The problem with Gohan's infatuation with Videl Satan was that he also felt an obligation towards her and her family. Namely an obligation of hatred towards her father, although this was a feeling he struggled to uphold on occasion, it just wasn't his nature after all. The memory of their first meeting was still fresh in his mind, although he didn't know quite who she was at the time.
It was still fairly near to the start of the calendar year, but it was unseasonably warm, and a young demi-saiyan strolled casually into a bank in Satan City, the nearest large dwelling near to his mountain home, ready to pay some cheques in for his mother. He didn't really understand why he had to do it; this financial stuff really confused him. He might have been a genius but he just couldn't grasp the concept. Maybe it was at the prospect of having to be an adult and do this sort of thing for himself that put him off.
He walked up to the queue, and was distracted by what was before him. Lately he had found himself being more and more sidetracked by women. Powerful hormones kicked in and his body began to feel a little odd.
He looked her up and down, the girl having no clue that she was being stared at. Her hair was pitch black, divided up into two pigtails, each slung over the front of her shoulders. They were a tad childish, but he could easily imagine what her hair might be like flowing around her shoulders.
Her white t-shirt wasn't tight but it only just went past the waistline of her jeans. He continued down her back, admiring her slim waist and trim figure. The jeans clung to her legs and defined her shapely hips. But she was tiny, and he knew that he would be able to enfold her in his arms easily enough. He blushed at the thought…if his mother knew what sort of thoughts he was having, he'd be doing nothing but homework for a month.
He wondered what she might do if he moved close to her, grasped her hips and removed the two of them swiftly from this place and prying eyes. He quickly took a hold of himself and noticed that there were over a dozen people in this place, and it would hardly be appropriate for him to steal away a girl whose face he had never seen.
Damn hormones were pissing him off. He wasn't like this two years ago, so why now? He heard the barely audible slide of the door as someone else entered. A sound that Gohan surmised was a gunshot rang through the air, and the screams of his fellow patrons at the bank followed it. Everyone present except himself, the girl and the three gunmen dived to the floor in panic.
He was now facing the direction that the sound came from and saw the three of them, faces obscured by ski masks. He would have to deal with this, but he couldn't exactly transform right now in front of all of these people. It as a Catch 22 situation; if he transformed in order to hide his identity, lots of people would see him doing it, but if he didn't, they'd all report a boy matching his description doing extraordinary things. Casually he thought to himself that he shouldn't worry, it wasn't like he went to school in this town or anything.
However, he knew he would still have to do this as normally as possible. One of them began striding forward and he turned in the direction that he was heading in, right at the girl. He saw her face now. She was beautiful, with the most incredible eyes that he had ever seen.
He noticed that she wasn't scared, she was actually smiling. Was she in on this? The man raised his gun to her head as she approached. "Why aren't you on the floor girl?"
Her moves were lightning quick, and the poor criminal didn't even see her deftly remove the gun from his grasp as he came into range. She tossed it aside, grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm sharply. He howled in pain as his arm broke and she smacked him on the chin with the heel of her hand to shut him up. She was merciless.
"Um…Miss?" He tried to speak to her, to either suggest that she not be quite so harsh, or to at least leave this to the police when they arrived. However, she seemed completely focused on the two remaining criminals.
His two associates ran towards him in aid, so Gohan grabbed the unconscious man by the scruff of the neck as she released her grip on him, and tossed him at the onrushing pair.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Now she noticed his presence, and she turned to him in anger, ignoring the fact that he had thrown a two hundred pound man across the room. He physically recoiled from her. She was frightening.
"What? I just helped you out." He meekly replied.
"I don't want or need your help." She stalked over to him and poked him sharply in the chest. "So back off and get down before you get hurt!" He nodded in agreement quickly so that she would hopefully shut up. Her incessant shouting hurt his ears.
But he was intending to keep an eye on her and step in if things got out of hand. He couldn't hear any police sirens yet, even in the far distance, and he didn't know whom this girl was or why she was standing up to these goons. She hardly looked a capable fighter at first glance. But then again neither did Krillin or his mother, and they both certainly packed quite a punch.
One of the men charged at her while the other trained his gun on Gohan. He shouted for him to get down, but the male simply shook his head in a blatant, yet strangely absent refusal. His focus was on far more important things as his eyes concentrated on the female who had enraptured him.
The gunman advanced, but when he came in close enough Gohan swatted the gun away into a nearby wall, breaking a few of the man's fingers in the process. The man went to his knees, clutching at his sore fingers, as Gohan mumbled a quick apology. He really didn't like to hurt people.
Gohan watched the girl. She was smiling as she was being attacked, seemingly enjoying the fact, even though all she was doing was easily blocking every attack. However, a blow was coming in from a different direction and Gohan doubted that she would be quick enough to parry it. He reached out and grasped the forearm about ten inches from her body.
"I told you to stay out of this! And stop staring at me!" She ordered.
"But he was about to hit you." Gohan responded, surprised at her ungratefulness. He averted his eyes to the floor. Maybe his gaze had lingered on her inappropriately for a second too long.
"I had it covered easily. See!" She motioned with one of her arms to the other, where it was quite obviously placed in the direction the hit was intended. Maybe she was a little quicker than he thought. She was very small after all.
"I was lulling the guy into a false sense of security moron! Y'know, letting him think he could win." The captured male looked between the arguing pair a little confused. He was being ignored right now so he tried to struggle free. "Plus your staring is distracting me!"
He released the man's arm, who rubbed it, shocked at how hard that boy's grip had been. The other conscious criminal had by now crawled over to his chum who had been unceremoniously knocked out by the girl a few moments before. Gohan was rather surprised; he hadn't expected these sorts to stick together when the going got tough.
"I'm tired of this now." The black haired girl spoke as she knocked the remaining bank robber out cold with a fist.
Now the cops had decided to show up, as the bank's patrons stood and cheered their saviours.
Gohan didn't particularly want to be stuck here all day answering the police's questions as a witness, and he supposed that the bank wouldn't be doing much more business on this day, so he turned and strolled casually from the building.
"Wait!" She cried, a little shocked at his impudence. Not many turned so easily from the daughter of Mr Satan.
"Yes?" He turned to face her. She had the prettiest face that he had seen and a wave of shyness overtook him.
"The police will want to ask you a few questions."
"I know, that's why I'm leaving." He mumbled.
"You aren't supposed to do that." She scolded him. "Are you a criminal yourself or something?"
He gave her an honest smile. "No, just busy. I'll leave this to you Miss...?"
"Videl...My name's Videl."
Gohan began walking away. "You fight pretty well Videl." She beamed at his appraisal of her skills, even though he was a stranger. "...For a girl."
She left the bank that day seething in anger at that final comment.
From that meeting, the first instinct that he felt towards her was lust. It would be some weeks before he would discover the second, conflicting emotion.
