Gohan's Point of View Recalling the Past
Chapter 2 by dancepants
We had gone through a lot together since that fateful day I first set foot inside Orange Star High School. The first moment I saw her that same day in class I was shocked and immediately made a mental survey of her beauty.
She was petite yet fit and she exuded a confidence that belied her frame. Her thick hair was pulled into two low slung pony tails on each side of her head. The style would have looked childish on anyone else but not her for some reason. The same was true after she lopped it all off for training (for me).
I often admired to myself just how smooth her hair was. I got very close to her when we used to train. More than once I held her in a headlock position- one arm secured around her neck to cut off the blood flow, my other hand fisted at the back of her head forcing her throat down onto the blade of my arm.
Then there was the thing that I loved and still do love most about her body (nonsexual part that is) and that's her eyes. My entire family has dark colored eyes while hers are the exact opposite.
Her eyes are crystal blue and I relished the times we made eye contact even before we ended up together. Although most of the time back then her eyes displayed her anger and suspicion of me and I had to quickly turn away and feign innocence or confusion. Needless to say I had no opportunity to look into them as much as I would have liked.
When we became an 'official' couple, just before we shared our first kiss I held her face in my hands and just looked into her eyes, making up for lost time.
Even now when she is really stressed out I bring her to me, cup her face with my hands and simply look into her eyes for a moment. It's my way of letting her know that things are going to be alright and that she always has me by her side.
By the time we started dating Videl and I had known each other for over a year. She knew about my family/biological situation as well as about the Z fighters and our collective past. The whole story must have seemed unreal but she seemed pleased to finally be fully knowledgeable about me. She felt closer to me and I to her. The only drawback to telling her my history involved her father, Mr. Satan.
He was innocently sleeping one evening when Videl came up and dumped an entire pitcher of ice cold water over him. She didn't give him time to gather himself as she immediately went into a tirade. Even though she was speaking fast her father caught the gist of what she was saying, "You lied about Cell… I know what Gohan and the others did…"
After several seconds passed she turned away from her father and fell silent. He stood there speechless and watched as her shoulders began to shake lightly and her breath could be heard coming in short gasps.
He approached her and placed his hands on her shoulders. She allowed herself to be pulled back toward him; her back rested against his chest. "Videl…" he started then trailed off. He knew that she and I had spent a lot of time together and despite his put downs toward me he knew that her feelings for me had only continued to grow.
He was worried that the truth of the matter would come out from the moment he figured out who I was at the tournament. But still, he had not been able to muster up the courage to tell his only child let alone the world, the truth.
Videl stopped crying and hastily wiped her eyes and cheeks. She then spun around, faced her father, and spoke, "Daddy you have to apologize to Gohan and the others." her voice was dead serious and her face was flushed.
Mr. Satan's eyes went wide. He staggered back and came to rest on the edge of his bed and hung his head. Water droplets fell from his now soggy and drooping afro. His entire upper body was soaked. He had gotten the back of Videl's shirt wet too.
He exhaled then inhaled deeply a couple of times before speaking again. "Alright Videl, I'll apologize to that skinny… I mean Gohan", and after these words he paused.
Videl walked over to him to see what was wrong. She could not see his face and the tone of his voice and his use of my proper name worried her. She reached out to him with her right hand and bent down letting it rest on his shoulder.
She was afraid to look into his eyes in case he was crying. She had never seen him cry. She was already beginning to regret what she done in the last five minutes. Then her father spoke.
"I'll apologize to him… to Gohan… but…." he said just above a whisper. This drew Videl in. He continued "BUT I CAN"T APOLOGIZE TO THE OTHERS THEY"LL KILL ME!!!" she had been leaning her head close to his when he had jumped up and all but screamed the last part. The sudden increase in volume and abrupt movement knocked Videl back onto her butt.
She sat on the ground for a moment and shook her head trying to clear it. She looked up at her father who had his hands clasped, his knees were shaking, and on his face was a look of genuine terror. He looked every bit like a cornered rat.
'You coward' she thought as she stood up and prepared to verbally tear him a new one. She proceeded to lecture him about things like integrity and courage. She lost track of time.
And then I came into the picture. Videl filled me in about the aforementioned sequence of events sometime later. I had come to her house that night to pick her up for a date. We had planned the night pretty far in advanced so I was surprised when I rang the doorbell three times and still went unanswered.
I notice a lighted room above me and to my left. I glanced around cautiously and then levitated up to the balcony.
What I saw confused me greatly. I saw Mr. Satan, whose afro was oddly misshapen, and Videl in the middle of a heated conversation and completely oblivious to my presence beyond the window.
Mr. Satan had his hands cupped over his ears and was shaking his head in a blatant attempt to tune out his daughter who was shouting in attempt to penetrate his hands-turned-ear-plugs all the while trying to pry them from his head.
I knocked softly, slightly afraid to enter. It worked first try as Videl miraculously heard the sound and turned her head in my direction.
"Gohan!" she cried. Her father followed her gaze and his jaw dropped seeing me. Videl immediately released him and walked to the window to let me in. Behind her Mr. Satan was slowly but surely edging toward the door.
"Hi Gohan." she said kissing me softly on the lips. She then sheepishly scratched her head and smiled. Upon seeing my bewildered look she hastily sought to explain, "My Dad and I were just talking about you. Come on in." She said trying to return normalcy. I stepped inside.
I looked up from her face and over her shoulder to the still retreating form of her father. His back was turned to us and he looked to be about ten steps from the door and his freedom.
Videl suddenly whipped around and seeing her father nearing escape she swiftly crossed the room and slammed the door shut scaring the heck out of him. One look at her face made him stop all potential protests and hang his head. He trudged back toward me.
He got to the middle of the room and there he intended to stop when Videl nudged him none too gently forward. He then came to a stop about a foot in front of me.
With Videl behind him and the way he refused to look at me you would think that he thought I was going to kill him or something.
"My Father has something he wants to say to you Gohan." Videl said sternly. The room when silent for a moment before Mr. Satan whispered/mumbled something.
"What was that?" Videl said just as sternly. I could tell she was annoyed.
"He said 'I'm sorry'", I replied. Videl may not have been able to catch it but I am only half human.
"For what Sir?" I said raising my eyebrows. It was then that he looked up at me. There was no fear in his eyes only astonishment. He had been rude to me, called me names on several occasions, and explicitly threatened to beat me up if I any harm came to Videl; the latter threat came before he figured out who I was of course.
Yet I still showed him respect. I addressed him as 'Sir' or 'Mr. Satan' at all times, I shrugged when he called me a 'skinny wimp' in front of Videl; she had laughed at this and always told me she would try to get him to cut it out. I even let stood by and let him take credit for not only one of the greatest and most heartbreaking triumphs of my life but of my Father's and the others.
I think that at the moment he was taking it all in: my behavior and the words of his daughter which all indicated that I was a good match for her and that I probably was not going to kill him anytime soon.
"For everything…" he said. He seemed unable to continue and go into the specifics of how far he had gone in his lies. I understood what he meant though. I wasn't too far off in my previous assumption he really did think I was going to kill him.
Videl moved from behind her father and came up and linked her arm with mine. She smiled sadly at her father knowing it had been hard for him to say those words. He was a prideful man. But it needed to be done.
Unsure of what to say to the deflated world champion before me I managed to squeak out "It's alright." Because really it was.
Mr. Satan perked up when I said it. He looked at Videl by my side and decided to start working right then and there on making Videl happy with him again.
"Oh thanks kid… err Gohan. I was really worried that you'd be upset and when you're upset Videl is upset and when Videl is upset…" he trailed off when he saw the 'put sock in it' look Videl was giving him; he was, after all, rambling.
"Umm don't you have a dinner to get to?" he said wisely changing the subject.
"Oh yeah Gohan you showed up early!" she said and then released my arm in order to give me a slight shove.
"Um no I didn't", I held out my wrist to her and pointed matter-of-factly to my watch which read 7:40. We had dinner reservations for 8:00.
Her face fell. She realized that the father-daughter talk had taken more time than she realized.
"Shit!" she said as she bolted out of the door to undoubtedly get ready. I had come over in a nice black suit. She had been wearing long black leggings her baggy t-shirt and hand guards.
The restaurant we were headed to had a dress code and everything. The night was a special one.
The room felt different with just Mr. Satan and me in it. He had nearly been knocked over when Videl turned and took off. He now stood looking at me mirroring the surprised expression that seemed to be constantly on my face that night.
We both laughed lightly at the situation.
"Can I take your coat Gohan?" he said, startling me. He had this huge grin plastered on his face. He was definitely trying to earn brownie points with me and in turn with Videl. We were running late as he knew so removing my coat seemed asinine. Still I didn't want to make him feel bad (I am too nice I know).
"Sure, thanks" I said sliding it off and handing it to him. We both realized that it was a mistake because the room had no coat rack or even a useable chair. Mr. Satan resorted to standing there holding my coat and smiling at me. It was weird.
After what seemed like forever in this situation of me staring at Mr. Satan as the human coat rack Videl rushed back in looking gorgeous.
She had on a dark colored dress with a slit on the left side and dark heels. The dress was sleeveless and low cut (for Videl) and I was treated to a view of her pale creamy skin. She wore tasteful diamond earrings, a dark colored scarf was laid across her shoulders and she had put on make up. He hair was swept back and made her look elegant, like a movie star (cliché, I know).
She had been shopping no doubt and she hated shopping.
She must have taken my silence and staring negatively because she frowned and asked me if anything was wrong.
I shook my head a little too vigorously and composed myself. I walked over to her and placing my hands on either side of her face kissed her on the forehead, her father was still in the room after all. I don't think I would have been able to keep it PG if I had aimed for the mouth at that moment.
I stepped back from her and she began to wrap the scarf around her head and neck. 'Clever' I thought. We were running late so I would have to fly us quickly to the restaurant; I had wondered how she was going to maintain her look as we traveled.
"Bye Dad!" she said as she kissed her father on the cheek. She was beaming. She then walked over to me and hopped up into my arms so that I was holding her bridal style.
I had just stepped through the double doors and onto the balcony when I heard Mr. Satan call out to me.
"Gohan, wait your jacket!" he said and waved it up and down like a matador's cape while coming toward me. He only took a few steps before something flew out of the pocket. It hit the floor and rolled coming to rest right in front of Videl who I had released.
The object was a white hinged box. Since it was able to fit in my pocket you can guess what type of box it was.
Videl gasped and crouched to pick up the box. Her hands trembled a little as she opened it.
The whole time I was stood behind her in shock. 'Well so much for my surprise' I thought. Although having a ring box pop out and land perfectly in front of my hopefully soon to be fiancée was surprising; hell it was even better than the 'propose over dinner' idea I had.
Inside the box was a white gold band with a diamond flower in the center. Beautiful yet made strong, like Videl. My mom and Bulma had gone with me to pick it out. After fifteen minutes of shopping with those two I gave them the slip and happened upon the ring Videl was now admiring. My mom nearly burst into tears when I showed her and Bulma gave me the thumbs up too. If you are wondering how I paid for it being half Saiyan has its advantages. I took a job doing construction and other physical labor last summer and saved up.
Now that the cat was out of the bag all I could do was stare at Videl's back and wait for her to speak.
In one motion she rose with the ring in her palm the box left on the floor. She looked at me with this unreadable expression. Her eyes were tearing up.
Her expression then changed to one of pure happiness. She ran the few feet between us and once again leapt into my embrace.
"Yes! Gohan, the answer is yes!" she said and then silenced my cries of joy with a kiss, definitely not a PG kiss either.
After several seconds we parted and I ceremoniously placed the ring on her finger. We were about to have kissing round number two when we were reminded of the third person in the room.
Mr. Satan at that moment fell flat on his back like a sack of potatoes.
Videl and I went to his side. His face was peaceful. He had passed out cold and oddly enough he was still clutching my jacket.