Lesson #5: Perfect
Videl rushed through the forest as fast as her legs could take her. She felt like a gateway to power had been opened within her as she felt her Chi pump through her body. Suddenly she came to a stop as she recalled what Bulma had said to Gohan the day before. Bulma said that since Gohan already knew what was going to be taught he could do his own thing, but how could he know how to access Chi? Guess it's time to interrogate once again, she thought. She continued towards the campsite but at a much slower rate trying to figure out the best way to get the most information out of Gohan.
Walking into the familiar clearing near the lake she found someone she hadn't expected to see. "Videl!" squealed Erasa in delight.
"Erasa," said Videl awkwardly as her friend rushed forward and hugged the breath out of her.
Erasa loosened her bear grip and looked at her friend with a slightly dopey expression. "What's the matter Videl?" she asked. "Aren't you happy to see me?"
Videl shook her head frantically. "No, I'm happy to see you Erasa but it's only been a day since we last talked and frankly I didn't expect to see you here."
"Yeah but so much can happen in a day," squealed Erasa.
"Such as..."
"The fact that you and Gohan slept together," finished Erasa.
There was a moments silence as Videl's anger tipped boiling point. "I DID NOT SLEEP WITH GOHAN!"
"Alright, alright calm down I was only teasing," said Erasa in her normal voice which sounded like a whisper in comparison. Then a devilish little grin appeared on her face. "So where did you sleep?"
Videl stuttered, her friend, while not very smart with schoolwork, knew how to play all the cards when it came to match making. "I...um...I was..." Videl felt so out of place, she had never been put in this situation before.
"Come on girl, what are you hiding?"
"Fine," said Videl in defeat. "I slept next to Gohan."
"OHMYGOSH!"
"I said next to him not with him," exclaimed Videl.
Erasa simply shrugged it off. "Next to him, with him, it's the same thing. What I want to know is how did you do it Videl?"
This had Videl generally confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well every guy that comes within your area ends up in pain yet no such thing has happened to Gohan."
"What are you getting at?"
"I think I know the reason you act differently around him" said Erasa menacingly. "You've got a crush on him don't you?"
"NO!" shouted Videl. Deep inside her mind she could feel another voice screaming yes but she was doing her best not to let that voice emit from her mouth.
"Sure Videl," said Erasa with a wink. "I can see right through you."
Videl decided that now would be a perfect time to change the subject. "So Erasa, how did you connect with your chi so easily?"
Erasa's facial details did a complete turnaround as she genuinely realised that she had no idea how she had accessed her inner abilities. "I don't know Videl, I just sat there for ages and just tried to find a pull. I didn't mind sitting there though, I found it really relaxing."
So really all you need to do to be able to access this is relax? For some reason I thought it would be harder than that, thought Videl. "There must be something else to it than relaxation though," she said to her friend.
"What do you mean Videl?" asked Erasa.
"Well when that Roshi guy did it seemed really calm when he was moving that energy ball around but I nearly fainted after just forcing my energy into my hands."
Erasa nodded her head. "I felt exhausted after it even though it was so small."
"That's because you've only just tapped into your powers," said a voice from above. Both Videl and Erasa shot their eyes towards Gohan who was sitting lazily in a tree fifteen feet above them, his leg dangling loosely over the side. "Roshi has been controlling his power for years and you only just tap into it and believe that you should be stronger than he is."
"What are you doing up there Gohan?" asked Erasa.
"I was here before you Erasa, you just didn't see me is all," he answered.
Suddenly a horrible thought flooded through Videl's head. "Does that mean you've heard everything?" she asked.
"No, I only woke up when one of you screamed 'No,' apart from that I've been sleeping," he answered.
Videl breathed a sigh of relief. So he didn't hear the conversation Erasa and I had about me and him under the one roof. At least he didn't know that I was screaming pretty much about him. If Erasa knows what is good for her she will keep her mouth shut!
"So why weren't you at the lesson today Gohan?" asked the ditzy blonde girl.
"Don't need to be," he answered with a shrug.
"Does that mean you can do all these energy tricks?" asked Videl remembering that Bulma had come to them the previous night and told Gohan that Gohan already knew everything that was going to be going on.
Gohan's face turned to face them and he got to his feet on the tree branch. Much to the girls surprise he jumped from the branch and landed with a thud in front of them, causing Erasa to squeal a bit from the distance he had dropped. "All that and so much more, now if you don't mind I have to hunt for some dinner," he said with an aura of confidence. With that he turned his back to the girls and walked into the nearby forest.
"Is it just me or is Gohan different?" asked the ever observant Erasa.
Videl turned to her friend and gave her a look which cried out you're an idiot but she didn't seem to notice. "He is more accustomed to this sort of life," said Videl trying to simplify the situation for her friend. "He doesn't come from the city like us remember."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," she replied.
No shit Sherlock.
"Now that he's gone I probably should get going, I wonder what all the other girls are doing," said Erasa absent minded. "Anyway Videl, you have to come visit me in my camp tomorrow since we don't have a lesson!"
"Alright then," said Videl a little cautiously.
"See you tomorrow then," said Erasa with a smile as she gave Videl one final hug before walking into the forest. For the longest of moments Videl stood there knowing that the entire conversation that she had had with Erasa would be twisted and warped as it spread from one person to the next. She dreaded the fact that she would hear every rumour imaginable tomorrow.
As Gohan returned to camp half an hour later with a few wild rabbits hanging limply in his hand he looked at Videl who was sitting staring at the lake. "Do you want to start the fire?" he asked snapping Videl out of her daydream.
"Um, okay," she muttered as she walked over to a pile of sticks and branches that Gohan had gotten earlier that day. She stared at the sticks for a while before looking at her palms. She placed herself on the ground and began her meditation unaware that Gohan was watching her. Videl felt her chi running through her hands and tried to bring it to her palms but again she failed to bring it out by the barest of margins.
Breathing deeply she opened her eyes and turned her head to face Gohan who stood there smiling. "What are you looking at?" she said while glaring at him. She knew it no longer had any effect but it helped her greatly.
"I'm just trying to figure out where you are trying to pull your chi from," he said still smiling with his perfect white teeth.
Videl's glare dropped and was replaced with a look of concentration. "Before when I was trying to find my chi I found that my greatest source was from the base of my spine," she explained.
"But that is not the case anymore," said Gohan as he walked forward and sat next to Videl. She knew that she should have felt awkward, maybe even slightly embarrassed, but Gohan was still emitting his confidence aura and Videl was at ease with herself. Gohan explained, "What you did with Master Roshi before was unblock your chi path. Before you accessed your chi it was all built up with a single area but now it flows around your entire being. Don't try focus on bringing it out, just give it an opening and it will do the rest."
Taking Gohan's advice to heart, Videl opened herself up to the power within herself and just like that a golden ball of energy emerged in her hands. A smile crossed her lips and she beamed towards Gohan who smiled his perfect smile back to her. She felt her cheeks go red and turned towards the pile of sticks. Pushing her little ball of energy forward she felt it touch the sticks and immediately burst into flames which startled her slightly much to Gohan's amusement.
"I'd like to see you do better," she said to his face a look of anger in her eyes. What she didn't expect to happen was Gohan lift his head back and laugh at her. He fell on his back and just laughed away which made Videl furious. She pulled her energy ball away from the fire and threw it at Gohan, not quite sure what to expect. The ball of energy exploded when it connected with Gohan's torso and Videl screamed in shock as dust flew through the air.
She suddenly felt really bad. What just happened, did I hurt him she asked herself. But underneath all the smoke came Gohan's irritating laughter. As the smoke cleared she found that Gohan hadn't been damaged in the slightest by her attack, in fact he didn't even seem to realise that he had been attacked at all. Wiping the tears from his eyes, Gohan sat up and faced Videl who looked ready to murder him as he chuckled away.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked trying to stop himself from laughing.
Videl had reached boiling point and now that she found it relatively easy to access her energy she formed a ball and from point blank range fired it into Gohan's face. Again another explosion occurred but once again when the smoke cleared Gohan sat there perfectly fine.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" she screamed into his face. "I'll tell you what's wrong mister! I'm doing my best to channel this energy and when I succeed you laugh in my face! Then when I try to blow you to kingdom come you take the blow as if it was nothing."
"That's not why I was laughing," Gohan replied modestly. "It was the look you gave me. It wasn't your normal glare but more of a challenge and I found it hilarious."
"What was so hilarious about it?" she asked still fuming.
"I just never expected to get that look from you is all, also your blast tickled when it hit my torso," he added. Seeing that Videl was ready to start screaming again, "It's not that you are weak, it's just I've been hit by these for years."
"You mean that since you were four you have been fighting against these blasts?" Videl asked remembering random details from their talk the previous night and linking them to the current conversation.
A look of sadness washed across Gohan's face. "Yeah," he admitted not wanting to remember too much about his time as a youth; too many painful memories could easily find their way into Gohan's thoughts. Seeing the look of pain on Gohan's face Videl decided not to dive too deep into the topic tonight.
"Can you show me what you are capable of doing?" she asked politely.
"Don't worry you'll get to see it soon enough," said Gohan bleakly.
"What do you mean by that?" Videl asked curiously.
"Bulma has a very devilish plan ready and it involves me," said Gohan. "You better prepare yourself because I think all hell is going to break loose."
Videl was concerned because she could tell there wasn't the slightest chance of a lie with what he was saying. "Is there anything I can do to better prepare myself?"
"You could train," replied Gohan monochromatically.
"I would train on my own if this was a physical training regime but somehow I get the feeling that this goes a lot deeper than that," said Videl.
Videl watched as Gohan scratched the back of his head in a very cute manor. "Well I guess I could help you out a bit," he said.
"Really?" Videl exclaimed as her eyes lit up like fireflies.
"I could try," said Gohan who collapsed to the ground as Videl grabbed him around the waist and hugged him.
"Thank you," she said. A few moments passed before her eyes shot open and a sudden realisation of what was going on occurred. Before anyone could blink she had gone back to her previous position and was looking at the fire. "I'm sorry," she said apologetically.
Gohan couldn't help but chuckle as he sat up. "Whoever would have thought that the great Videl Satan could apologize?" he said as only to be punched lightly in the shoulder. He smiled at Videl who turned and smiled back at him. They stared into each other's eyes for what could have seemed like an eternity before they realised that they were staring. "I guess we better start cooking those rabbits," said Gohan as he quickly got up and walked over to where he had stashed his food earlier. The meat cooked for a while before Gohan and Videl started picking at it, all the while though neither of them could wipe the ludicrous smiles off their faces as they told each other stories of things which had occurred in their lives.
Gohan only told bits and parts of his life because obviously the rest was just unbelievable. Videl was happy to be getting so much information about Gohan. She knew she would always get to know his secrets one way or another but this way was just so unexpected, it was a nice change. They finished off their food and extinguished the fire. Tired after their meal, they both decided that it was time to go to sleep.
They settled down in their makeshift shelter. Once again as they were settling down, Gohan offered Videl his shirt which she gratefully accepted. Except this time she wanted a much softer pillow for some reason. So as Gohan lay down on the ground Videl placed herself so that her head was resting gently on his bare chest. Gohan looked down at the sleepy figure and smiled before toying with her ponytails for a few minutes.
"I think you should cut your hair Videl," he said sweetly.
Videl's head twisted so that she looked directly at him. "Are you saying that I would look better with short hair Gohan?"
"You're beautiful as you are Videl," he whispered so softly that she could barely make out the words. "You can't beat what you already are."
"And what would I already be?" she asked. Had it been some other male who had been saying these magical words to her they would be half dead by now but just the way that Gohan said it made her feel warm.
Gohan gently leant forward so that Videl wouldn't move as his lips whispered gently into her ear a single word. As Gohan rested on his bed Videl was happy for it being pitch black since she was blushing so deeply it would have made a rose seem pale. She smiled deeply as both she and Gohan closed their eyes and started drifting off into slumber, the single word resonating through Videl's mind. Perfect.
Damn assignments making updates so slow (while these updates may seem unusually fast by normal comparison if anyone had been paying attention while I was going through Bounty Hunters they would have known that I did about three chapters a day). A cute ending for a cute couple. More training and Sharpner beating still to come. Please review.