Disclaimer: Once again, me no own Dbz. It's sad, ne?

"..." means conversation

'...' means thoughts

... means telepathy

A Cold Place by: Sweettooth

Chapter 3:Alone

The night had gone by fast for Videl. But things hadn't been crazier. First, that crazy man and Shadow disappeared, then he comes back with a promise to tell her everything. Once they got home he sat her down and began with a story of an alien man who killed a man of great strength, then one of a boy being trained, and so on and so on. She listened of more aliens, the boy and his father being from a different race called the Saiyans, trips to other worlds, and killer robots. But all of the time, those stories surrounded a boy, his father, a prince, among several other people. He was getting towards the end of the androids when she finally couldn't take it anymore.

Videl jumped up from the couch, "What the hell are you talking about! Who is this boy? How come I've never heard these stories before?"

Gohan( Notice when I say Gohan's name, it's only when I personally talk about him or when Gohan is thinking to himself.) took a couple of breaths, "Because most people haven't. They can't handle the truth. People would be in chaos if they knew how many times the earth could have been destroyed. That boy and his father have saved this world so many times. But after the last enemy, the boy couldn't take it anymore. It was too much of a life for him. "His breaths became short and his voice cracked, "He had no one. He was alone. No one cared. So he ran. Ran from everything. His father didn't want to be around him anymore. His friends weren't really his, they were his father's. He had nothing there...I had nothing." He broke into soft sobs.

Videl couldn't speak. Her mind was so filled with questions. Was he the boy? Was he lying? How many times had he saved the world? Was he really an alien? The questions kept coming as fast as they possibly could. All of which centered Shadow.

Videl looked back up at him after coming out of her daze, upon realizing that Shadow was silently sobbing on the other side of the couch that they were on. She slowly inched her way towards him and rested her arms around his shoulders, creating a loose, comforting hug. In a matter of seconds, Shadow threw his own arms around her waist, letting out a loud wail that he had been holding in ever since Radditz. The loose, comforting hug suddenly turned into the tightest embrace that Videl had ever been in. But that wasn't the thing that felt weird to her, in fact it felt like it needed to happen. The thing that seemed weird to her was that they both seemed highly out of character. Well, she wasn't real sure about Shadow, because this was only the second day that she had known him personally, and not just his reputation. But she knew for a fact that she was not acting like herself at all. Not to mention that she was being nice to anyone at all, but she had comforted and actually got close to a guy. She smiled, knowing that the new feeling was one that she wanted to keep forever. She watched as Shadow laid his head down on her lap and looked up into her eyes. From what Videl could tell, Shadow was in thought as to how to put his next action forward. A few seconds later his mouth began to slowly move, but no sound came forth. She almost laughed out loud as she watched him try to form words, but the humor suddenly turned into seriousness as he was finally able to speak.

"Videl, thanks. You have helped me so much. And I know that I didn't tell you everything yet, but I hope you can understand that I need just a little break. If you want to come back to my place in the morning, I swear that I will fill you in on the rest and I'll answer all the questions that you have."

Videl thought of the opportunity that she would be given in the morning, and that caused her to smile. But that smile quickly faded at the thought that she would have to leave pretty soon, and to tell the truth, she never wanted to be away from him for a second. 'If I play my cards right, I may not have to leave,' she thought to herself. "Um, Shadow? May I stay here tonight? My father is gone, and I really don't want to stay there alone. And you kinda make everything that much better." She braced herself for the answer she dreaded to come. But when she looked back at his face, he smiled at her.

"Sure." He said, "Only under one condition…"

Videl gulped, "And that would be?"

Gohan smiled to himself and got up. Videl carefully watched him as he went up the stairs and came back shortly after with a blanket and a pillow. He walked over to the couch in which they were sitting and picked Videl up with one arm, then setting her on one of his shoulders. As he did this, Videl gave out a loud yelp. Gohan chuckled to himself, then unfolded the couch to reveal a nice sized bed. Setting Videl down on the newly appeared bed, he wandered back upstairs and came back down wearing black silk pajamas with another set of pajamas in his arms. The only difference was that the pajamas that he got for her were a crimson red color. He handed her the pajamas and left once again to the kitchen so as to let her change. Once he came back ten minutes later (with a full stomach might I add), Videl was changed and was laying down on the bed, quite comfortable. He hesitated for a second before slowly climbing on the bed and laying horizontally on the bed, while Videl was laying vertically. He laid his head on her lap and gazed at the ceiling strait above him. He smiled as he was getting comfortable.

Videl, on the other hand, was really shocked that he just laid down on her lap like that. Sure, he did the same thing right before he thanked her, but this time he seemed to be back to normal. "Um, Shadow? Why are you laying like that?" Though to be perfectly honest, she loved it, but she wouldn't admit that out loud anytime soon.

Gohan smiled at her, "It's my condition to you staying here. Not meant to be a pervert or anything, but it's just that you lap is very comfortable. Also, for some reason, having you near me gives me the warmth that I haven't felt since I was a kid. That's all."

Videl smiled. His answer was innocent, so she would let it happen tonight. She was about to tell him goodnight. But she found out that he was already asleep. Not being that tired, she absently played with a spike of his unusually long hair( think of Radditz, but Gohan's hair has a hair tie in his and the tips are dyed blue) as she thought of the questions that she would ask him in the morning. Slowly she fell asleep, dreaming about the guy she only knew by the name of Shadow

End Chapter

A/N: Please review!