Chapter Ten: Valentine's Day

Chapter Notes:

Unlike in Western Countries where the men give chocolates and roses to women as a sign of affection, in Japan, the women usually give chocolates to the men during Valentine's Day.

There are two types of chocolates given.

If you are a lover or a prospective lover, the women normally give you honmei chocolates.

If you are just a friend, the women give you giri-choco.

A/N: -

Videl Satan was sitting once again in front of her computer.

She once again tried to search for information about Son Gohan. However, unlike the previous time, this one was for a completely different purpose.

Keying in numerous searches, she found herself more frustrated than the last time.

"Why am I even bothering to do this?" she asked herself aloud in anger. "I mean, it's not as if I really owe him anything."

She pushed her chair back and looked at a spot on her bed. There, a neatly folded blue handkerchief lay in place.

She felt her heart race and her face flush red as she remembered the event the other day. At first, she was confused at her emotions, but later on dismissed it as nothing more than embarrassment. In time, she will discover how wrong she was, but that was a story for a different time.

For now, Videl Satan felt like punching her computer at its repeated failure to provide her with relevant results, but she thought better not to after she concluded that it wasn't the computer that was at fault.

She remembered Gohan's kind smile and his mysterious background and she found herself throwing her arms up in the air and wondering, "Just who are you really, Son Gohan?"

Tuesday morning came and Gohan found himself waking up early for once so he didn't have to face the wrath of the frying pan.

As he got down for an early breakfast, he found Erasa who was just about to leave.

"Whoa there!" he exclaimed in surprise. "You're up early."

Erasa just giggled and said, "Silly Gohan. Of course, I am. I need to make it in time for school, remember? What about you? How come you're always just five to ten minutes late for school? Shouldn't you be later than that? That's unfair, Gohan. I really need my beauty sleep you know?"

Gohan just laughed and scratched the back of his head like he usually did when he was in a sticky situation.

"Ahahahaha, well, you know. I have one of Bulma's jet copters…"

"Nonesense, Gohan. Bulma gave me her latest prototype, remember?"

Gohan knew that he was caught but fortunately, though Erasa was the school's gossip and was always up-to-date with the school's latest scoops, she also decided to just accept Gohan for who he was and so she asked him no further.

"Oh well. I won't ask. See you later then, cutie."

She pecked him on the cheek and ran outside while waving goodbye to him.

Gohan just thought that Erasa was settling in nicely with his family, to the point that she would kiss him on the cheek just like his mother did when she was in a good mood and was saying goodbye to him.

Poor Erasa. How thick could Gohan get?

On the other hand, his younger brother wasn't as clueless.

As Gohan stood in the doorway with these thoughts, Goten - who had recently learned to transform into a Super Saiyan much to Chichi's chagrin - ran into the kitchen yelling, "Mummy, older brother and the Super Saiyan elder sister were kissy kissy at the doorway!"

Videl Satan was early to school for once.

She decided that the police can handle crime fighting in Satan City for that day and called to inform them of that to let them actually do their job.

As soon as she arrived in school, she saw an unfamiliar, sleek black jet copter about to land.

It was approaching the school rooftop with a very fast speed that she estimated was twice her own jet copter's.

Intrigued, she made a point to eye the back of the jet copter and find out what model number it was.

"If I had a jet copter that fast, getting to crime scenes and chasing the Buckethead would be much easier," she thought to herself.

However, she found nothing of the sort.

"Strange. I've heard of people removing plate numbers because of stolen machines, but this is the first time I've seen a jet copter without a model number. Could it be a prototype?"

Suspecting that something fishy was going on, she decided to hover her jet copter over the rooftop for a few more minutes instead of landing so that she could see who piloted the strange vehicle.

Who came out totally surprised her.

"Erasa?!"

"Hi, girl. Looks like you're early today," Erasa remarked, seeing her friend.

As usual, Videl wore a scowl on her face but she always had and therefore, Erasa thought nothing of it until Videl spoke.

"Yeah. And, on my way to school, I saw something interesting."

Erasa noticed the subtle hint of implication in her best friend's voice and started to become nervous.

"Oh, what was it?" she asked trying to keep her voice as calm as she could.

Had Videl perhaps found out that she had been disowned and kicked out of her house? Did she find out that she was now living with Son Gohan? As these thoughts ran wild in Erasa's head, Videl continued.

"Yeah… something very interesting," she said the word slowly for emphasis.

"Oh come on! Spit it out already, Videl! You know I love hearing gossip," Erasa cried out with fake curiosity and enthusiasm.

Truth be told, Erasa had, by now, confirmed that the person Videl was talking about was none other than herself and she was nervous about it - so much that her heart rate started to pick up and her hands became clammy.

Videl just continued looking at her suspiciously before she said, "It's funny how I was coming to school, I saw a jet copter without a model number fly past me with twice the speed of my jet copter. It really is a wonder because my jet copter's the latest and the fastest one out in the market. And guess what? Who was the pilot of that jet copter?"

Erasa, instead of feeling cornered, actually felt relieved.

It seems that Videl hadn't found out about her circumstances yet and so, she lied easily, "Well, you know my dad's a womanizer, don't you? Well, apparently, he slept with one of the female employees in Capsule Corp. and after a while, he managed to get her to sell a prototype to him so he could give it to me as an apology gift."

Videl thought that something didn't add up.

Sure, what Erasa said made sense since she knew Rubber Eraser fairly well after meeting him several times whenever she visited Erasa's home. She knew that Erasa and him weren't on the best of terms but the most that she knew that he had done was cut down Erasa's pocket money or ground her. She didn't know that he had also hit her or that he would go to the extent of disowning his own daughter.

Still, she felt that something wasn't right with what her best friend said. However, she decided to let it go for now and made a mental note to herself to pursue the matter later on.

For now, there was a more pressing issue at hand.

"Well, alright…" she said hesitantly before changing the topic. "Hey, I have a question."

Knowing that she somehow got herself off the hook, Erasa was more than happy to reply.

"Shoot."

"Hm, well... assuming that a guy found out about a side of you that you have never shown to the public - and I mean assuming -" she added for emphasis. "And, instead of pursuing more about the matter, he just considers your situation and leaves after telling you 'I'll be here for you if you need me' what would you do?"

"Ooh, it seems that some guy has finally melted the Ice Queen Videl's heart," Erasa teased.

She was feeling elated. Not only had Videl let her off the hook, she was also showing signs of being interested in a guy.

Erasa thought that since she had been living with Gohan, she would know if something happened between him and Videl since he always told his mother about goings-on in school and so, she assumed that her best friend was referring to another guy. Her heart jumped for joy at the thought of her getting a chance to date Gohan without having to worry about her best friend's feelings.

"I SAID 'ASSUMING'!" Videl half shouted in denial at the notion.

The two or three early-birds sitting in the classroom all turned their heads to look at the both of them which caused Videl to blush in embarrassment.

"Why am I blushing?" Videl questioned herself. "I've been through worse situations and I've never batted an eyelid, but a simple matter like this making me blush. This is so not like me."

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Videl pressed on arrogantly, "Well, so what's your advice?"

Erasa didn't miss the action and smiled coyly. Her best friend must be head over heels in love with a guy and that was good for her because it would give her a chance to be with Gohan.

"Well, that means that the guy probably likes you," she told Videl, hastily jumping to a conclusion. "You know what, girl? You should totally go out with that guy. It's the perfect opportunity! It's Valentines Day on Thursday - that's two days from now - and you should really consider giving that guy some chocolates."

"I-do-not-like-a-guy!" Videl hissed.

Erasa just shrugged her shoulders. She knew that she could never make Videl admit to anything regarding boys and love, so she simply said, "Whatever you say, Videl. But think about it. I'm sure whoever this is would be extremely happy to receive chocolates from the daughter of Mr. Satan."

While Videl strongly denied the notion of her liking Gohan, her rational side did consider the suggestion of giving Gohan chocolates on Valentines Day. She thought that it would be a good way to say 'thank-you-for-offering-a-crying-shoulder-not-that-I-took-you-up-on-the-offer-but-thanks-for-the-thought-anyway'.

Of course, it didn't have to be on Valentines Day, but she didn't feel comfortable at the thought of thanking someone who just saw a weak side of her so she thought that giving Gohan chocolates on Valentine's Day and passing it off as giri-choco would be the best way to thank him and not feel embarrassed at the same time.

It was like killing two birds with one stone!

In fact, she had not thanked anyone in a long time since she was usually the one being thanked for saving so many people, therefore, she felt awkward even thinking about it.

But, Videl Satan didn't like owing anything to anyone. She knew that her conscience would nag at her if she didn't thank Gohan for offering a consoling shoulder when she needed it (not that she accepted it, but that wasn't the point). Besides, she thought that the sooner she thanked Gohan, the sooner she would be even with him and the sooner she wouldn't feel bad whenever she snooped around finding information about his private life.

And so, she decided to make a quick visit to a chocolate store immediately after school.

Lao Lime got changed to a frilly, pink uniform.

It was her first day at the job and she seriously thanked her luck that she was able to find a replacement after she had been fired unfairly from her previous one. She was also glad that she got higher wages here compared to her last workplace.

However, the higher wage came with a price.

She now had to wear (what she considered) a ridiculous uniform and moreover, she had to put a permanent smile on her face and be subservient to the customers - most of which were couples.

It was bad for her because she had a natural, tomboyish nature so carrying herself in this manner took her a great deal of effort. Furthermore, she could feel men - much to their lover's chagrin - ogling at her whenever she passed by to serve them. This was worse than when she worked at the 'Mandarin Duck' because at least there, the Chinese uniform that she wore covered her thighs all the way down to her knees. Here, however, not only was the uniform frilly and pink, the skirt that came with it rode up to her mid-thighs as well.

But, such was life, she told herself as she sighed and closed the door to her locker.

Bracing herself, she pulled her on cheeks to relax its muscles and said in a voice only audible for her to hear, "Alright, Lime. You've fought scary bears before. This is nothing!"

With that, she opened the door and put on her best smile.

"Welcome to Lover's Delight! How may I help you?"

"LIME?!" came a surprised reply.

Today was her first day and she was on counter duty.

She didn't expect that the first customer that she would serve would be…

"VIDEL!" she exclaimed in surprise.

Beside her, the girl running the other counter gave her a scowl.

Lime was a trainee and the girl expected her to uphold the conduct and mannerisms of the employees in the 'Lover's Delight'.

Videl Satan, too, was surprised.

After her humiliating defeat from Lime yesterday, she promoted Lime's status to 'arch-nemesis' and she vowed to have nothing to do with the girl until she was ready to challenge her for a rematch. However, fate didn't seem to work that way and now she found herself face to face with the girl that trampled on her pride.

She stifled a laughter when she realized what type of clothes Lime was wearing, before she placed her order.

"I'd like to grab the high quality chocolate from Red Star City please," she said casually.

Lime carried herself civilly and professionally despite her dislike for the raven-haired girl.

"Right. That's 1,000 zenny please."

Now, 1,000 zenny was a lot of money. An average part-time worker's wage was 15 to 20 zenny while a professional worker, depending on their job, could earn income ranging from 25-60 zenny per hour.

It was not a small amount to scoff at especially when it was spent for chocolates.

The amount may be huge for most people - Lime included - but it wasn't a problem for Videl.

She and her father had a lot of money to spend so she simply pulled out a black card and asked to pay via debit.

In doing this, Videl unknowingly fueled Lime's hatred towards the Satan family. To Lime, the Satan family's fame and wealth wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the golden haired boy that she had met seven years ago. However, she didn't want to lose her job again and so she kept these feelings within herself and handed over a small package that contained the prized chocolate.

As she did so, Lime couldn't help but wonder.

"High quality chocolate from Red Star City. She purposely didn't say the name of the product, but I wonder, who will she give that 'Confession of Love' chocolates to?"

She knew the fact that Videl Satan fought crime in Satan City and that she projected an image of a no-nonsense sort of person. Therefore, it was an entertaining mystery for her to find out that the Videl Satan had walked in to a lover's cafe and brought the most expensive item on the menu.

As Videl left, Lime thought to herself, "Even the cool Ms. Satan is getting chocolates for her lover. I probably should get something for Gohan as well."

She didn't have evidence that Gohan was the golden haired fighter that saved her village from seven years ago, but she did have a theory that he was the same person. Regardless, she felt the same amount of attraction for the dark haired teen as she did to the Golden Fighter and she knew that she had a small crush him and so, she made a plan to give Gohan chocolates for Valentine's Day.

Wednesday came by in a blur and, on Thursday, Gohan found that the metal from which his school locker was made of had a massive, bulging dent.

It wasn't a surprise seeing that it was Valentine's on that day and so, as soon as he unlocked and opened his locker, he found an enormous amount of chocolates and love letters cascading down onto him.

"What the-?" he gasped aloud in shock.

All around him, people stared as he picked up every single one of the items.

For the males, they stared in jealousy. They had expected to receive at least one or two giri-chocos from the girl that they liked but were disappointed when they found none. Still, they held on to the hope that the girl would hand the chocolate to them personally until they saw the amount of chocolates and letters that Gohan received.

"That's got to be the whole female population in school giving him honmeis!" they all thought. "That bastard's hogging all the women to himself!"

At that point in time, there was an unspoken understanding of hatred towards Gohan among the males and, in time, they will form groups that would try to make Gohan's school life miserable.

For now though, the females were observing him closely and hoping that he would respond to their proposals of asking him out on a date.

Unfortunately for them, Gohan had only read about the concept of Valentine's Day on books and so, he didn't exactly know what all the fuss was about. Knowing his own appetite, however, he was glad that he had received so many chocolates and he wondered if there was enough to share with Goten as well.

Stuffing everything away into his school bag, he made his way to class just in time for the morning bell.

There was a commotion in the cafeteria during lunch.

People crowded around and the boys would stand on their tiptoes just to see past their mates.

"What's going on? What's going on?" they asked each other.

In the middle of the circle, Videl Satan stood in front of Son Gohan with her usual scowl.

"Gohan, I need to talk to you," she said in a serious tone.

Everyone around them was wondering if the Videl Satan was going to confess to someone for the first time in her life.

Gohan, on the other hand, didn't even consider the thought.

In his mind, he was silently screaming, "Oh great. Not again. Not another interrogation."

"It's about yesterday," Videl continued.

"Ah, oh no! She must have found out that I was the Great Saiyaman when I transformed at the rooftop!"

Before Videl could continue, however, Gohan ran away and tried to escape at the fastest normal human speed he could manage, but Videl pursued him earnestly with her eyebrows furrowed and a glare on her face which, to Gohan, seemed very much like his mother thus making him very nervous indeed.

To him, it felt like it was the time when his mother chased him around and scolded him for training with Piccolo instead of concentrating on his studies.

"Hey, wait!" Videl commanded.

However, Gohan did not stop and just continued running and, as Videl started to run out of breath, she wondered how Gohan could maintain running at that speed without even breaking a sweat.

"Gohan!" she shouted as she continued to run after him through the hallways, attracting students' attention. "Why are you running away from me?!"

"Why are you chasing me in the first place?" Gohan shouted back as he ran.

"I… just… want… to… give… you… something!" she huffed.

"Say what?"

"I said, 'I wanted to give you something'!"

Gohan stopped running. There was no gradual deceleration. It was just an instantaneous stop which caused Videl to collide with his chest hard as he turned around to face her.

"Ow!" exclaimed Videl. "What the heck? His body is hard as steel! Maybe even harder!"

"Oh… uh… sorry. You said you wanted to give me something?"

Videl paused to catch her breath for a while before she nodded her head.

She was still rather embarrassed about the ordeal of thanking him, but she had to get it done and over with so she reached into her pockets and pulled out the small package containing the expensive chocolates.

"What's this? Is it for me?" Gohan asked dumbly.

"No, it's for the president of Satan City, of course it's for you!"

Gohan scratched his cheek and said, "Gee, thanks. I don't know why, but I seem to be getting a lot of chocolates today."

Videl's eye twitched. He was supposed to accept it gratefully! This was the Videl Satan giving him a thank you gift, you know?

"Hmph! That's just a th-thank you for yesterday…"

Murmurs started as the people in the vicinity recognized the packaging.

"…most expensive chocolates…"

"Aren't those 'Confession of Love' chocolates? I've read about them in magazines and saw them on TV..."

"No way! Videl Satan likes the geeky Son Gohan?"

Different people had different reactions.

On one side, the females were annoyed since they thought that their chances with our naive hero had been reduced to close to nil once they found out that Videl Satan was their competition.

On the other side, the male population's envy grew and some of them could even be heard saying, "Not only our crushes and girlfriends, he's also playing around with Videl Satan!"

This would later result in the males forming groups to try and bully the young half-Saiyan, which, was not really a problem for Gohan, but it would give him a lot of hassle especially since he was already trying very hard hide his strength to blend in and not stand out.

Videl Satan heard the words 'Confession of Love' and she froze. Then she mentally scolded herself.

"How stupid! Why didn't I check the chocolate description before I brought them?"

"Gohan, can I see those chocolates for a second?" she demanded.

Looking at the glare on Videl's face, Gohan feared that she wouldn't return the chocolates back and so he shielded the chocolates with his body and said, "No way. You gave these chocolates to me. These are mine now."

He seriously wanted to eat the chocolates. His Saiyan hearing had only heard 'most expensive chocolates' when the crowd started talking among themselves and he immediately thought that he wanted to taste what expensive chocolates were like therefore he ignored the rest of the murmurs.

"Just. Give. Them. To. Me!" Videl said as she tried reach out for the chocolates.

There was a small scuffle which Gohan won in trying to prevent Videl from taking the chocolates back.

Meanwhile, Erasa and Lime had finally reached their location after pushing through the crowd.

Erasa, after seeing that Videl had given Gohan chocolates for Valentine's was confused with her emotions since it was her who gave the advice to Videl two days ago.

Lime, on the other hand, felt like someone had stabbed her heart.

It was painful watching the scene for her.

She was the one who served Videl when she brought the chocolates and therefore she knew how expensive the chocolates were. She, on the other hand, was poor and didn't have enough money so she had to carefully consider her budget and make cheap chocolates from scratch. It was the best that she could do and she had poured her heart into it.

She should have been proud that hers was homemade, unlike Videl's and the other girl's for that matter, but instead, she felt inferior. She felt that she couldn't compete with Videl for her love for Gohan.

As she watched the scene with a painful feeling in her chest, she unconsciously put her hand in her pocket and clutched the bag of chocolates that she had painstakingly made.

She decided not to give them to Gohan.

End of Chapter Ten

To be continued...