~Soul Stalkers~
A/N: All right, this fic may or may not be updated regularly, but I'd still appreciate reviews, I honestly update faster with good reviews. It's definitely PG-13, but no more than that. Maybe heavily implied sexual relations, as well as mentions of rape, and some violence, but nothing deserving of an 'R' rating. I own Iruni, but not her name, and I don't own Verdandi, that credit goes to her hikari, Belldandy, but I do own the rest of the original characters.
*Anata wa Shimatta!à Damn you!
~Chapter One~
He gathered his books together and stuffed them in his bag once he'd finished the work written on the board, and waited to be dismissed. He looked next to him, where Videl was missing. She'd needed to go to a conference/publicity stunt, which was at Capsule Corp of all places. He was to go there straight from school; his parents and brother were already there. The bell finally rang, but Gohan continued to sit there, mainly because he didn't want to bother trying to squeeze into the crowd that ran toward the door. It was Friday, and a fairly nice day at that. Wisps of Cirrus clouds floated through the clean azure sky.
The crowd finally dispersed, and Gohan walked to where the teacher was gathering some papers to leave for the teachers' conference. She looked up when she noticed Gohan.
"May I help you, Mr. Son?" she inquired. She was an odd looking woman, this was true, but she always had a friendly air about her.
"Can I just get some of the papers to bring to Videl? She wanted me to get her work, even though she'd rather not do it…" Gohan laughed, slightly nervously.
"Absolutely Mr. Son, and can I trust you to also bring her this," she handed him an envelope, "and not open it?"
"Sure thing!" Gohan took the papers and envelope from his teacher and ran towards the roof. He was slowed by the principal, who yelled that there was no running in the halls, but he did make it to the roof in record time. (Hmm… I wonder why) Not slowing for a second, he leapt to the air, and let the cool air sting his face. Capsule Corp wasn't that far away, but it was just long enough that he had time to let his thoughts wander. They wandered to the confrontation with Piccolo the other day. That had been a weird incident…
~Flashback~
'I'm gonna get there on time!' Gohan thought. It would be the second time that year. Looking at his watch as he landed, he noticed he there were still three minutes before class began. He ran toward the door but slowed to a halt when he saw a familiar green figure leaning against a wall.
"Piccolo?" he called, walking to his old friend and sensei.
"Finally kid. I didn't think you'd ever get here." Piccolo muttered.
"Umm… Okay, but, what are you doing here?"
"I came to warn you, before you went into that school and became even more deluded by your 'friend'," Piccolo said the word 'friend' with such a malignant voice, Gohan came to suspect that he was referring to Cell rather than any of his friends.
"Umm… which friend? And why do you want to warn me about them?" Gohan asked, even more bewildered.
"Evil is stirring in another dimension, I can sense it, and your friend has something to do with it. She's different, you can't sense it, but I can. Be careful around Videl, kid,"
Gohan stared for a minute, then laughed out right, despite his efforts to try and hold back. "Videl? Evil? HAH! She can be nasty sometimes, but she's really nice! I think I can decide if she's evil or not for myself, thanks."
"Don't laugh, KID! You don't know of what you're talking about! She's dangerous, and that's all I can tell you!"
Gohan finally stopped laughing. "Listen, I have to get to class, but if she sprouts wings and chases me with a dagger, I'll let you know," and before his sensei could respond, Gohan had slipped through the door and was already running toward class. He still had thirty seconds…
~End Flashback~
Upon hearing a yelp, Gohan glanced below him and saw that he'd been floating above Capsule Corp, apparently for some time now. Some lady had pointed up at him and promptly fainted. Quickly, he landed, before anyone else saw him. As he walked down the path, he could see all the chaos, and who caused it.
People were trying to fix the popped and melted metal of the axes on a camera van. 'Goten and Trunks…" Gohan thought. He wandered forward more. A woman being carried off on a stretcher, bruises on her body, a single scorch mark on her shoulder, and a twisted arm. But the twisted arm held a clipboard with interview questions on it, including: 'What's your bra size?', 'Boxers, briefs, or none?', and 'Are you a Virgin?'. 'Geez Gohan thought… that lady just wanted to get killed… I guess Videl won't be in a great mood…" and finally, Gohan met up with Vegeta's destruction for the day; Yamcha.
The washed-up baseball player was crushed into a wall of Capsule Corp, his body covered in blood that dripped from his very pores. He was burned on various parts of his arms, and he had the imprint of someone's knee driven into his groin area. It appeared Vegeta had wanted to make it so that Yamcha could never have children. Ever. But after all of this, he was still alive, his limbs twitched, and he took breath.
Reaching into his belt, Gohan drew out a small brown bag. After an incident where Gohan nearly killed a convenience store robber, he'd started carrying a bag of Senzu Beans around regularly. He pulled Yamcha out of the hole in the wall and rested him against the stairs to Capsule Corp.
Seconds after the Senzu Bean was placed in his mouth, Yamcha sprang to life. He leapt into the air, looking wildly around. "Where is he? Where?!"
Gohan grinned. "Calm for a minute, I think Vegeta's either in the GR, or the shower. Either way, you've got time enough to escape."
"Okay, thanks a lot Gohan!" Taking a quick look to either side, Yamcha flew off at an incredible speed.
Gohan chuckled and walked inside, finding the most horrifying sight he'd ever had the misfortune to see. His mother, with a stack of pictures to either side, and Bulma and Videl to on her left laughing.
As he walked in, Videl looked up, a wide grin spanning her face. She sauntered over to him, an all-knowing and taunting look on her face. Gracefully, she placed an arm across to his shoulder, and rested her head against his chest. Gohan became even more nervous as she looked up at him. "Hi Gohan. Your Okaasan has just been graciously explaining some of the finer points in your life… You know, the ones you hide from…"
"She… *gulp* Has?"
"Oh absolutely, and she's also shown me some of the pictures that go with them… Little Firefighter," the look on her face when she said it was quite smug.
"Oh no!" Gohan whined. He was praying that he'd heard incorrectly.
"Oh yes, I know all about you, little firefighter," she reached over to a stack, and picked off the top one.
The picture was of Gohan, giggling and red-faced at about the age of three. He was soaked to the bone and wearing swimming trunks that he had to hold up. The bad part was not the fact that his butt was very clearly shown in his horrible act of holding up the swimming shorts, it was the fact that his other hand was holding a hose into his trunks, so that water sprayed right through them in a large fountain. Of course, it made him look like he was peeing…. A lot…
The blush on Gohan's face made him look like the mercury from a thermometer. "Ahhh… that was when I was… Younger…"
The grin on Videl's face remained. "Your mom and Bulma have mentioned a few more recent incidents…"
Head in his hands, he began to shake. "Repressed memories…"
"Hey, it's okay, I don't care…"
"You… Don't?"
"Iie, of course not! Little Firefighter…" Videl laughed. Bulma and Chichi echoed her mirth as well, while Gohan wished he could drop under the floorboards.
Finally the three women gained control of themselves, long after Gohan had taken a seat in a far chair as well as finished pouting. Videl wandered over to him and sat on his lap and leaned against his chest. His hands slipped around her stomach. The pair acted like a couple, although they hadn't started 'dating' yet.
"So, how'd your otousan's publicity stunt go?" Gohan asked.
Videl laughed. "Well, he put on a great show for the reporters, breaking all of 30 tiles, but as soon as they'd taken their attention from him, he began cradling his hand, which we found out is broken."
"Gomen nasai?"
"Oh please, I know you're not sorry for him, and frankly, I'm with you on that one. Did you get my work?"
"Hai, of course!" Gohan grinned.
"Anata wa shimatta…" Videl muttered. "Arigato… I guess."
Gohan glanced to his mother, who was talking animatedly to Bulma. "Okaasan? Where's Otousan?"
"Kitchen."
"Arigato."
As the sun began to set, Gohan could feel Videl drifting off to sleep against his chest. "Long day?" he asked quietly.
"Mmhmm…"
A loud explosion interrupted the quiet moment, and Videl would have fallen out of her seat if it weren't Gohan holding her. As it were, Gohan leapt up while holding her anyways. He let her go and got into fighting stance, it was pure habit by now. But then they heard the yelling, and saw that it was just the GR that had blown up.
"Kakarott you clown! The woman's gonna put me on the couch because of you."
"Gomen, Veggie! I didn't mean to!"
"That was so cool dad!"
"Son Goku! You had Goten in there with you buffoons?!"
"And me, I was in there too!"
"VEGETA!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Wanna go help them?" That was Gohan.
"…Not really, but I guess we could…." Videl responded. Then glancing at her watch, she shook her head. "Iie, I've gotta get home, wanna come with me?"
Grinning, Gohan walked out the front door with her and floated into the air. "Hai!"
The couple flew in silence, enjoying one another's company. They took the usual route to her house, which meant go completely out of their way, because they wanted to enjoy a peaceful view. They eventually landed in front of Videl's mansion, and Gohan handed Videl the papers from school. They stood there, silent for a few minutes. Gohan shifted uncomfortably, as he wanted to say something, but couldn't bring himself to say it.
"Umm… Gohan? Is there any reason you're still standing here?"
His voice high and cracked, Gohan answered; "Eheheheh… Videl? I was wondering… Since we already kind of… You know… And people think we're a *ahem*, do you wanna be?"
Videl stared for a few more minutes blankly. "Nani?"
"Do… Do… Are you free tomorrow night? Maybe I could take you to... Dinner and a Movie?" He let out an extreme sigh as he was done.
"As in, go on a date?" Videl asked; her look was unreadable.
"Umm… Hai?"
"No," and with that she turned and walked into her house, not another word uttered.
But Gohan still stood there, feeling broken inside. He couldn't think of what it was he did wrong; he'd thought she liked him. 'I gave myself too much credit' Slowly, he turned away, taking flight with a last glance to Videl's window, where she could be seen sitting on her bed, facing away from him. He flew back toward his house; no one was there yet. Climbing the stairs to his room, he relaxed, leaning against the headboard. "You know, sometimes life sucks," he muttered to no one in particular. "What the HELL did I do wrong?" His eyes closed slowly, and he drifted off to sleep in his uncomfortable position.
Videl felt him leave, and lifted her shirt off her body, followed by the remainder of her clothes. She was in her bathroom by this point, and she turned the water onto an icy blast. Stepping into the shower, she muttered; "Gohan, you didn't do anything wrong… Unfortunately, you did everything just right…"
"I haven't seen you this way in years, Videl," A sultry voice whispered behind her.
"Bastard!" she yelped. Videl turned around to face him, and his arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her close to his body. "Akuma."
"I am, aren't I?" Akuma grinned.
~Videl~Z~
