~Tournament Saga~

Chapter 30 – Bed Time Bets

Gohan glanced up from his mound of homework to the calender. Tomorrow's day was circled, meaning that it would be the first day. The first day of training for Videl. He sighed, silently wishing that day would just come all ready. Ever since winter break hit, Chi-Chi had been loading him with homework that he supposedly would be missing since he was taking a semester off. This was more junior year in college homework than junior year in high school, but he didn't really mind. As soon as he finished the last of these math problems he would be done and could retreat to bed.

Downstairs however, Goten and Videl were just starting a board game. Neither were to tired at the moment, despite how late it was. One was excited that his big sister had come to play with him, the other excited that tomorrow was the big day. Not even Videl could contain her excitement when she thought about the next day. That Gohan was still childishly keeping her training a secret, and it seemed to be contagious cause she was childishly excited about it. The thought of sleep had yet to even enter her mind yet.

Goten looked up after claiming the red piece to play with. "So remember big sis. Who ever loses has to do a dare, ok?"

"Sure..." Videl's mind was on other things, one including her gaining the strength to lift a fully loaded bus with one hand. This super power business sure was going to make police work a lot easier.

Goten turned his attention down back to the board. "Trunks taught me this game...though he always wins...I always have to pull a prank on Vegeta and then run away."

Looking up to his baby sitter, Goten blinked. She looked like she was off in lala land again. Now that he thought about it, she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Even Gohan every now and then would look the same way. It must have something to do with Gohan going off to train Videl. Goten was still split about the idea. His big brother was going to go away for a long time, and he didn't like that idea. Even worse that he would be taking Videl with him. He wouldn't get to see either of them for a few months...

"Hey, big sis?"

"Hmm...?" Videl seemed to still be off in her thoughts.

"Would it be ok if I came and visited you and Gohan every now and then while you're training?"

Videl finally returned to the land of the living. "Sure. We're just going to be training...oh, you got the game set up all ready?"

Goten rubbed the back of his head, smiling his toothy smile. "I've had it set up for about fifteen minutes now."

"Ah, well lets play then." Videl lightly blushed.

Goten looked up. "You sure you know the rules?"

"Sure I do." Its only Trouble.

Goten smiled. "Yay! Lets play then!" I'm gonna win for sure!

-DBZ-

"It's not often you leave Gohan and Goten alone Chi-Chi. Are you getting soft in these times of peace too?" Bulma chuckled, trying to do her best Vegeta impression between her laughs.

Chi-Chi rolled her eyes. "It'll be fine. Videl even went over there to watch Goten while Gohan finishes up his homework. And then they'll start their training tomorrow."

"But what about school? Isn't it starting up again tomorrow?" Bulma blinked. Chi-Chi let Gohan take a semester off?

Chi-Chi brought up her cup of tea and took a sip. "Gohan's going to be entering the World Martial Art's Tournament this upcoming May. If he wins it'll be like a huge scholarship. He could go where ever I-er...where ever he wants to go."

"The World Tournament? Now that brings back memories, huh?"

Chi-Chi's eyes seemed to wander for just a second, but she quickly regained her composure. "It sure does. And besides, it'll give Gohan a chance to stuff that belt down that blowhard Satan's mouth."

"Ah...so that's the real reason you're letting him fight, huh?"

Taking another sip of tea, the woman went silent. Bulma smiled to herself. "Will that Videl be there too?"

"I assumed that's why she's training with Gohan. With the competition I've seen that Hercule guy fight...they'll easily be fighting against each other eventually. It's actually pretty romantic..."

Bulma smiled. "It is, just like how you and Goku's story went."

Chi-Chi smiled as well, glancing up at the ceiling longingly. "Ya...but at least Gohan knows what a bride is."

-DBZ-

Gohan placed his pencil down onto his desk, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Finally he had finished that semester's homework. Standing up the teen stretched out, his muscles groaning as they moved for the first time in a long while.

KNOCK KNOCK

Turning around, he glanced at the closed door. "You can come in, I'm done."

Goten bounced in, leaving a blushing Videl at the door. Blinking, Gohan scooped up the hyperactive child. "Hey, it's way past your bed time, squirt. Mom would be ballistic."

"Big brother, big brother! Guess what! We're having a sleep over!" Ignoring his brother's unneeded warning, he continued speaking at break neck speeds. "I won in trouble so I dared Videl to have a sleep over with us!"

Turning to the supposed loser, Gohan blinked. Videl stood awkwardly in the doorway, her hands clasped together behind her back. She shifted from side to side as the red on her face continued to worsen.

"I didn't know...the loser had to take a dare..."

Gohan glanced back to his little brother who was smiling as usual. Looking back, Videl turned away from his gaze. "What do you mean by...sleepover?"

"We'll do the same thing as when Trunks comes over! We'll push our beds together. I don't mind sleeping in the middle."

Videl cursed herself and her luck. She had let the little bugger win, and then he sprung this on her as thanks. Apparently she had even agreed to it. It was about that point when she was readying to give him the Satan glare...but he beat her to it with his own eye technique. His eyes got big and his lip even quivered a bit. Damn he looked adorable when he looked at her like that. She even had to pass on telling him no to Gohan. She just didn't have the heart, and she hated feeling that weak...but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

Gohan set the young saiyan down onto the ground. "Why do you want her to sleep on our two tiny little beds when Videl can just go home to her huge bed and we get our own to ourselves?"

Neither teens could have saw what happened next coming for miles. Goten's face blushed red and he looked down to his shoes, twisting one into the woodwork due to his shyness. "C-cause...I just want her to...she smells nice..."

Gohan blushed slightly, knowing full well what his younger brother was talking about. But still, what brought this on? Apparently, Goten wasn't completely a carbon copy of his father after all.

An uneasy silence filled the room. Goten continued to stare at his shoes while the two teens stood. Neither new what exactly to do with this new situation. Videl just wanted Gohan to sternly tell Goten no and that she had to go home. Looking towards her would be savior, she remembered just who Gohan was. If she couldn't tell this little guy no, there would be no way he could. But before anyone could make the next move, a flash of lightning settled the argument.

All three turned towards the window, the saiyans covering their ears when the thunder came. Gohan could feel the sweat covering his face as he turned to Videl with a sorry expression on his face. "Uh...Videl...you probably shouldn't fly in this weather..."

"But couldn't I just fly above the clouds?" Videl's face matched Gohan's, replacing the sorry with a shocked expression instead.

"Well...you could...but you'd probably have to dodge some lightning on the way up." Gohan smiled uneasily, to which Videl glared at him.

Goten tugged on the end of Videl's shirt. "It's to dangerous for you to fly home. You're staying here!"

His eyes got big again and his lip started to do its thing. Videl cursed her luck. She had no choice in the matter.

-DBZ-

Piccolo looked over Dende's shoulder as the young guardian swished a finger back and forth. "What are you doing...?"

Dende didn't bother to look. He just continued to keep his gaze focused down off the lookout towards earth. "Nothing...there's some tree's over there that need water."

"So you summoned a giant lightning storm that happens to be right over Gohan's house just because the trees were thirsty?" The sound of his voice made it quite evident that he didn't believe it for a second.

"Yup." Dende knew Piccolo knew, but he didn't care. Revenge was a dish best served cold...cold and wet.

Piccolo just turned and walked away. He wasn't involved. Not at all. This job had been passed to the youth, the next generation. What they did with what they were given was of no concern to him...he was retired...he...he didn't care...

Dende smiled slyly. "You should be happy! I'm just getting back at Videl. Gohan would probably thank me if he knew I was doing this."

Piccolo huffed. He didn't concern himself with that mushy human stuff.

-DBZ-

There lay Videl, covered up by blankets with rockets and space aliens on them. But as much and as hard as she tried, she couldn't be mad at the small chibi child clinging to her arm in sleep. She, however, could be upset at its larger brother. Damn him, why didn't he say that she could just sleep on the couch. Well, he had suggested that he be the one to sleep down there, but Goten had firmly held his ground. It just wasn't a slumber party if they didn't all sleep in the same room. Sleep...she really wished that she could do that. But with the current raging storm outside coupled with the fact that this was her first time in a boys bed, be it with his little brother or not.

Weren't saiyans suppose to have super hearing? How did they fall asleep with lightning and thunder every ten seconds? With a slow and quiet sigh, the girl closed her eyes in yet another attempt to fall asleep.

Gohan's ears twitched when they heard Videl sigh. Even with the raging storm outside, all his senses seemed to be focused on her. His eyes could faintly make out Goten clinging to the girls arm in his sleep...lucky little...his saiyan ears heard every breath she took in and out. His nose took in the new smell that she added to the bed. It had been a few months since the Halloween kiss...well, kiss on the cheek, but Gohan had thought about it every day sense then. The weird thing was...after that night it seemed like nothing had changed. Besides Erasa switching seats with Videl, and looking at something in her purse/bag thing every now and then causing her face to scrunch up with an extremely bubbly smile...which was weird cause the blond would always look at him after the bag with that smile...and when he got home his mother would have that same smile as the Erasa...

Did they know something? Gohan rolled to his back, looked up from Videl to the ceiling. Their relationship hadn't changed since then. They had class together, ate lunch together, and he would train her on the weekends. As far as Gohan could tell, things between him and Videl had continued to be exactly the same since then...but even so. His mother and Erasa seemed to know something. It must have something to do with their accursed woman's intuition...that's the only way. How else could they possibly know?

"Gohan..?" It was quiet, but just loud enough for him to hear it.

Turning his head to see who he was talking to in the dark, he tried to talk as quietly as he could so Goten wouldn't wake up. "What is it?.."

"I blame you for this..." Gohan nearly fell out of the bed. His fault?

"M-my fault? How?"

"You could have told him no...or you could have flown me back home. Couldn't you just split the storm in two with some attack or something?"

Gohan sweat dropped. Well...he probably could have, but it seemed a little excessive at the time. "You know how Goten gets when he's got his mind on something... If we hadn't given in...I could see him gathering all the dragon balls together just to make a wish so we'd have to."

"Don't try to pin this on your brother, Gohan." Videl's voice was a tad loud, and Gohan's saiyan eyes could make out a glare aiming right at him.

"But I didn't do anything!" Gohan's voice continued to grow with Videl's. Neither wanting to admit fault to their current situation.

Videl grumbled. Half a year ago she would have killed these two and herself for being where she was now..."Exactly. You did nothing."

Silence returned to the dark room. Both teens were blushing, glancing around uneasily. Videl wiggled her fingers as they started to tingle. The chibi was hugging her arm a tad bit to tight. She tried her best to not look at him. She wanted to be mad at Gohan for a while longer, and looking at Goten sleeping like that would make it harder to keep said anger.

"I'm sorry."

That caught Videl off guard. Damn, he was sorry. And by the sounds of it, he actually meant it too. Seriously...how does someone stay mad at these people?

Gohan just decided to bite the bullet on this one. He wasn't sure why, it wasn't like he did something wrong...but having Videl upset with him didn't sit well in his stomach.

"Oh, its fine..." A little upset with herself at how she so easily gave in, she closed her eyes and tried to let the rain lull her to sleep.

You know what you have to do! Remember the movie!

Videl's eyes shot open. That was Erasa's voice for sure. But...she was thousands of miles away right now. There would be no way for her to hear her...and what movie? What was she suppose to do?

"Gohan?"

"Hmm?"

"Did...uh...you hear something just now?"

"You mean besides the thunder and the rain outside?"

Rolling her eyes, she tried to remember what apparently her inner Erasa had told her to remember. The only movie that she had watched with Erasa in the past year was that lousy love flick that had almost made her gag with all the cheesy one liners. She didn't mind cheese, but to much can be a very bad thing.

Though, there was that one part where the main guy kind of reminded her of Gohan. He had gotten the chick into his bed and had been biding his time, waiting for her to make the first move. They had been childhood friends or something. The girl was the head cheer leader or something and the guy had been the short chubby nerd. In high school the guy had asked the girl out but she said that she just wanted to stay friends. Fast forward quite a few years, the nerd had worked his ass off and had turned into quite the ladies man. He went back home for some holiday and found that girl working at some coffee shop. He had decided that he would get revenge on her, getting her to sleep with him and then leave for home the next day.

But when he had her in bed, his better judgment kicked in. He couldn't do it...even thought it seemed that the girl really wanted him too...wait...had Videl really paid that good of attention to the movie? Gah...damn that blond...

Well, that was the movie...but what was she suppose to remember about it? After the guy had chickened out, they had just slept in the same bed for the rest of the night, quite awkwardly and very similar to what was happening now...was that what her inner Erasa meant?

Videl wiggled her toes with nervousness and she felt her cheeks start to burn. Slowly she glanced over at the dark form of Gohan. His breathing wasn't steady yet...he was still awake. "G-Gohan?"

One of the boy's eyes cracked open. "Hmm?"

"My...er...my toes are cold..." She forcibly gulped down in nervousness. She couldn't believe she had just asked that.

Now both Gohan's eyes opened. "You want another blanket?"

Videl nearly fell out of the bed...it was impossible to be romantic with this guy. "N-no...I just wanted to tell you..."

"Um...ok.." Gohan blinked. If they were cold...wouldn't she need more blankets? What did she want him to do about it?

Something tapped into his arm, causing him to look down. Under the blankets, one of Goten's legs had come undone from Videl's arm and it was poking into him. His brother's foot felt extremely warm. Maybe Videl should just put her feet near Goten's to warm them up. The common sense gears slowly started to turn, the cobwebs breaking from their current resting place inside Gohan's head. If she wanted him to know that her toes were cold...that meant she wanted his feet to warm up with?

A red hue that was only matched by the one he had gotten when Videl kissed him covered his face. Gohan looked over to see a slightly disheartened look on her face. That had to be it then...ahh! B-but...uh...

That should be a headline on some tabloid! I can see it now. Saiyaman doesn't have enough guts to make a Move!

Gohan's head whipped around so fast that it almost hurt. That had been Krillin, no doubt about it. But...that wasn't possible. Shaking his head lightly, he turned his attention back to the problem at hand. Maybe that was why things had stayed the same. He hadn't tried to change anything. But now he could, and all he had to do...was open his mouth and say it...that's all...just...just...say it...

"Uh...Videl?"

Gohan could faintly see her head shoot up, rather quickly too. "Ya?"

"If, uh...you're cold or something...you could come over here...I'm pretty warm under all these covers..."

Videl's blush quickly matched Gohan's, even though neither could see. He actually figured it out...give it a few minutes for it to sink in...but he still figured it out... Clenching her teeth together so their damn rattling would stop, Videl slowly slide her arm from Goten's death grip. She scooted over the chibi, trying not to wake him.

Biting his own tongue, Gohan slithered his arms around Videl as she laid down next to him. She slowly backed up into his chest, lacing her fingers with Gohan's as they finished snuggling together. Neither had the guts nor the will to talk...but the silence was nice. They noticed that the lightning had stopped, and the relaxing sound of rain hitting the roof filled the room. The closed their eyes contently, smiling at the new comfortable warmth the other was giving.

Gohan's smile grew a little bit larger however, due to his new discovery. Her toes weren't even cold.

-DBZ-

Goten opened his eyes slowly. He could hear the birds that were in the trees near the window. It was about this time that the young saiyan always woke up. Getting up onto his knees, he rubbed his eyes.

"Where's big sister?"

She was no longer where she had laid down to sleep at his side. Glancing over, he noticed that both Gohan and Videl were sleeping quite closely together. Tilting his head, the young one smiled. That looked comfortable, and he wanted to join in too. Squirming around a little under the covers, he rested his head on Videl's lap, thinking that looked like the most comfortable place to rest his head.

Goten's eyes closed, but then opened again. Confusion covered his face. "Huh? That's weird..."

Getting up onto his knees, he turned around to face Videl.

-DBZ-

Bulma quietly landed her jet car near the front of the Son household. Chi-Chi quickly jumped out followed by a yawning Trunks.

"Thanks for letting me stay the night Bulma. There just would have been no way for me to fly home in that weather last night."

"It was nothing. We got to talk more anyway. Feel free to come over more often!"

Trunks rubbed his eyes. It was early...and he wanted to go back to bed...why did he have to come to see Gohan and his girlfriend off?

The three of them had almost made it to the door, when a loud crashing sound came from the second story of the house.

"AHHHHHH!"

Trunks blinked, looking towards the house in surprise. Bulma glanced up at the window where the sound had come from. Chi-Chi blinked. "Goten?"

The front door burst open, relieving one Goten with pure fear etched into his face. "Mom! Bulma! Trunks! We need help! Its Videl!"

The two mothers grew worried as well. It wasn't often Goten got legitimately scared about something. Trunks just blinked, curious about what had his friend so worked up. "What happened to her?"

Goten flailed his arms around. "It's horrible! Her balls are missing!"

Silence filled the surrounding area. Chi-Chi looked down at her son, trying to figure out what on earth he was trying to say. After a few quiet seconds, Trunks burst into a loud laughing fit as he fell over and started rolling on the ground. Bulma's face reddened, her mind forcibly dragged back to the time when Goku had said the same thing to her...

"Gohan!"

"It wasn't me!"

CLANG!

The four downstairs turned to face the new sounds coming from upstairs. Not wanting to miss anything, they all rushed into the house and up the stairs to Gohan's doorway. Popping their heads in, they found one extremely red faced Videl with a frying pan standing over one Gohan cowering in fear with his hands over one lump that was all ready forming.

Trunks blinked in amazement, a blue color slightly covering his face. "How'd she get a frying pan?"

Goten shrugged. "I dun-know..."

Bulma's face got even redder, her being the only one of the new group to know exactly what had happened.

Author's Annotations:

Well, chapter 30 marks the end of the romance mini ark thing of the tournament saga. Whoo...hopefully I did a good job. Romance is not my strong suit. Why'd I choose it for my first story you might ask? As soon as I figure it out I'll let you know. I've been asking that myself over the past few chapters. Anyway, the next chapter will show what Gohan plans to teach Videl, and then their be a little dbz fast forward magic to the beginning of the tournament. Finally, I'll get to do some fighting again!

Oh, and for those who don't get that ending, watch the dragonball episode where Master Roshi is introduced...and make sure that its the one that isn't toned down for young people.