I realise it took them long enough to do something, but that's just the way it goes. This fic spiralled out of control in size, I was originally planning about 10 chapters and maybe 15,000 words. Bear in mind though, it only took a week for themin real time. I just kept writing nonsense for ages and couldn't stop.
Gohan stirred a little in his soft bed. His eyes were full of sleep, and he couldn't open them properly, only squint a little out of the slits that had been allowed. Judging by the sun that was streaming through the window, it was early, far too early. He seemed a lot more tired than normal, as though he had been up late into the night, perhaps he had felt the need to do some training, he could remember the trouble he was having with Videl. Maybe he tried to get her out of his head.
It hadn't seemed to of work too well though, he could remember a very realistic dream that had involved her and a bed. He tried moving a little, but found himself stopped by a dainty hand grasping at his chest, begging him to stay. Someone had crept into his bed, and now asleep on top of his chest. He looked down and saw a mass of black hair underneath his nose through his impaired vision. Goten must have had a bad dream, and crawled into his bed like he used to when he was younger.
But Goten never slept on him like this, and Gohan never never used to put his arms around him in such a way, it was more of a lover's embrace. And since when did Goten wear perfume, and have such soft, silky skin? And since when did he develop such ample breasts that pressed against his chest?
The answer was, since never! He quickly jerked his eyes open, moving a hand up to wipe the sleep from his eyes with a knuckle, the action stirring the sleeper beside him. This was not his room, it was not his bed. It did, however, resemble the room he had been in with Videl during his dream. Shit.
The previous night's activities came flooding back to him now, as the sleeping beauty tilted her head up to him with a look that he swore was also on his own, she looked as confused as him. Had they been drunk? No, of course not, he had never even touched alcohol, and he could not have been more sober last night.
Videl groaned, and placed her head back on his chest. She sighed a contentedly into his chest. Gohan placed an arm around her, before the storm that was about to ensue began. He appreciated the moment and situation for all he could, while it lasted.
Videl herself ached all over. She had given herself willingly over to him, given her purity to a boy, not even a man, whom she had first spoken to days earlier. But yet, despite this, she could not find in her mind a better candidate. The moment had been right, she had wanted him, and for him to take her in return. But even so, both of them realised, the most incredible night of their lives thus far may turn out to be the greatest decision they ever took, or the biggest mistake that could befall either of them.
For this one, indescribable moment, however, these thoughts were gone, and nothing else mattered. After a few more seconds, Gohan breathed in deeply, taking her scent in with it, gently rolled her off him, and turned to sit with his legs over the edge of her large bed. Reaching down, he picked up his clothes and began dressing slowly, while Videl lay beside him.
He could feel her eyes boring into his back, watching him, and he let her continue. Once he looked decent, he turned to her, and she was now sat up, with a sheet wrapped around her modestly.
"So much for sorting it out on monday." She said, smiling.
"I think we should wait a little longer now to tidy this thing up between us." She edged off the bed and rose to her feet, standing below him, where he placed an arm around her back, bringing her closer to him. "We'll wait until after the tournament. All right?"
"Do you regret it Gohan? What if I'm pregnant or something? What will we do?" This was a big fear for her. How could the daughter of Mr Satan fall pregnant at sixteen, well before marriage had ever been considered. Not to mention the fact that her father would find out. His rule of her never going near a boy who wasn't stronger than him was supposed to make her untouchable. Gohan was a contender though, after what she had seen him, as well as Mika, do. If he did find out though, he would most likely force her into an abortion without a second thought. She couldn't bear the thought of this, and struck it from her mind.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you aren't." He was still certain of his sterility. "And no, I don't regret it at all." He tenderly kissed her forehead in reassurance.
She couldn't help but smile up at him. "How do you know I'm not?"
"I don't think that I can have children." He stated easily, as if he had come to terms with it a long time ago.
"What!" She cried. She couldn't help but admit she was a little saddened at his sureness in the matter. She had thought about children with Gohan immediately after what had happened between them.
"Just don't think about it. I don't want another word about it."
She fell silent, biting her lip, she wanted to tell him it wasn't true, she hoped it wasn't anyway, but she knew he wouldn't listen. "Will I still be able to learn to fly?"
He had not thought about that. He thought now that things might be awkward between them, particularly if they had to wait a month, and being in the company of each other during a portion of that mother for long periods, but things were now so easy between the two of them it didn't seem a problem. He nodded. "Of course. Look, I've got to go, my mother wil be wondering where I am."
She nodded. "Ok. If my father caught us you'd be dead. You'd better go."
"Well, I wouldn't want your father after me." He said, with only the slightest hint of sarcasm. Indeed, he could never be physically harmed by Mr Satan, but an angry father was a dangerous father to anyone, no matter how powerful. With a swift, but soft kiss goodbye, he bade her farewell, and took off out of her open doors into the morning sun.
Videl turned and fell onto her bed, a huge smile on her face. She saw his white shirt lying on the floor at the foot of her bed, he had forgotten it. She crawled over her bed and picked it up. She could smell him on it and it reminded her of the night and the following morning. He had actually had smile on his face. It was the only genuine smile she had seen on him, not the smirk that dominated his face when his scowl was away. She liked him like that. It looked like that was the way he was supposed to look.
The night had exhausted her, she had been utterly spent, her energy left her completely. He had been gentle with her, never pushing her or forcing her. She had suspected he might of been a bit rough with her, his teenage hormones driving him, but he hadn't been anything of the sort, and had held himself back, obviously for her benefit.
---------------------------------------------------
Gohan flew home happier now than he had been his entire life, a feeling he never thought he would truly feel ever again. The last seven years in particular had been a struggle for happy moments for him. Even Goten's first steps and words didn't compare to this. The problem now, was resisting the temptation for another month. His body, however, wasn't pressuring him. Maybe it thought it had achieved its goal, to procreate, and continue his line. It certainly took a great weight off his shoulders.
He thought now to what his mother might say. He had been out all night before, but usually let her know in some way. Perhaps Mika would help him. She must of sensed his ki flying rapidly towards Satan city, and she knew what a hard time Gohan was having resisting Videl. She would have undoubtedly put two and two together. He just hoped she hadn't told Chichi. Weddings and grandchildren would be in his face the moment he stepped through the door.
He flew home far slower than the speed at which he had travelled to Videl, savouring the fresh air and sounds of the countryside he loved so much. For the first time in seven years, he was able to fully appreciate them, unlike before this day, where he had acknowledged them silently to himself, only half enjoying them.
Fairly soon however, despite the slow loops and dives he was doing unconsciously for his own enjoyment, the small home came into view. There were two more things he had been reintroduced to this morning. Flying had been a chore, just a method of going from A to B, but now was a joy again. And his home, that hadn't been truly called a home for him for years. It had simply been a house, a dwelling where he slept and ate, that his family happened to still call home. Only one thing was missing from his life now, his father. That was something he could never have back though, he recognised. Despite this, the smile was still not swept from his face.
From a distance, he saw his mother peering out of the kitchen window, waiting for him. Gulping slightly, he began his descent, as she exited the kitchen to come out of the front door.
"Where have you been!" She shrieked. "Didn't tell anyone, no note, nothing. You should be ashamed young man." She scolded. He simply strolled on by, humming to himself.
What could he say? Sorry mother, I've just been out having meaningless sex with some girl I met five days ago. That wouldn't do, it wasn't exactly true, it hadn't been meaningless, and Videl was hardly 'some' girl. "Sorry mother, just went out for a stroll. I woke up early." That would do. She didn't know he'd been out all night, only this morning.
"I'm not happy with you, I don't think I should give you any breakfast." Chichi was probing, if this didn't affect him, there was something up, how could his spirits be this high? Perhaps high school had worked after all. A little sooner than she had expected, but still. Another brilliant plan of Son Chichi's creation. She allowed him to go on by as he didn't seem struck by that threat at all. She did not want to ruin this good mood of his at all, these were hard to come by, and this one was unprecedented.
As Gohan entered the kitchen, his siblings were sat stuffing their faces in typical Saiyan fashion. "Am I allowed some mother?" He asked courteously.
"Of course dear, you were only getting some fresh air."
As Gohan began eating, Mika slowed her pace, and looked over at him, eyebrow raised and a smile on her face. He simply shrugged his shoulders and returned a smile. She knew what had happened.
After they had eaten, Mika and Gohan went outside to discuss the previous night.
"You didn't go to Videl did you?" She asked, immediately.
"Yes, I couldn't stop it. But I can't say that I regret it. I gave in."
She laughed. "You little stop-out! I knew you'd end up like this eventually. I wonder how long you'll have that stupid grin on your face?"
He forced his face into a more normal smile. "It isn't a stupid grin. For once in my life I'm a little bit happy, and I'm making it last. It probably won't last too long either."
"What are you going to do when she comes over on monday?"
"Just pretend it never happened, and wait until after the Budokai. We need to ask mom you know, I'm still not sure if she'll let us compete, let alone take the month off to train."
"It's fine, I told her all about it last night. She wasn't too happy, but I told her about the prize money. She got a little bit excited, the money dad left us is nearly gone. 10 million zeni is a lot of money. Even if we get the others to compete, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to win, you're still quite a way ahead of Vegeta aren't you? And you'll have a chance to beat the crap out of that bastard Satan."
"I don't care about him, but yeah, it should be easy to win, and for you too. You should be able to get pretty far. Do the others know yet? It'll be easy to tell Vegeta about it, and he won't miss the chance for a fight. Piccolo might come too, and Krillen and Eighteen. I don't think Yamcha fights anymore, and we won't find Tien."
"Come on, let's fly over to Bulma's to tell them." With a quick word to their mother, they took off towards West Capital. On the way, Gohan changed the look on his face back to the one of casual indifference to the world, he had a reputation to upkeep, he couldn't be seen happy, people would ask questions.
Once they had arrived at Capsule Corporation, the Briefs family assembled in one of the laboratories, ready to hear the news that the twins were bringing.
"Bulma, you remember the Budokai that all the guys used to compete in?" Mika started, and Bulma simply nodded her head. "Well, Gohan and I will be competing, and we were trying to get everyone else to come too. So, are you up for it Vegeta?"
"This Budokai or whatever it's called, when is it?"
"A month."
"And your father used to compete?"
"Yes, three times."
"Fine, I'll come, it isn't like I've got anything better to do, I'm always training anyway."
"That's for sure." Bulma said rather dejectedly.
Suddenly, a voice appeared out of thin air, raising goosebumps on the arms of those present who recognised the voice. "I'm going too!" It said.
"Father!" Gohan whispered. "That's his voice."
"Dad, is that you?" Mika questioned the voice.
"Yep, it's me."
"Are you really coming to the Budokai?" Mika asked, still shocked to at the revelation.
"Yes, I asked Baba to come for one day...the day of the Budokai. You guys are going too, right? I'll definitely be there."
"Great!" Mika cheered. Gohan allowed the smile to creep back onto his face. A chance to see his father again, if only for one day, was something he had been waiting for for a very long time.
Vegeta also seemed happy at the news, a chance to defeat Kakarot was an opportunity not to be missed. "This is excellent. Everone be ready, I've become pretty strong."
"Me too. Let's all meet there." Goku said. "Tell your mother kids, I didn't want to tell you I was coming with her around, I thought she might get a bit too emotional." He had that right. And then, he was gone.
"Don't forget to tell the others you two, they'll want to know straight away." Bulma told them.
"Yeah, we'll go now. Come on Gohan." The two waved godbye, and shot out of the open window. Between themselves, they decided to split up, Mika was to tell the lot on Kame island, and Gohan to go to the lookout, before meeting back up near to home, in readiness for telling Chichi.
Once their individual jobs were completed, they met up a few miles from their countryside of their home.
"Did everything go all right?"
Gohan nodded. "Piccolo is coming, but Dende isn't, he's not a fighter Namek. What about your end?"
"Krillen wasn't going to compete at first, he didn't think that there was much point with so much competition stronger than him. Eighteen made him though, after she heard about the prize money. I was wondering about Videl, you're going tot each her to fly, right?"
"What! I can't, I don't think I could control myself around her." Gohan had been sure Mika would teach her, she had after all been the one who made the deal and allowed herself to be discovered.
"I can't, I haven't trained for seven years, I need some practice. Goten and Trunks will want to fight too, so I'll take Goten and spar with him, he should easily be strong enough, and I'll teach him to fly, it should only take a day for him. Videl might take a little longer. Did you know he can transform?"
"Yes, he showed me. It seems as though he's been born with the ability, sparring with mother and me the odd time wouldn't be enough to push him over the barrier. Maybe because dad was at full power when he was conceived." With a shudder, the two shut up quickly after this, thoughts of their parents having sex weren't pleasant ones.
Mika didn't seem to want to budge, Gohan was just going to have to put up with Videl right in front of him for as long as it took for her to learn to fly proficiently. That problem would be dealt with on monday. Today, however was saturday, and the two of them had more pressing matters to deal with, like how to tell their mother that she was about to see her husband again.
Chichi was currently shrieking with joy at the news, proclaiming to Goten how brilliant his father was, and how he would fnally get to meet him. Mika felt that this would be a good time to tell her about Videl coming over to learn to fly. She quickly mentioned it, and Chichi turned to them, a suspicious look on her face.
"How does she know that you can fly?" She questioned.
"Well, she found out I was Saiyaman, and she could tell the whole world if we don't teach her."
"I hope she isn't coming over to attempt to seduce Gohan. He can't be distracted from training or studies at this time."
Gohan nearly fell over. She wasn't actually too far off the mark, but he was fairly sure there wouldn't be any 'seduction' taking place over the next month after their agreement to wait a while.
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Monday morning came around soon enough, which Gohan had been dreading. Hopefully he would teach her quickly, and then she could continue her preparations alone at her father's dojo. His relatively good mood had not yet left him, surprising the entire family. The school had been informed of the twin's absence for the next month, and Gohan was now waiting, anxious for Videl's arrival.
He wondered how things would be between them, whether it would be awkward, if he would even be able to look her in the eye. On the other hand, things could be easy between them, like they had been saturday morning, after they had awoken in each other's arms.
His brother and sister were also sat beside him, awaiting the girl. Mika and Goten just wanted to say hello before they went off to train together. Fairly soon, the small blob of yellow became clearer. Videl's new jetcopter was hurtling towards them, but began slowing as it descended. Gohan gulped, now was the hard part.
She waved as she jumped from the cockpit, and gave a quick hello to Mika, and was introduced to Goten. All the while, Gohan was ignoring her, and Videl the same to Gohan, in waiting for a moment alone. As soon as the brother and sister were out of earshot, she spoke. "Hi, Gohan." She whispered, a slight smile on her face.
He smiled down to her. "Let's get this over with." She understood his words. It would be hard to be around each other without doing something stupid again.
Throughout the morning, Gohan attempted to explain the complexities if ki to Videl, but she wasn't getting very far in the way of flying. She had managed to produce ki within her hands, but not much else. She was beginning to get angry with herself, but Gohan kept reassuring her it could take a while. For Videl to produce the ki in her hands, Gohan had had to enclose her hands with his own.
Every touch brought a blush to her face and sent shivers down her spine, all of them reminders. At lunch, Chichi had got a bit over excited at the revelation that Videl had about fifty rooms in her house, but had not failed to notice that there was indeed something very strange going on between her son and this girl.
After this break, the two of them returned to their training spot, Videl still annoyed she hadn't yet mastered this ability. She had always been a quick learner, and the seven year old boy flting around high up in the sky a little way away wasn't doing much to bring up her spirits.
She was currently concentrating hard, trying to float a little way off the ground, but wasn't geting very far, and promptly slumped to the ground, gasping for air.
"Is this how you were trained Gohan?" She asked.
Gohan thought back to his training in the wilderness with Piccolo, it certainly wasn't the way he was trained. "Not exactly. My sensei left me alone in the wild for six months, where I learned to use ki, and then he trained me to fight for another six. He used to throw me at mountains."
"What! How old were you?"
"Four."
"Is that what you did when you were kidnapped, learn to fight?"
"Yes, but it didn't really seem like I had been kidnapped. The person that did it is like family to me."
"Who was he?" She questioned.
"He was actually one of my father's first big rivals. He was the one my father defeated to become world champion."
"Your father was champion? Who was she." She hadn't known this, but as she thought about it, the answer to her question came to her mind, there was only one possibility."
"Goku. He won the twenty third Budokai."
"So then your sensei was Ma Junior. The Demon king Piccolo. I've heard all about him. I thought he was evil?"
"He was, but people change." Gohan himself had changed a lot in his life. "Lots of people do. My father trained me as well, when I was a little older. Enough talk for know, we've got to teach you to fly." He thought of a possible way to bring the ability out of her. Perhaps if he did something like what Piccolo used to do to him. Maybe not to the calibre of throwing him at a mountain, but put her in a situation where she had to or would end up in trouble.
Quick as a flash, he reached forward, and grabbed her waist, and flown thirty feet into the air. Videl shrieked and closed her eyes, an action that brought memories back into her mind of herself and Gohan. "What are you doing!" She breathed out quietly.
"Just relax." He replied. "Concentrate your ki, as if you're trying to float, as hard as you can. Just don't panic." She did as he asked, trying to blot all other thoughts out of her mind, ones of both panic and being in his arms again. Slowly and gently, Gohan released his grip on her, and she found her body floating high off the ground. She cried out in jubilation.
Far below them, just out of sight, Chichi stood watching. The mood Gohan was in seemed to have something to do with Videl. She had expected it to dissolve instantly when the girl arrived, visitors were not usually welcome to Gohan. And the way he had held her in his arms suggested so much. On an impulse, she had decided to take a camera out to capture the good mood that was the rarest of rarities, and had a good one of him holding her. Who knew how long it would take for his sullen face to reappear.
This was a precious photograph. There were very few of Gohan in the last seven years, he had decided he didn't his face in any, and one of the only other decent ones had been one of his holding Goten as a baby, one of his scarce smiles adorning his visage.
After a few more hours of training Videl to float gradually higher off the ground, she was ready to go home, to return tomorrow. As she stepped towards her copter, Gohan pulled her back, so that she was close up against him once again. He moved a hand up to comb through the bunched hair of her pigtails, making her blush instantly.
"You should cut your hair."
"Why? Do you think that it would look better that way."
"You look beautiful enough as it is. It's just for the tournament. If it's short, your foe won't be able to grab it, and it won't get in your eyes."
She nodded, appreciating his advice, still enclosed in his arms. "I'll cut it just before it begins."
He slowly released her from his grip, and allowed her to enter the cockpit of her vehicle. With a wave to the others, who were now approaching, having missed the last few moments, she was gone. Gohan had nearly lost control that time. This was much harder than he thought it would be.
