Secret Heart

Chapter 16

The effort she was using was making each and every muscle she had in herself shake. It was becoming painful. Too painful. She was about to give up, resigning herself to stay glued on the ground, when Gohan's voice could be heard, from below.

"Videl… You're flying!"

It took her a while to realize it. She slowly opened her eyes, uncertain, and looked down.

"AAAAHH!! I'm flying!!"

In surprise, she let go of her hold on her Ki, and immediately felt herself falling. Her fall lasted only a second, but at least, during that second, she prided herself on knowing that she flew once in her life. However, the awaited impact didn't come. She opened her eyes, realizing that Gohan caught her and that she was currently gripping onto him tightly, almost strangling him. Red from embarrassment, she tried to move away but he held her back.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh…" Why wasn't he letting go of her? Did she want him to?

Although showing nothing of it, Gohan wasn't that confident anymore. He had held Videl back instinctively, not having the heart to watch her leave so quickly. But now, how does he extricate himself from this situation?

"You've made a lot of progress. You must be tired."

"Tired? Uh… yeah. Yes." Videl replied a little distractedly.

"We'll go back, then." Gohan, let go of her, the young man was mentally ordering himself. Let go of her right now.

He offered her his support to go back to the Son residence, a support that Videl, no matter how proud, didn't refuse.

During dinner, in which, of course, Videl had been invited, the conversation drifted to the party that would soon occur.

"And where will it take place?" The girl asked, curious to know.

"At Capsule Corp," Chichi replied simply.

Videl raised her brows, surprised, "Capsule Corp? You mean you rented Capsule Corp for your party?"

Chichi gave a little laugh, "We didn't need to rent the place, since it's the owner who's throwing the party."

"W… Wait a minute…" Videl said, slowly registering the information. "The person who is throwing this party… is Bulma Briefs??"

"Yes, why?"

"You know THE Bulma Briefs?? The most intelligent and richest woman in the world?? The President of the Capsule Corporation??"

"At seeing your surprise, I'm guessing that Gohan didn't tell you," the mother of two stated, "Well, I guess he thought it wasn't very important."

Videl couldn't believe her ears! "Not very important? But… It's Bulma Briefs!" And then she realized: "I'm going to meet Bulma Briefs!!" She looked down at herself and frowned, "I can't meet her dressed like this… and I have nothing that would suit meeting someone like her…" She said to herself out loud.

"I can take you shopping to find something to wear, if you want," Chichi suggested.

Videl grimaced slightly. "Um… Shopping? To be honest, it's not really my thing…"

"But you said yourself that you had nothing to wear for the party; then the solution would be to buy you new clothes." Chichi reasoned. "So, what do you think?"

Videl sighed, knowing that her friend's mother was right, and resigned herself to accept.

"Alright…" she said.

"Perfect! We'll go tomorrow after your classes. It doesn't bother you to cancel tomorrow's flying lessons, does it Gohan?" But her son wasn't listening to her, too busy pigging out like there was no tomorrow. A vein was made visible on Chichi's forehead and started to beat furiously at her temple. "Gohan!!"

The young man jumped at hearing his mother call him, not missing the anger in her voice. He gulped and, slowly, looked up at her.

"Yes Mom?" He asked nervously.

Chichi smiled, but he could still see the vein beating at her temple. "Videl and I are going to go shopping tomorrow. It doesn't bother you to cancel the flying lessons, right?"

"Err… No, no, of course not," he replied hastily, not wanting to know what his mother would have in store for him if he refused. Then he blinked, finally registering what his mother had said earlier.

"Shopping? With Videl?" He remembered all the times Erasa complained because Videl always refused to go shopping with her. How did his mother succeed in convincing the tomboy, the ever so determined tomboy, to go with her?

"Yes, and besides, you'll come with us," Chichi decided.

"What? But…"

"But what?" She asked, sending him a glare, almost daring him to disobey.

Gohan gulped again, "N-Nothing. I… I'll go with you."

Chichi smiled, "Good." Then she turned to her youngest son, "Goten dear?" She called sweetly.

"Yes Mommy?" The little boy said, looking up from his meal.

"You'll come with us to go shopping, okay?"

"Aw… Do I have to?" However, before the hard look his mother was giving him, he learned quickly that it was useless trying to escape. "Okay…"

Videl watched the exchange between mother and sons. Chichi definitely knew how to be obeyed.

Chichi got off the magic cloud, as Goten was landing next to her. Her youngest son had preferred to fly by himself to Satan City, and she couldn't blame him for it. She could imagine that flying must give you a feeling of freedom that you couldn't find anywhere else. She had to admit, she would have liked to learn to fly, but she didn't really have the time for it, with all the things she had to do in the house. Well, it wasn't so bad, as long as she could climb on Kinto, her devoted golden cloud.

After biding her goodbyes to this certain cloud, she got out a capsule from her purse and threw it, activating it. An Air Car appeared, and she got in the driver's seat, telling Goten to sit in the back and to buckle his seatbelt.

They had landed at the city's entrance, so they wouldn't be noticed, and had a short distance ahead of them before arriving at Orange Star High School, hence the need of the Air Car.

Goten got in the Air Car with reluctance. The memories he had of his mother behind the wheel really didn't make him want to get in, but he had no choice. So, he buckled his seatbelt, and then, taking a deep breath, said:

"I'm ready."

"Then we're off."

The Air Car took off with a jerk, as Goten tensed in his seat. Chichi stepped on the accelerator, not even bothering to look at her rear-view mirrors to see if there were other conductors on the road or not. Her Air Car was fleeing at top speed, barely avoiding the vehicles in its way.

Goten released his breath when his mother parked the Air Car in front of his brother's school. He was especially relieved that his "ride" in the car was finally over. He couldn't count all the vehicles, the pedestrians, the streetlights, or any other things that his mother had managed to avoid just in time during the entire trip.

He hoped he would never have to relive that again.

Unlike usual, Videl and Gohan didn't go to the roof after class, but instead, they exited the establishment like everyone else, through the main door. Erasa watched them walk away together, suspicious. They were pretending that Gohan was simply giving Videl math lessons, but Erasa didn't believe any of it. So the question was: what were they doing everyday after class?

She noticed that they had joined a raven haired woman in her mid-thirties, and a little boy abnormally pale. She noted the resemblance they had with Gohan, and supposed that they were his mother and his little brother. Curious to know why the family of the young man was here, she walked discreetly towards them.

"Goten, why are you so pale?" Videl asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," the little boy replied.

As for Gohan, he already had an idea why his brother had turned this unusual shade and he couldn't help but feel sorry for his little brother. Being in a car with their mother behind the wheel wasn't exactly the best experience; he knew that all too well.

"Can we take your Jet Copter to go to the mall, Videl?" The eldest Son asked his friend.

Erasa wasn't sure she had heard right. They were going to the mall? With Videl??

"Yeah, let's take your Jet, Videl! Please!" Goten exclaimed hastily, his color returning a bit.

Videl blinked at the child's begging eyes. Why did he want to take her Jet Copter so badly? He seemed almost… desperate.

"Uh, sure. Okay."

"YEAH!!" Goten cried out jumping in joy, relieved to have escaped his mother's driving. This certain mother wondered why he was so happy to go to the mall in the Jet Copter of her future daughter-in-law. Bah, it must be because it wasn't an everyday thing, to fly in a Jet.

Erasa watched them leave in Videl's Jet Copter, furious that the girl who was supposed to be her best friend accepted to go to the mall with Gohan's family – certainly to do shopping – but would always refuse to go there with her. However, she was curious to see Videl do shopping.

And so, she decided to follow them.

Gohan frowned. When he sensed his blonde friend's Ki going toward the mall as his family, Videl and himself were flying in the Jet Copter toward the exact same destination, he first thought that Erasa was planning on doing some shopping of her own; after all, it was a well known fact that Erasa loved shopping.

Maybe it was a coincidence that she had entered the same shop as them, but in that case, why was she hiding? No, it wasn't a coincidence, and there was only one explanation for her strange behavior: Erasa was following them.

He supposed that she must have seen them leave, and had decided to follow them out of curiosity.

The young man was brought out of his thought when Videl came out of the dressing room, wearing navy blue pants and a white blouse. She even let her hair down, so her pigtails wouldn't blot with the outfit she was wearing.

It may be a bit too classy for a party among friends, but Gohan thought she looked very nice with this outfit.

"Hmm…" Chichi pondered, holding her chin, looking at the girl downwards, "I think you would look better in a dress."

"Um, no thank you, Chichi. I don't wear dresses," Videl said.

"You don't? Why? I'm sure you'll be very pretty with a dress. What do you think, Gohan?"

The demi Saiya-jin, who hadn't taken his eyes off of his friend, replied without thinking.

"Videl's always pretty."

The young girl blushed at hearing that, and after a few moments, Gohan did too, realizing what he had just said.

"I think that a dress would really suit you, Videl!" Goten exclaimed. "But Gohan's right; you're always pretty!"

The two teens blushed even more, as the little boy reminded them of what Gohan had said. The latter cursed himself mentally for not thinking before speaking.

Videl recovered, "That's nice, Goten, but I still refuse to wear a dress. It's just not my thing."

"Try one on, at least," Chichi insisted. "You won't have to take it, but you could at least try it on."

The girl sighed, telling herself that she won't die if she just tried a dress on.

"Come on, Videl, come out of there. I'm sure you look very nice," Chichi said, letting out a sigh. She wanted to see what her future daughter-in-law looked like in a dress! Was that so much to ask?!

"No way!" Came Videl's voice from the dress room. "I look… ridiculous!"

"I'm sure you're don't."

"I'm telling you, I look ridiculous! I refuse to come out dressed like this!"

Another sigh escaped Chichi's lips. Then she looked at her boys, silently asking for their help to convince Videl to come out of her dressing room. Goten was the first to react.

"Come on, Videl, I'm sure you're really cute!"

"No!"

The youngest Son looked at his mother, as if to say, "I tried."

Chichi then looked at her eldest. If there was someone who could convince Videl, she was certain it would be him.

Gohan sighed, "Videl…"

"No! I won't come out! So don't sweat on it, Gohan!"

The young man blushed at what he was about to say.

"I… I'm sure you're very pretty in the dress, Videl. Please, come out of the dressing room. Everyone wants to see you."

"But… I look ridiculous…" Videl insisted, feeling her resolves weaken substantially.

Gohan smiled, "You wouldn't be able to look ridiculous even if you wanted to, Videl."

There was a silence for a little while, and then, finally, the dressing room door opened, revealing Videl. She was wearing a light blue shoulder strapped dress, falling just above her knees. The girl kept her eyes down, blushing, not daring to see the reaction of the Son family – especially of the eldest son.

This certain one was winded. How did the thought of her looking ridiculous even cross her mind? She was sublime!

"You're perfect, Videl!" Chichi exclaimed, clapping her hands. "You absolutely have to take this dress!"

At hearing that, Videl raised her head, looked at her friend's mother, frowned, and placed her hands on her hips. "Wait a minute! You said that I was only going to try on that dress, not that I had to take it!"

"But it's perfect for the party!" Chichi complained. "Help me, boys!"

"Why don't you want to take it? It really suits you!" Goten said, being, once again, the first to react.

"There is no way I'm going out in public wearing this dress!" Videl retorted.

"I think you're gorgeous."

She instantaneously blushed at hearing Gohan say this.

It's in the bag! Chichi thought, triumphant.

Videl turned away, her cheeks burning. "Stop talking nonsense."

He approached her then lifted her chin, making her look at him, and smiled at her.

"You're gorgeous, Videl," He said simply.

She looked away again, and moved away from him, gaining the upper hand over her sudden urge to kiss him.

"W-Well, okay. I'll take it."

Erasa, who had witnessed the entire scene, hiding behind a stack of clothes, smirked. If she had a doubt before, she didn't have any now.

Videl was completely crushing on Gohan.

To Be Continued…