Something Missing
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Disclaimer: Dragonball Z is not mine. Which is a pity – I'd like to own a Trunks or a Goku. sigh I guess I'll have to wait until I'm rich enough to buy them.
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These days, when Videl looked in the mirror she almost didn't recognise herself.
Her black hair was short and sleek; a stylish cut that she much preferred over the pig-tails of a few years ago. It was set off by the gold earrings that she was now rarely without.
Altogether, it was a very different look from the one she'd had in high school. Then, she'd been a teenager; an inexperienced girl. Now she was a mature woman, and it showed.
Still, something was missing. She couldn't say what it was, but there was something definitely missing.
She sat in front of the mirror several times, trying to work it out. It was irritatingly like a sense of dejevu. She couldn't put her finger on what she was trying to do, but she knew it was there. She just had to think of it.
Finally one day it came to her.
"My eye!"
Gohan walked up behind her and kissed the top of her head.
"What about your eye?"
"That's what I'm thinking of. Something needs to go over my eye, like this."
She made a sweeping gesture with her fingers, marking the outlines of something that would fit over her right eye and stay there.
Gohan frowned.
"What kind of something?"
"I don't know!" She clutched her hair in frustration. "Something I can see out of, so it won't interfere with my eyesight. Maybe glass…"
In the midst of her musings, she missed the troubled look on Gohan's face.
"I don't know that I'd like that," he said, moving away. Videl turned to look at him.
"Gohan? What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." He tried to wave her off with the famous Son grin, but he was a lousy liar. All the Sons were.
"Gohan." There was warning in her tone, but none in the way she reached out to slip her fingers through his. "Obviously something about my idea bothers you. Could you tell me what it is?"
Gohan sighed, squeezing her fingers affectionately.
"It's just that…you remember that guy Radditz I told you about? My uncle?"
"The one who kidnapped you when you were three."
"Yes. That one. He wore something like that. A saiyan scouter. It was this device that sat over his eye and told him what energy levels his opponents were at."
His words struck a chord in her. Like the strings of a harp, stroked in just the right manner, her soul rippled in harmony. Yes. That was right.
But her attention was taken up by her husband's tormented face. God, what a nightmare to face at three years old…
She kissed him tenderly.
"Think no more about it," she said. "My idea for a lousy fashion statement is now officially over."
He chuckled softly, and hugged her to him.
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But the idea and the word wouldn't go away.
A scouter.
It was a rendundant device, what with the z-fighter's ability to sense ki. Even she could do it now. But she had an intense curiousity to hold the device, to find out what it felt like to wear it.
The only problem was, there were no more scouters. Or there might be, if they'd been salvaged from the fight. She just had to ask the right person.
Gohan was out of the question. She'd promised herself to never bring the scouter up with him again if she could help it.
His little brother Goten liked her and would tell her. Unfortunately, he was a good ten years too young to know much about it.
Chi-Chi might know, but Chi-Chi would also want to know what Videl was up to. The woman acted like Videl's mother in every way, and that included ferretting out things that Videl would rather keep hidden.
Goku would know and would probably tell her, but Videl had the feeling he'd want to know what she was up to as well. She stood somewhat in awe of her father-in-law. He might act the buffoon, but she had seen moments when a serious look came onto his face. She had the feeling that if he ever turned that look on her, she'd blurt out everything she knew, and some things she didn't.
That left the only other saiyan family in the district. The Briefs.
Videl dismissed Vegeta out of hand. They'd met several times, and he'd made no secret of his contempt for humanity in general. Particularly weak earthling females who ran around in ridiculous costumes, striking silly poses and arresting human criminals.
His wife, though…
Videl went to call Bulma.
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