Reflection chapter 21: Escape from the Fire

"You're not mad?" Gohan asked Videl after they got back to the camp.

"Why would I be mad?" she asked, "I wouldn't have told anyone if that was my life story. Granted, I don't like that you were hiding secrets from me, but that cannot be helped, I guess."

"You understand why I did it, don't you?"

"Not really, but I have my guesses."

"I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid that you would think that I was weird, and I try to keep it to myself with everyone because I do not want my family to be threatened if something like Cell ever comes back," he explained, "I try to just blend in with the regular crowd, so that no one will search for me and attack me if I they are mad at me for something that I may or may not have done."

"You should have told me earlier. Had I known before, then I would have been able to use it against my Dad and get him off of my back instead of just letting him do so much to me."

"I guess."

"So, what will we do when we get back to the mansion?" Videl asked as she watched the fire die down.

"I guess we will go into the city and make sure that everything is okay crimewise , then we have to go to school. Maybe we can catch a movie."

"Well, we ought to get to sleep because of school in the morning," Videl said as she got into her tent to curl up in her warm sleeping bag. Gohan just slept on top of his, because the warm air blew over him, giving him no need to be any warmer.

The last tongues of fire burned out slowly as Gohan drifted off into a deep dreamless sleep. A small gust of wind blew a few leaves around the camp, unwittingly adding some more to the fire. Instead of just burning in place, another gust of wind continued to push the fire into another few leaves. A stick fell from the above tree in the thick forest, and the fire continued to grow.

Gohan slowly became aware of the feeling of heat and the scent of smoke, but for a second, he thought nothing of it. It was not until he was awake enough to hear the crackling of the fire and see the light of the flames heading towards Videl's tent did he spring into action, acting purely on instinct.

"VIDEL!" he screamed in an attempt to wake her up before the flames got to her tent. He flew into the tent to grab her, pulling her waking self and a bucket out of the tent only seconds before it began to burn. The tent could not withstand the heat, and it fell to the ground after the supporters curled up.

Gohan took the bucket and Videl to the river, and leaving her, he carried water to the fire, then dumped it onto and around the fire. After about thirty trips, he had the fire under control, and after twenty more, it was completely gone.

"Wha—what is happening?" Videl asked as she confused into Gohan's black eyes as Gohan sat down next to her. She had just regained full consciousness.

"The fire grew instead of dying out, and your tent was burned down. I managed to save you, a bucket, and your sleeping bag before it caught on fire, but I didn't save anything else. I'm sorry. I should have put forth the extra effort to kill the fire instead of letting it die out on its own."

"It's not your fault."

"Yes, it is."

"Whatever. Now what are we going to do?" she asked as she thought about the possibilities.

"Do you have your capsules?" Gohan asked.

"Of course, I never take them off," she said as she proved it by taking out a box from her pocket in her PJs that had a few capsules in it.

"Then I guess we have to fly out of here in the morning. Until then, we can sleep, but we should wake up early so that we can see what we can get from the camp, and make sure that we arrive at school on time," Gohan suggested.

The sun rose the next morning at the same time that Videl and Gohan prepared their things to leave. Gohan checked on the campsite to make sure nothing was left, and then they took off to the skies in their jets to Orange Star High School.

They arrived in town with enough time to run one round for crime. They did not have enough time, however, to change into clean clothes. They had planned to sleep in the clothes for the next day, and now they were tattered from the fire. They had no choice but to just go to school like that and hope that no one would notice.

"Why are there burns on your clothes?" came the inevitable question from Erasa.

"Hehe," Gohan put on the traditional Son Grin©, "We were camping last night, and a fire got to us. We had nothing else to change into.

"Oh, you went 'camping', did you?" Erasa asked, hinting on another meaning for the question, "Is there anything else that happened?"

Gohan and Videl blushed furiously.

"We did not do anything!" they both screamed at the same time. Luckily, the teacher was late, so the room was already loud from other people talking.

"That's what you say, but it is possible that you are lying. You seem too defensive," Erasa said offhandedly. "I will find out the truth eventually."

"But how can you find out the truth of what happened when nothing did happen?" Gohan asked, "can't you trust us to know when nothing happened?"

"Anyone else, yes, but with you two, I have to keep an eye out."

Gohan just sighed in defeat and took his book out for the class. It was going to be a long day.

END CHAPTER

Yeah, short. It was supposed to become an Easter present for you all, but between house guests coming to the house and my great-uncle dying today (Easter), I am unable to write on this anymore. My legal guardians have to go make the funeral arrangements, but that means they have to leave to Oklahoma for a few days (I live in Maryland). I am not sure how soon I can update this again. But, since I have not updated it since January, I figured that even this much will do. Well, I have to go.

This chapter is about half my usual chapter. Also it was written quickly. Alert me of grammatical/spelling problems. I am sorry.