This is my first shot at writing something besides essays and such for school. I would really appreciate constructive criticism to help me get better at it. Thanx.

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or its characters, but I do own the plot to this story and some of the characters in it.

Ages: Videl-17 ; Gohan-17 ; Melody-7 ; Goten-7 ; Trunks-8
-I will probably add more later.

"spoken" -thoughts-

A Child's Tale

Chapter 1: A Sister's Bond

It was dark...

Not physically dark but dark as in an unseen shadow that hovered silently around the room, filling it with dread and despair.

A woman, in her late 30s, lay on the bed. Machines, of various shapes and sizes, were hooked up to her through a variety of tubes and wires.

Her face was a sickly pale and anyone who looked at her could tell she was weak and wouldn't last very long. She had long, black hair and blue eyes that were once bright and had shown with happiness.

A young girl kneeled next to her, tears running down her face. She knew her mother was going to dye but didn't want to accept it.

- She was fine yesterday! Yesterday..., - she sighed, - it seemed so long ago. But after giving birth...her mother started to fade. The doctors had said they were surprised she lasted this long. Argh, it's not fair! – She was snapped out of her thoughts as her mother turned to her.

"Videl..." the woman whispered hoarsely.

"Yes momma?" the young girl answered, wiping away the tears.

"Love you..."

"I Love you too momma." Videl answered smiling slightly before it dropped off as she looked at her mother.

"Momma?" The room was silent.

"Momma!?"

"Momma!" she cried and a long, steady beep was heard throughout the room. Everything went black, but she still heard the doctors and nurses rush into the room.

-

Videl Satan shot up in bed, breathing hard and a cold sweat running down her face. After looking around the room and realizing it was just a dream, she looked over at the clock.

-Ugh, 4 am...might as well get up- she thought, knowing that she wouldn't get back to sleep no matter how hard she tried.

Getting up, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she headed to the shower. Soon after she got out, a small head poked into her room through the gap between the open door and the door frame that led to the hallway.

"V-Videl?" The young girl said quietly to her older sister.

"Huh, Melody? What are you doing up this early?" she asked as she dried her hair with a towel.

"I couldn't sleep." She said as she walked into the room.

"That makes two of us..."Videl sighed thinking about the dream before smiling, "Hey, what do you say to some breakfast?"

"Yah" Melody cried, jumping up and down with a huge smile on her face.

"Alright then, race you down stairs" Videl challenged, laughing.

Before she knew it, Melody was out of the room running down the hall laughing.

Videl chuckled as she walked out of her room, following her younger sister.

She finally made it down to the kitchen from the fourth floor, where hers and Melody's rooms were, to find Melody already sitting at the table with a fork in one hand and a knife in the other, staring at her plate as if the food would magically appear.

"What are you doing? You know the cooks aren't up at this hour." Videl said smiling.

"They aren't?" Melody asked, tilting her head to the side, "Well then what about breakfast, we can't eat it unless someone makes it."

"I'm going to make it," Videl said confidently before looking at her sister's terrified face, "What?"

"Don't you remember the last time you cooked," Melody said, "You know, the 'delicious' cupcakes you made for the Christmas Eve party."

"That wasn't my fault. Someone switched the vanilla and the soy sauce labels." She said.

"You made daddy get sick after he ate one." She accused before giggling, "That was kind of funny though."

Videl also smiled at the memory saying, "Yah, that was funny. Now, lets go make breakfast," As she walked into the kitchen.

Melody then jumped out of her seat, jogging after her sister into the kitchen.

After they ate, Melody followed Videl into the gym. She sat off to the side, watching her do a variety of kicks and punches to the stuffed dummy.

After about an hour, she started to get bored with just sitting there.

"Hey nee-chan"

"Yes Melody," Videl said as she stopped and grabbed a towel off the rack.

"When does school start?" she asked.

"In about a week, why, Mel, whatsup?" Videl asked sitting next to her sister.

"Nothin..." she said, a depressed look on her face.

"Hey, what do you say to going to the mall later and getting new school stuff, huh?" Videl said trying to cheer her sister up, "And maybe after that we can go get some ice cream."

"Ok," Melody said excitedly as they both got up and headed towards the door to get changed and leave for the mall.

-

Well that's it for Chapter 1. Hoped you liked it.

Next Chapter: A Brother's Bond