there," Videl remarked, eyeing the overflowing amounts of food piled on the table. She casually reached over into Gohan's pile and retrieved one of the many sandwiches, munching down on it happily.

"Hey! That was mine…" Gohan pouted a little, remorsefully gazing at the remnants of his sandwich, which Videl popped into her mouth a satisfied smile creeping into her face.

She smirked at Gohan's pout, "Oh shut up, I bet you wouldn't even notice that it was ever gone if you didn't see me take it. Besides, you know I can't resist your mom's food."

**********************

The day went by pleasantly for Gohan, for Videl had mysteriously ceased her spell of reticence and had spent the day jovially conversing with him about various things. Their friendship was already blooming, as Videl slowly unraveled the enigma that is Gohan; she became aware that studies were not the only thing concerned with Gohan, for he had some amazing physical attributes and was the kindest, sweetest, cutest…wait a minute…these are Videl's emotions, correct?

The final bell had sounded, and they could here some faint exclamations of "Freedom!" being yelled somewhere out yonder, most probably some juvenile freshmen retaining junior high idiosyncrasies. Gohan was rummaging through his locker, shoving the necessary materials for tonight's homework in his backpack. Videl had already acquired her materials, and was leaning idly against her locker.

"Gohan, you still didn't tell me how you manage to commute four hours everyday." It was more of a question than a statement, and Videl always receives answers for her questions.

Gohan racked his brain, praying for something to interfere like it had the previous times she had asked him about it, but this time it looked like his luck had ran out. "Um…I use the monorail to the last station, and catch the rural bus." He didn't even know if any bus even ventured so far, but conversely he was pretty she didn't either.

"Wow, must be tough."

"Yeah, but it's great to finally go to school and not be home-schooled anymore. It's nice to have friends, and to have you—," he resisted the urge to clamp his mouth shut, and frantically tried to cover up his blunder, "To have you to talk to!" He said, his tone a little too high for comfort.

She looked at him suspiciously, trying to discern the authenticity of his statement, but let it slide since she was in a good mood today, after all, she had made Gohan worry sick about her, and that could only be a good sign.

"Ok, but I'll give you a ride in my 'copter if you want, it's no big deal." She remarked, as they stepped outside on to the street, walking over to an isolated area so Videl can decapsulate her chopper.

"Oh no, that's okay."

"Come on, it'll be fun." She threw her capsule down, and seconds later her yellow chopper appeared in the dispersing smoke.

"No really, I need to—," she stopped as someone had rudely bumped into her right arm, causing her bag to fall to the ground. She looked at her bag, and then back at the impeding fellow, who was pretty tall and muscular, but ugly looking just the same.

She waited patiently for an apology, but assuredly that was long in the coming.

"What are you looking at doll face?" He jeered, showing a row of crooked yellowish teeth. Maybe he was trying to commit suicide, or maybe he escaped from a psychiatric ward, but he was going to get a sure ass-whipping regardless of his obvious mental instability.

"Doll face? I'll show you exactly what this face can do!" With that she quickly lunged at him, but Gohan was too swift and caught her by the waist restraining her with ease, as she struggled frantically to get free.

"Let me go! I'm gonna jam my foot so far up his ass that he'd need a crowbar to wedge it out the next morning!" But as hard as she tried, she couldn't pry Gohan's arms off of her waist, which was surprising because she was the second strongest person after her dad, wasn't she?

After recovering from his initial shock, the malevolent retard started to hurl out even more degrading comments.

"I think you'll give a sharp bang for the buck won't you? How much do you cost anyway?"

Gohan nearly let go of Videl and bashed this guy three ways to Sunday, but restrained his surging anger for the sake of his identity, because the ruckus had attracted quite a huge crowd. Videl, however, took advantage of his momentary lapse of judgment and burst free from her human (saiya-jin?) shackles and buried her foot in the fool's gut, causing him to double over in agony. She raised her elbow high, apparently to knock him hard enough on his bald head to render him unconscious, had Gohan not interceded and grabbed Videl by the waist again. He clamped down on her and lifted her up high above his head, pivoting on his heels to execute a full 180, then setting her back on the floor, his—and consequently Videl's—back facing their adversary.

Videl was still shouting threats and vulgar obscenities at him, the comment about her being a zealous harlot infuriating her to no end. Chants of "Fight" and "Go Videl" were predominant amongst the mass of students gathered, as none of them attempted, or rather dared, to dissolve the fight civilly. Gohan was still restraining a peeved Videl, as her opponent struggled to his full posture still painfully clutching his abdomen. He walked up to Gohan and smashed him hard on the center of his spinal cord, which would have probably paralyzed any normal person given the size of their adversary, but Gohan had felt practically nothing. The crowds of spectators collectively gasped at the incident, but were even more astonished to see the large man awkwardly clutching both his abdomen and fist, while Gohan still held Videl by the waist seemingly unhurt.

Realizing the folly of his actions, Gohan immediately crumpled to the floor in a delayed attempt to masquerade injury. Fortunately for him, he knew how it felt to be punched hard by someone quite well, and was able to pull of a perfect face of agony. Videl hadn't seen the intensity of the blow—due primarily to her frustrated yelling and constant struggle to free herself—but when she turned around she saw Gohan on his knees, hands on back, in obvious pain. She immediately squatted down beside him face creased with worry, her hand instinctively going towards his back.

"Gohan are you alright. Gohan!" She was panicking now, fearing the worst, she hadn't seen the blow, but she sure as hell heard it, and it wasn't anything pretty.

She put her hands on his back, trying to massage the pain away, but Gohan's hands kept getting in the way. With his head down, buried in his chest, Gohan wasn't hiding his face because of the pain, but because he was blushing like mad. She was embracing him, massaging his back with worry!

"Ow, I think I broke my f—king wrist!" The oaf wailed miserably, still clutching his bruised knuckles.

"Gohan!"

"It's ok Videl, I'm fine," he said, getting up slowly, still masquerading a little pain, and when he looked at her face, full of worry and a little disbelief, he reassured her, "It's ok, it doesn't hurt anymore."

He stood straight up, and turned around, gazing at the frantic goon gravely. He slowly walked over to him, Videl looking on in incredulity, and grabbed him by the shirt collar as a fearful look overcame the goon. He stared at him hard, his eyes reflecting utter contempt—something he had nearly forgotten to do these past seven years—as he slowly, almost inaudibly said, "Get out of here, and don't ever even raise an eye towards her again, and I'll let you live." His grim demeanor betrayed no sympathy, no compassion, as it delivered the ultimatum.

"Alright break it up, break it up!" The school principal waded through the thick masses of the crowd to see Son Gohan, one of his best students, holding a roughed up man by the shirt collar. Gohan quickly let go of the goon upon seeing the principal, but it was too late, for he had already saw him, and the goon chose this precise time for his departure. Without as much as a squeak, he bolted through the crowd and disappeared in the nearest alley, not doubt to merge with his kind again.

"Son GOHAN! I never, what is the meaning of this?" The principal glared, at him first, then at Videl, who was still standing there dumbstruck at the turn of events. "BOTH OF YOU IN MY OFFICE!" Without even attempting to hear an explanation, the principal turned and strode sternly back into the building. A nervous Gohan and a weary Videl trailing not too far behind.

************************

"Um, Videl, I…sorry," Gohan kept his gaze on the hardwood floor, trying to avoid her glare at all costs. But contrary to his belief, she wasn't angry at him, or even irritated, just a bit flattered and tired.

"Look, Gohan, we went over this. Stop apologizing for things you didn't do." She said to him, worn and haggard after the turn of the day's events.

"But I did do this, I got us trapped in this detention hall for three hours!" After pleading their case as innocently as possible, both Videl and Gohan got off with only three hours of detention as their punishment, since they weren't the aggressors of the fight. But regardless, it was forbidden to fight in and around school property, so they couldn't escape this act with impunity.

"No you didn't, what you did though, was very sweet." She said sincerely, watching as Gohan nearly squirmed under her gaze.

"Heh, how was it sweet? I got you detention!"

"If you hadn't stopped me, then I would have gotten more than a three hour detention and you know it. You stuck up for me, took a punch for me, and even shared the blame with me, when nothing he said was meant for you."

"I was just…um…jus—," he tried to find the right phrase, fearful of her wrath if he tickled her ego.

"Just helping me, I know. You're a real friend. Some people are friends just for the interaction, just so they have someone to talk to and do stuff with from time to time. And then there are the select few, who become a real friend come good times or bad, ready to stick by you no matter the case. You're one of those people Son Gohan." She trailed off, and then said in the tiniest of whispers that no human ear could possibly detect, "You're special…"

He blushed at her last comment, both cursing and enjoying his far sensitive Saiya-jin hearing. "It was nothing Videl, besides, I did it for the guy, I didn't want him to be eating out of a plastic tube for the rest of his life now did I?" He said smiling mischievously.

Videl smirked back, "Oh and you know I would have done it too!"

"If I hadn't stopped you."

Her smirk grew wider, trying to make the best of the detention she continued to play along, "I could of broke out, easily. I just didn't want to unnecessarily hurt you." She drawled, eyes twinkling with mirth.

"Oh no you couldn't!"

"Oh yes," and the time flew by, both engaged in playful banter, until they had done their required three hours and stood up to go home.

*************************

Outside, parked in front of the school building, stood a yellow colored helicopter. As he anticipated, she had forgotten that she had decapsulated it in the heat of the moment, and it was time to initiate the first phase of his plan. Surreptitiously approaching the vehicle, making sure he was out of sight, he sauntered around it like a wispy shadow. He was in and out faster than a blink of an eye, tinkering with the machinery a bit, and zipped off towards the same alley as the big goof.

Quietly entering it, face still masked by that ever present shadow, he walked up to the said goon, who was slumped against the wall awkwardly holding his fist. Without so much as a greeting, he dropped a green wad on his lap, and as the goon looked down to see what it was—a wad of money—and then looked back up the elusive shadow-man was gone, no where to be seen.

*****************************

"Um, Videl, you forgot your 'copter outside."

She fished around in her pocket for the capsule, and noticed that her chopper was standing on the side of the road. She must have forgotten it there when the principal crashed their little discrepancy with some two-bit thug.

"Yeah, guess I did."

Gohan glanced at his watched, and immediately a wave of panic passed over him. "Oh man, look at the time! It's seven! My mom is gonna bust one major aneurysm on me!" He was about to start dashing for a suitable place to transform, but Videl stopped him.

"Hey, I'll drop you off. This time you can't refuse, because there's no way you can get home faster than my chopper, so get in." She said those last three words with some authority, glowering at the young Saiya-jin, seemingly trying to discourage any refusals.

Oh man, not now Videl. Damn it, she's giving me the death glare. If I am to keep her friendship, than there's only one way. He winced at the thought of what his mom would do to him when he came home that late, but that was later on, so he'd deal with it later on.

"Fine, thanks."

"Don't mention it!" Her previously stern demeanor suddenly changed into a sweet jovial one, as she literally hopped towards her jet.

Gohan sweat-dropped, trying to determine why she was so happy about their trip.

Must be something. Better stay sharp, she's definitely got something planned.

***************************

The trip went rather smoothly, contrary to what Gohan was imagining, and Videl stayed pretty much enjoyable the whole trip. They conversed upon various topics, Gohan getting know things about this girl he could only begin to imagine. She was, like any other human, not insusceptible to emotional pain, even though she tried her hardest to propagate such an image in school. He felt like what he befriended in school, all the casual chatter and things they did in these three weeks, was all but the tip of the iceberg. She was much deeper, had more to her than egotism and pride. She was prone to be very clandestine, locking up her emotions that Gohan was just beginning to unlock. Kind of a two-way street of secret sharing, although, both would prefer it to be one-way.

"My father wasn't always like that, I mean…you wouldn't know." She suspected him for being another one of those devout worshippers of Mr. Satan, clinging on to his every word and not doubting him for things he claimed that would seem preposterous to any rational human being.

"You're father wasn't always what?" She just looked on ahead, pretending to be concentrating on driving, "Trust me Videl, I'll understand."

She glanced at him, and his face was that of solemn sincerity, and in that moment of weakness she confided into him what she wouldn't have to her own kin.

"He wasn't so, conceited. And arrogant, and didn't think the world revolved around him. At one point in time, his world revolved around us, my mother and I." Her forlorn look nearly broke Gohan's heart, he couldn't see her like this, hurt, and afraid, but he continued to listen.

"I don't know why I'm saying that, but I am. I always tell myself, that I'm strong, that I'm independent, but everyone needs someone sometimes. I…I can't tell him anything Gohan, not anymore. Before we used to be more open, I used to confide in him a lot," she laughed bitterly, "I guess his girl grew up too fast, maybe he doesn't want to deal with high-school problems. I always had this nagging suspicion that parents love their children more when they're babies, or at least children. Maybe, in this case, I'm right."

"It would be different though, much more different, if mom was still here." She tried her hardest to force back the small drops of liquid she felt welling up in her eyes.

She was resolute, she wouldn't cry. "After her, my dad's life was empty. That hurt, a lot, to me, because I thought he still had me, I thought we still had each other. When mommy died, it was bad and I cried a lot, but I needed him more than ever then. I needed him to be both my parents, I was only ten, I couldn't face the world all alone at ten." A small drop of water trailed down her left eye, luckily, Gohan being seated on the right partially blocked his view of that. She quickly pretended to brush a bang of hair out of her eyes, wiping the offending tear with it.

"But he was devastated, and I guess something was very empty inside him that I couldn't fill up. So I watched him with his life, by the sidelines, as a spectator, and he pretty much ignored me in the time of need. Of course he was there, monetary wise, and for calling me names he'd think was cute. But never did he embrace me, hold me close, you know, to tell me it was fine, that everything was going to be alright. That's why I maintained this rough exterior, if I was alone, then I better be well prepared to face it alone. So after her death, he immersed himself in flaunting, and I immersed myself in martial arts. His ego was already petty big because he was the fighting champ at some federation, but after Cell, it inflated faster than an airbag. That was it, that filled the void in his life. Not me."

She was still valiantly fighting back the onslaught of tears, and almost whispered, "I wish, sometimes, that he hadn't beaten Cell."

Gohan stared at her, feeling immense guilt, because, although he never considered that anyone could be hurt by Mr. Satan taking credit for his battle, he never expected it to be the very person he was falling in love with.

"Sorry, I'm sorry." He wasn't saying it because he felt sorry for her, he was actually apologizing for his—now irresponsible—decision to let Satan take credit.

I hurt her. Oh my God, I destroyed her childhood. Her life.

But before he could accurately assess his guilt-trip, the chopper lurched violently, power systems shutting down, and before Videl could discern what was wrong, they plummeted earthwards at break-neck speeds.

"Shit! Gohan!" Videl was frantically trying to unbuckle her seatbelt while the plane was practically vertically nose-diving.

"Videl!" In his panic, Gohan reached over and yanked the seatbelt right of the wall, setting Videl free. Before she had time to express her amazement at his strength, he smashed his side door with both his feet, propelling the now unhinged door far away. Grabbing Videl by the arm, he jumped, and oriented himself so he was holding Videl's waist while they were falling.

She squeezed her eyes shut, because all she could see was the sky, Gohan was underneath her pointing her face straight in the air.

Gohan, not noticing that her eyes were closed, spun her around and smothered her in his chest, passing it off as a desperate attempt at a hug. She didn't mind, as she clutched his neck tightly burying her face in his chest, not wanting to look down at their imminent death. Acting quickly, he slowly manipulated his ki to propel them sideways, not fast enough for Videl to notice, but slowly and steadily towards an isolated lake on the right.

She was still embracing him tightly, not wanting to scream, not wanting to look, just glad that maybe her death wasn't so bad after all, she would die in his arms. Optimism dawns at the most awkward times, does it not?

With all the g-forces acting on them, and the constant blur of wind partially deafening her, coupled with her stomach nearly jammed inside her throat, Videl didn't notice that they were plummeting, with Gohan's ki, diagonally to the right.

Bracing himself for impact, Gohan spread himself as wide as possible, as to effectively shield every single part of Videl's anatomy with his own, he even managed to get his legs to cover her legs. For he knew, due to his vigorous studying, that to impact water from their distance and speed, it would feel like a concrete slab. He couldn't go into a diver's posture right away, that would leave Videl to die, and was pretty sure that this plan would not hurt her the slightest bit, and it would only manage to scratch minor bruises on his back.

Videl kept hearing the deafening blur of the wind rushing past her, or rather, that she was rushing past it. Before she knew it, she heard a distinct "slap" like that of someone falling on hard floor from a hefty distance. Immediately everything blurred, she came to a violent stop, decelerating from break-neck speeds to practically nothing in milliseconds, but fortunately she felt no pain, only felt blurry. She finally realized that she was immersed in water, deducing that from all the air bubbles escaping to the surface from her mouth. She was so tired, so weary, maybe she would take a quick nap, just for a few minutes…then everything blackened.

**********************************

"Videl, wake up, Videl."

"Mmmm…" She stirred a little, her beautiful face was at peace with itself just a few moments before, in her unconscious state, but now it scrunched up in irritation.

"Videl…" Gohan was really worried, thoughts that she was hurt continually revolving in his mind, making his head spin.

"Wha…What happened," she managed to croak out, her hands rubbing her forehead.

"We fell, luckily, there was water beneath us." No use alluding to the fact that they probably traveled at least a kilometer east within their descent. Using his superior intelligence he had flown over to the ruined chopper that was about a kilometer west from where they were, while Videl was still unconscious, and flew back with it leaving the charred remains in the lake.

Videl sat up, rubbing her eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness. "Why is it so dark?"

"This is the forest, look around you," he gestured with his arms, "Trees everywhere, the night and the shady trees make it very dark."

She was soaking wet, absolutely drenched, making her clothes weigh much more than they previously did. Shivering in the night's cold, she shakily stood up, Gohan helping her.

She looked at him, a brief wave of concern passing over her, as she remembered bits and pieces of their frightful fall. "My god Gohan, are you hurt?!"

He winced; this was going to be hard to explain, "Yeah a little, my back is killing me." Well, it wasn't a complete lie, his back was aching. A little exaggeration never hurt anyone.

"Let me look at it," she said, walking behind him and tugging on his shirt.

"No, no, it's…ok…no really…" Gohan was attempting to move around in circles, trying to make Videl lose her grip, but to no avail.

"Shh…stay still will ya," she yanked his shoulders hard, stopping his frantic squirming, and lifted up the back of his shirt. Although it was dark—since Gohan had placed her under some trees away from the lake—the moon still offered some illumination as it reflected eerily off the serene lake waters. She marched him over to the side of the lake, in hopes of some more light, and nearly gasped.

His back was very muscular, highly defined but not bulky. She wasn't sure if she had ever seen a well-defined back before this, she thought they simply didn't exist. There were angry red welts across his back, a few cuts and purplish bruises scattered here and there, but he didn't walk awkwardly and bent down just fine. How astonishing it would be, to first see a bookworm rip a seatbelt right of its casing, and then have a severely bruised back and not show signs of pain? Obviously, she hadn't seen saiya-jin's severely bruised, for if she did, she would understand why this hadn't bothered him much.

"You're hurt, bad,' she ran her hand over his back sending shivers up his spine, "Does it hurt?"

"Only a little, but if you keep doing that, something else is gonna start to hurt soon."

She was confused for a moment, but then spotting her hand on his bare back, she quickly retrieved it, her face turning tomato red. Luckily for her, it was night, and the visibility was pretty poor.

"Where are we?" She looked around, and besides the breathtaking scenery—the moon light shimmering on the placid lake—all she could see was a highly concentrated assortment of trees surrounding the scenic lake.

"Um, we're pretty far from my home. We've been flying for 3 and three quarter hours, which means we still had one quarter of an hour of flight left. Our approximate average velocity, neglecting headwind, was about 100 km/h (60 mph). Therefore, we still have around 25 kilometers to walk, around 3 hours."

Videl sweat-dropped, it seemed Gohan had converted into nerd mode again. A crisp North wind was starting up, making Videl shiver even more. She sat down a little forlorn, she was cold, and hungry, and had to walk three whole damned hours.

"Videl, maybe we should be going, it's getting real late." He noticed her shivering, the wind was starting to intensify from a gentle breeze to a relatively strong one, and with their dampened clothes it was chilling to the bone. Of course, Gohan had the distinct advantage, he could just keep warm with his ki, but Videl…

Videl was just sitting there, hugging her legs, trying to retain her body heat. "Soon, G…Gohan…so…c…col…cold…" She said, teeth chattering.

Gohan sat down beside her, looking at her strangely, trying to decide what to do. She was just staring out towards the lake, trying to admire the view, but in her current state, that was a long shot.

After a vigorous mental debate, Gohan decided that he had to help her. He had momentarily dropped his ki, just to see how cold it really was with damp clothes, and even he couldn't fight off the urge to chatter his teeth. If he left her damp and cold for prolonged periods of time, she would undoubtedly catch pneumonia.

"Come over here," he reached his arm out towards her balled up body. She quickly reared back, something akin to fear in her eyes, she couldn't help it, but it was an instinctive action. But when she finally assessed the situation rationally, she concluded that this was Gohan, and he would never do anything to hurt her.

"It's…o…ok…" She managed to say between bouts of chattering, still leaning away from him. He reached over and gently grasped her arm, pulling her towards him.

"No…Go…Gohan…I'm…fin—," but despite her protests, Gohan calmly pulled her towards him and placed her in the space between his legs, as he spread them out a little. Encircling his broad arms around her shivering body, he held her tight, and close, sharing body heat—or in this case ki—and rested his chin on her shoulder.

Videl knew that although she would get a little bit warmer, and it wouldn't be by much, but she wasn't going to complain any further. A few moments later though, a strange feeling overcame her, something warm and fuzzy inside her, like she was under her blankets in bed, safe and secure. Soon she didn't feel the slightest bit cold, and she relaxed a little, resting her head on Gohan's chest, finally being able to appreciate the breathtaking lake before her. Tired and drowsy, she let her heavy eyelids rest for a while, and before she knew it, slumber overtook her.

Gohan felt her breathing become deep and even, her diaphragm moving her chest up and down rhythmically, and stroked the side of her face softly. He was experiencing a little bit of heaven, because he was holding a sleeping angel, beautiful and pure. Taking every precaution, he gently rose to his feet while shifting her around so he cradled her with both arms, pressing the side of her face against his chest. Still keeping the ki shield around them both, and intensifying it a little, he flew off towards his house, careful not to fly too fast and wake her.

Half an hour later he arrived at his dome shaped house, the lights were all off except one, it being almost midnight. He carried his precious cargo up to the front door, when he felt a familiar ki rushing towards it. His mother came out, furiously brandishing her frying pan in one hand and her mouth widening as if she was about to scream at him, when she noticed the bundle in his arms.

"Wha…what happened?" She said softly, all pretense of anger replaced by worry.

"She had an accident, no time to explain right now mom, but get some clean sheets and a blanket on my bed, she'll be sleeping here tonight."

Chi-Chi nodded and rushed inside, Gohan wearily following her towards his room. When he reached there, his mother already had the sheets in place and a sleeping Goten in her arms. She took Goten with her towards her room, appropriately leaving the entire room for Videl. He had intensified his ki heat earlier because he wanted to dry her clothes, and sure enough, although a little stiff, they were dry enough to be slept in.

He gently placed the sleeping beauty on to his bed, pulling the sheets up to her neck protectively. He just squatted there for a little while, on the bedside, gazing at her peaceful form. He hadn't really thought much of his feelings for Videl before, only thinking that he had really liked her. But now, looking at her, after all that had happened in the hectic day, and of all that she had shared with him, he came to a sudden realization, that this wasn't just mere attraction; this was, and only could be, his first true love.

He stooped over her, and softly placed a kiss on her forehead, whispering, "I love you." Then he left, his destination, the couch, to get a good night's rest.

*GNP-Gross National Product

(A/N- Longest chapter yet, but rest assured, they ain't gettin' no love any time soon.)

"Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone."

-Anthony Burgess