Hi!

A quick update, is it not:D

Okay, I want to say something: you are all awesome!! The reviews I got with the last chapter actually made me a little shy... so thanks to everyone!

And I'm sorry that I didn't reply to most of them. My computer is a total mess, the screen just turns black every five seconds and then I have to turn it off and then I turn it back on and the whole thing repeats itself for like ten times or so. Luckily, it's working as it should today, but I more than often felt the urge to just throw the damn thing out of the window. Still, it survived the week, but I'm gonna buy a laptop. But still, sorry for not replying (sorry danni :s)

Okay, let's get started with this chapter!

Enjoy!

Stupid…

Stupid…

Stupid…

Infinitely stupid…

How could she? What the hell was she thinking?

Was she even thinking?

Going to that chamber in the middle of the night, like some sort of sick person, wandering like a ghost. Even now, she couldn't even recall why she had had the desperate urge to go there.

Sure, Videl had been in that chamber more times than she could remember, but why did have to choose that night?

She had never felt more embarrassed than last night…

… ever.

Though embarrassment was not an unfamiliar feeling for her, this case was different than all others. Especially the last couple of months, she had been put to shame very frequently and her pride took serious blows from that.

Ever since the Saiyan soldiers captured her and abducted her, embarrassment has been the order of the day in the months she didn't have an owner. Being fought by them, five against one, and then her power being ridiculed. Her father being mocked, her own name being blackened.

She could even recall one time, when she was still skinny and weak, that she was humiliated in front of dozens of human slaves. In the middle of the circle of slaves, she had been kicked on crucial and weak areas such as her knees, her ankles and her elbows, with the intention to cause as much pain as possible.

And she had been in pain. Though she bit her lips to suppress her cries, she let out a few nonetheless, her anguish and pain being apparent with each cry. And when she thought the abuse couldn't get any worse, it did. A boot was buried into both hollows of her knees and she fell unto the ground. A particularly large and sadistic Saiyan had grasped her hair and pulled her head into her neck, so the slaves could see her with pain twitched face. And the words that followed damaged her more than the most excruciating physical abuse ever could.

"Look at her… Look at her! This is the daughter of your beloved Mr. Satan. This creature…" He kicked her in her side as the Saiyan said this. "… groveling on the floor, is the last remnant of the House of Satan. The bloodline ends in this being! Hercule Satan is dead! And the only hero you have left now is his spawn. Look at your last heroin! Look at her!"

And with terrified expressions on their faces, they looked at her and Videl felt their eyes on her.

"I can encircle her arms with my thumb and forefinger. Her legs are like two twigs that can barely hold her body. I can snap her spine like a wooden stick."

By now he ripped the upper piece of her cloth and under the shocked gasps of the human beings surrounding her, her chest was revealed entirely. A tear had rolled down her cheek, meeting its end as it fell on the dusty ground.

"Is this body the body of a heroin?! It resembles the body of a dying woman, if you ask me."

She was thrown onto the ground again and she lay still, her silent tears moistening the dry ground.

"Look at your heroin… See her crying on the floor. She is the last savior… the last chance for the human race. That creature is human heroism! Behold her!"

Their intention had never been only hurting her, but their intention was to use her, her weakness and her miserable form to wreck the human hope, to annihilate any feeling of faith they had left in the Satans. And it had the intended effect. Every human that had witnessed the brutal abuse of the once so mighty Videl Satan lost all hope for salvation and they resigned with their supposed fate; with bowed heads, they would be slaves. The abuse let their hate towards the Saiyans rose, but no matter how much they hated them, their fear was bigger and more powerful. And so long as they feared, they would be suppressed.

Videl's eyes became watery as she thought about that abhorrent occurrence. Such events had repeated itself with every new temporarily master. She was used as a mean to undermine the human spirit. Though this particular abuse was undeniably the absolute pinnacle in the terrible series of manhandling, the previous and following abuses were horrible too.

But this night was different. It wasn't like all other embarrassments. This she caused herself. And though the severity of the situation, or rather lack of severity, didn't even come close in resembling all other, previous embarrassments, she took equally as much shame out of it.

Not only because she walked into him in the middle of the night, but especially because of the feelings he had summoned in her.

Those feelings were what struck her the most.

As she covered her hands with her palms, her thoughts kept on raging through her mind.

She was a failure to her blood.

"Videl?" A high, girly voice suddenly came from the right, carrying a concerned undertone.

With a start, Videl woke up from her musings and with slightly red eyes she looked over to the owner of the voice, Erasa, a girl her age that she had befriended almost immediately after her arrival.

Erasa was the typical girl-girl and she was everything one could expect from her after just looking at her appearance. She was a slender blond, with short hair that was carefully and perfectly combed in a flawless haircut, but which didn't look too overdone. That was just her. Her personal motto was 'looking perfect, but not overdone', something that she applied on everything concerning her looks. Her dresses were always impeccable, not a speck of dust on them, not a single crook in the fabric, not one pleat that didn't fell as it should. While Videl just jumped into her dress every morning, hardly paying attention to how she looked, she could imagine that Erasa woke up at the crack of dawn to make her look exactly as she wanted it.

Videl found herself slightly envying the flawlessness of Erasa. The blond was slim, but curvaceous, looking more feminine than Videl ever could, or so she thought. She had some sort of sparkling beauty, a giggling prettiness, that would have made her one of the bubblegum-girls Videl had often seen chit-chatting on the streets of Satan City, before Earth was invaded by extra terrestrials.

She doubted if she would have liked Erasa in a situation other than theirs, but now, she surprisingly did. Even though they were so dissimilar, in every possible way, she never found a girl that she could be friends with so easily.

She was a skeptic, Erasa believed anything…

She could be quite mean sometimes, Erasa just didn't have the heart to do that…

She was rational, Erasa was impulsive…

She was attractive, Erasa was sexy…

She kept herself to the background, Erasa pushed herself in the centre of attention…

And there were many more things.

Erasa was just one of the reasons that kept her more optimistic than she would have been otherwise. Her constant smile just magically put a smile on her face too. Only there were some moments in which her brows were knitted together in concern and her mouth just wasn't curled in the usual grin she always carried. Moments like now.

"Don't ask, Erasa." Videl said wearily as she supported her head with her hand, while leaning on the table in the common dining room, where the slaves gathered throughout the morning to eat their breakfast. Right now, eight hours after midnight, the room was almost empty, save for a few chatting elderly ladies who were sitting around the far right table, drinking their tea as they talked about insignificant things.

Erasa, however, took a seat opposite to Videl and she looked at her with tentative anxiety.

"Come on, Vi… spill it. I can practically read the unhappiness all over your face." The blond said, determined to know what was wrong, as she was curious as ever.

Reluctantly, Videl turned her gaze towards Erasa and she read sincere concern in them. Satan's daughter took a deep breath and with hanging shoulders, she told her story.

"I've done something stupid this night." She began in a soft voice, as she was ashamed to tell what has happened the previous night.

"What Vi?" Erasa asked as she lay a soothing hand on her friends shoulder. Videl's heart was warmed by that gesture. It was something she knew she would never do if she were in Erasa's shoes. She always doubted if people could really feel comfort in merely the touch of one's hand, she always wondered if people didn't think it was annoying… laying a hand on one's shoulders did mean invading one's personal space, after all. But now she was surprised that such a simple gesture could soothe her this much and she smiled a slight smile inwardly.

"I walked into the general while he was busy with something odd." Videl replied eventually, after she was comforted enough to say it without averting her eyes.

"Odd? What do you mean odd?" Erasa asked as she bent closer to Videl, preventing the elderly ladies in the corner to pick up any fragments of their conversation.

"I don't know." Videl replied as she shook her head. "Some sort of ritual, or something like that. I heard him utter strange words that I didn't understand and he seemed to be… I don't know, praying perhaps."

"Where was this?"

"In that room with the statues."

This time Erasa bent back and she looked at Videl with a straightened back, a glint of surprise and disbelief in her eyes.

"What were you doing there?" She asked Videl with widened eyes.

Videl threw her hand in the air, a desperate gesture that indicated that she really had no clue. Because she really had no idea why she had been there at that time. It's a question she has been trying to find the answer of the entire morning.

"All I know is that I couldn't sleep and I decided to go for a nightly stroll through the castle and that I ended up in that room. I guess I just did it unintentionally." She replied as she looked at the table-top.

"Okay…" Erasa replied uncertainly. "So how did he react?"

This caused Videl to release a plaintive groan as she again buried her head into her arms.

"I'm not sure he did." Her muffled response came through her crossed arms. "I just muttered an apology and I was gone before he could say anything back. I'm a complete fool, aren't I?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly put it that way." Erasa replied thoughtfully, before she let out a small chuckle. At hearing this chuckle, Videl cocked her head towards Erasa again and seeing the blond smile at her, an indignant expression appeared on her face.

"Oh, Vi… don't be so dramatic." Erasa exclaimed happily as she saw Videl's expression. "I seriously thought something terrible has happened, but you only walked into the general. That's no biggy, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Videl sighed deeply at the words of her friend. She was right, walking into the general wasn't a biggy.

Yet something else was…

Videl looked at Erasa with a thoughtful frown, biting her lip nervously. She wanted to tell somebody… but at the same time, she didn't want anyone to know…

Because who would understand?

Who would understand that Videl Satan, of all people, would be attracted to somebody…

Who would understand if that somebody was a Saiyan general?

General Gohan Son…

She remembered it clearly. She walked through the passageway that led to the chamber, and on it's end she saw a warm, yet incredibly dim light. Hardly noticeable. And she heart a low voice, soft but talking words in a language she didn't speak.

She had been oh so curious. So curious that she was more eager to see who it was, than afraid that she might got caught.

And when she walked around the corner, she saw him… but unlike any other times she had seen him.

In the faint light of the candle he had brought with him, she saw him looking at her with a surprised gaze, eyes wide open and lips slightly parted. But to her own surprise, he seemed so serene, so innocent, something that seemed so out of character for him. He always carried a frown, like practically every Saiyan she had ever met did. Seeing him without one, he looked more…

…what was the word?

…human, perhaps.

It was a startling revelation. But it was true nonetheless: without the menacing frown, unconsciously put on his face as a mask, general Gohan looked human…

…good…

…attractive.

It was this thought she was ashamed of. This thought embarrassed her more than every time she was abused, she was mocked, she was ridiculed and used.

Because she found herself being attracted to a sworn enemy.

The same enemy that had killed her father.

Because he was a Saiyan, and it was at the hands of a Saiyan that her father met his end.

Being attracted to a Saiyan… she couldn't do that, it was like spitting in her father's face. When her father died, she had sworn that she would hate every single Saiyan for eternity, and that would include general Gohan too.

So she had set her mind when she had met him. He, too, she would hate. He might be kind for Saiyan terms, good for humans and handsome, but even the ones that she despised the most could have amiable characteristics.

She would serve him, follow his orders, remain respectful and be a good slave…

…but if he ever was in grave danger, would meet a certain death and she was the only one that could save him, then there would not be one hair on her head that would ever consider helping him.

And in all these weeks that she was at Chrystler Castle she didn't change her mind. The General might be a good Saiyan, if there ever was such a thing, him being a Saiyan justified all hateful emotions towards him.

But now, when she discovered a new emotion… when she discovered that he was indeed attractive, she realized she had to watch out.

This emotion can not, must not develop into something deeper.

Because if it did, she would be betraying the memory of her father…

She would betray the people that had faith in her…

She would betray the human race itself…

A kick…

A punch…

And another kick…

…and another.

Roaring through the sky, fighting an enemy that wasn't there…

The sweat on his back, on his chest, on his brow… salty and glistering on the tanned skin…

A bang…

… an explosion of little stones…

… and another rock was wiped from the face of the fertile earth.

And then the violence stopped abruptly with a stream of cool wind through his black manes.

He floated there, motionless, exhausted, numbed, enjoying the pleasant touch of the wind and the beams of the sun that met his body.

He threw his head in his neck and he let out a content sigh, after which a delighted chuckle followed. And against a background of the orange sun and clear, blue sky, he hovered… seconds turned into minutes, minutes multiplied and he kept on hovering, completely forgetting time.

With an utterly blissful smile, he opened his eyes and looked at the sky above him. His heart raged in his chest, his blood rushed through his veins and his throat was sore after the great physical exertion. But it was a long time ago that he felt this kind of happiness.

And he didn't even know what caused him to feel this way.

And all the while, he remembered himself that he should feel very unhappy. He was banished to his house, he heard there was a conspiracy against him and he had slept for the short time of merely three hours this night. He should be cranky, sulky and exhausted, but instead he felt the complete opposite.

It were the prayers… he knew that for certain. After his prayers his heart had lit up and he felt better than he did in years. The ancestors had heard him pleading and they fulfilled his wishes. And now he felt stronger, better and happier than ever.

So this was it like to feel total bliss?

He wanted to fly, so he flew thousands of miles…

He wanted to laugh, so he laughed thousands of laughs…

He wanted to reach for the sky…

… and dive to the lowest depths.

He wanted to feel the water on his skin, the grass through his fingers, the winds through his hair.

He flew with the birds, ran with the deer and swum with the fish.

He could barely sleep last night. Because he just didn't feel tired at all. On the contrary, he was hopping with energy that flowed through his body like a foreign force that didn't exhaust at all. He had just been awake when he flew out of his window, to the horizon. He just had to release that energy, he had to bring it out. And he started training…

He soon realized that he was truly on fire with this energy in his body. He had never flown faster, his energy waves were stronger than they ever were and even he could sometimes not see the movement of his own punches and kicks, that he threw towards the invisible opponent.

If only he had been this strong when he fought the Namek. He would have won… definitely.

He kept on training the entire course of the night. And now, three hours later, his body finally showed signs of its fatigue. But that energy, that endless energy, was still intact and alive and present in his body.

Slowly, Gohan descended to the ground, falling the last few feet, until his back met the grassy earth. And he laughed all the while…

It was insane for anyone who saw it from a distance, but it felt natural for him… anyone who felt the way he did would behave like he did now.

So this was it like to feel total bliss?

It just made the world so much more beautiful.

The child in his heart had been awoken.

He was carefree again.

He was playful again.

He was wild again.

With his grasping hand he pulled the grass from the earth and he threw the little strings in the air, some were taken away by the winds, others descended on the ground again.

And all the while he laughed…

… like a happy child.

Hours went by and all worries were forgotten. The sun was shining brightly in the sky, bringing the warm, but late morning of eleven o' clock with her as she made her long, ever repeating journey to the west. The cool winds had died down and the air was still and silent.

And he still lay there, on the soft grass, while the animals eyed him curiously, wondering who this stranger was that invaded their lands. There was even one time that a birds nestled himself on Gohan's bent knee and looked at him with its little head slightly turned to the right. The general had never seen that before… but then again, what attention had he paid to nature in the last couple of years?

He sighed with satisfaction and remained on that spot, that grassy meadow where he had descended on a couple of hours ago and where he had spent moments in serenity and peace.

He spent the time napping, and then awaking several minutes later. And he watched the wild horses in the distance, admiring their graceful movements. But for the most part, he thought.

About how the world suddenly looked so bright…

And how the sounds of nature formed its own music…

He heard the sweet symphony of the birds and wondered why he never paid attention to listen to its beauties.

He smelled the grass around him, but many unfamiliar scents too entered his nose. The pine of the forests, the flowers of the meadows… the herbs, the sea the earth…

… and the divine scent of the lotus flower.

And then his thoughts wandered back to her, the human slave, as she had carried the scent of that particular flower. And once he thought about her, he found out that she would not leave his mind any time soon.

It was peculiar how he could clearly see her face in his mind. And how he would get a strange feeling in his stomach, like there was jumping something up and down in there. And then a pleasant tension came over his body, which he could only loose after a deep sigh.

It wasn't that it really concerned him, it merely interested him.

Still it was strange and he couldn't exactly place it.

He smiled as he thought of last night. How she stepped into the light of the chamber and revealed herself in all her enchanting beauty. She had worn a very loose, white nightgown, that would have covered up everything, had the garment not been three sizes too big for her. It had left her right shoulder bare, as the collar was way too big for her small body.

Her hair was tied together in a thick and messy braid, thrown nonchalantly over her left shoulder. Her little feet were bare also, having no shoes of whatsoever put around them.

She was like a apparition, or a dream, but at the same time she looked as real as him.

So real, that he could just stretch his hand and touch that soft, glowing skin of her ivory face.

And yet so unreachable because of his own heart, that would never allow him to feel that inviting skin.

And all the while, as it truly felt like a while, she looked at him with wide-open eyes, shocked, vulnerable, nervous. She averted her gaze from him and looked at the marbled floor, while she fidgeted like a child that was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. On her cheeks appeared a pink blush and she mumbled indecipherable mutterings.

She was adorable…

And before he could say anything, she quickly bowed her head and mumbled something that sounded like an apology and she was gone before he could stop her.

Of course he could stop her if he really wanted to. And he wanted to…

He was burning with curiosity. Why was she here? Why was she out of bed? Why did she came to this particular room? And if it wasn't for his Saiyan pride, he would have surely walked after her and asked her all his question. To satisfy his curiosity, but also because he just felt a desire to talk to her.

Was that strange?

No, he kept telling himself. If it were any other person, he would have talked to that person too. If it were one of the other slaves, he wouldn't hesitate to talk to that slave. So there was nothing strange in talking to her…

Right?

Oh, why did he care anyway? It was a slave, for heaven's sake!

He decided to not crack his brains about it any further and to enjoy the peaceful and bright morning… with or without her on his mind.

He yawned before he felt that his eyes got heavy again and he decided to take a nap again. With one eye he looked at the world once more.

It was so beautiful…

The world looked like a vision… or a dream.

And all because of the prayers. He would definitely pray more in the future…

But now, he would sleep and thank the ancestors in his dreams.

Little did he know, however, it was not because of the prayers that the world seemed more beautiful…

… it was because of Videl.

You know that feeling that everything seems bright when you fall in love... and that you just have this new energy, that makes you believe that you can do anything? I have...

Anyway, what'd ya think... I know it's still not a lot of gohan/videl action, but it explains a few thing.

Okay, gotta go... enjoying my vacation right now :D

And review, please ;)