Secret Heart

Chapter 18

Leaning against the trunk of a tree, arms crossed against his chest, Vegeta wore his usual scowl while his dark eyes were staring at his mate who was discussing with her human friends. Those pitifully weak humans that Bulma had dared invite in his home; and as if it wasn't enough to have all these pests in his house, she forced him – he, the Prince of all Saiya-jins – to attend her stupid party.

Vegeta scowled even more, cursing this woman that now knew him all too well; she knew exactly what she had to say and do to get what she wanted from him, and he hated it. He wondered if the Gravity Room, the food and sex were really worth it that he had to put up with the stupidity of those humans, really, the Prince had the confirmation that they were dull and pointless at each stupid remark these morons were going on about.

"I wonder what she looks like."

Vegeta's eye twitched when he heard the scar-faced idiot. There were times where he would've rather been deaf than hear the more than annoying voice of this fool; having such good hearing also had its disadvantage, he told himself.

"I'm just as curious as you, Yamcha," Bulma said. "From what Chichi told me, she's very pretty."

"I still have a hard time believing that Gohan found himself a girlfriend."

"They're just friends, Krillin," the blue-haired scientist reminded. "But it's true that, according to Chichi, it won't be long before they get together," she added.

Was it really all what they could talk about? The un-interesting love-life of Kakarot's offspring? So pathetic. Vegeta was seriously beginning to wonder what the hell he was doing here; it definitely wasn't worth it.

It was then that he sensed the Ki of said offspring approach, as well as those of his annoying younger brother, his harpy of a mother and another that was unknown to him – probably this girl those humans were talking about. He was somewhat surprised by the power of the last Ki; although insignificant when compared to his, it was however much higher than the average earthling.

Interesting, maybe he would stay, in the end.

It was incomprehensible. She who had been so excited at the idea of coming, who had prepared so much for this party, even buying a dress for the occasion. She who never cared about what others thought of her, who was always so confident, who was never afraid of anything. She, Satan Videl, was doing us a fit of shyness.

Incomprehensible.

"Videl?"

The young girl didn't move from her seat, keeping her head lowered, her eyes staring at her clenched fists, those placed on her knees. She knew it was ridiculous, that she had nothing to fear, but she really couldn't help it; she was like frozen by this shyness that, until now, had been unknown to her. She heard Gohan call her again, and she bit down on her lip.

The demi-Saiya-jin blushed slightly, scratching his cheek while looking down. He had never seen Videl like this, so shy, but he couldn't help finding it… cute. He blushed even more at what he had just thought then shook his head – this was not the time to think she was cute – even if it was true; his friend obviously had a problem, he had to support her and help her.

He and Videl were still in the Jet that had led them to Capsule Corp. Soon they landed in the garden where the party took place; his mother and brother had climbed down and he had been about to do the same when he noticed that Videl wasn't following them; turning toward her, he was surprised to note his friend's obvious shyness.

Gohan approached the girl who still hadn't moved. He crouched down at her level; he put a knee down and, hesitating a little, placed his hand on one of Videl's clenched fist. The reaction of this simple touch was immediate, although it was not what Gohan had expected - she flushed intensely, then she turned her blue eyes to the young man's onyx ones. Gohan smiled at her, and she blushed all the more, this time averting her gaze and quickly moving her hand away.

Gohan raised his brows, wondering why his friend was reacting this way when all he did was touch her hand and smile at her.

It doesn't matter, he ended up thinking. I have to help her overcome her shyness so we can get off the Jet and join the others; they must be loosing patience by now.

As if to confirm what he had just thought, his mother's voice was then heard, asking them what was taking them so long to get down.

"Just a minute!" He shouted over his shoulder, before turning all his attention back to the young girl, "Videl," he began softly. "What's wrong?" he asked with concern.

Said young woman stayed silent, avoiding his gaze.

"Videl?" He repeated.

Videl bit down on her lip again and Gohan couldn't help but find her more and more cute; however, he didn't let those thoughts distract him and continued.

"Videl, talk to me."

Still avoiding his gaze, Videl placed a lock of hair behind her ear, "Gohan I… I don't understand. I'm not like this usually, I… I don't understand."

Gohan placed his hand on one of hers again, seeing the girl's cheeks flush once again. Videl didn't move her hand away this time however and Gohan smiled.

"It's normal to be a bit shy in this situation; after all, you don't know anyone here, except from my family and me," the young man reasoned. "I would've been shy too if I had been in your place."

"But you, you're shy all the time."

Gohan laughed, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, "Yes, it's true," he said mirthfully as he continued to laugh.

Videl looked up at him, and couldn't help smiling when she saw him laughing and scratching the back of his head like he always did in this type of situation. It was impossible not to smile while seeing him like this, he was so adorable.

Seeing that she was smiling at him, Gohan stopped laughing to grin. Gohan then stood up and – his hand still holding the young crime fighter's hand – pulled her up to drag her with him.

Was it him that pulled too strong, or was it her that lost her balance? None of them knew how, but Videl landed straight into Gohan's arms which, instinctively, tightened around the teenage girl.

It was strange. Here she was, in Gohan's arms, listening to the increasingly speeding up beating of his heart while feeling her own heart racing at this accidental hug, and she did nothing to move away… neither did he, for that matter. It was what they were supposed to do, though. But why after all? They were friends, weren't they? And friends had the right to hug.

But was it really a simple hug they felt?

No, definitively not.

In that case, why weren't either of them moving to break the embrace? In the contrary; although he knew he shouldn't but couldn't help it, Gohan ran his fingers through Videl's long raven hair, burying his face in it to breathe its scent. Videl closed her eyes, relishing this feeling, the feeling of being loved.

They felt so good, here, in each other's arms. Why should they deprive themselves of this bliss?

Well, had they known what was about to follow, they might have moved away from each other sooner… because Krillin had just climbed on the Jet, quickly followed by Yamcha, both tired of waiting for the teenagers to finally decide to climb down; Gohan and Videl didn't even notice the presence of the new-comers, which was rather surprising considering the demi-Saiya-jin's special abilities; however, they were in their own little world now, completely deaf to everything else that surrounded them.

Big mistake…

The two long-time friends looked at each other, the same mischievous smirk appearing on their faces while the very same thought went through their heads.

Yes, they were going to have fun at this party. Oh yes.

"It's not what you think at all!"

Still leaning against his tree, Vegeta raised an eyebrow upon seeing Kakarot's first brat getting out of the jet hurriedly, following the midget and the scar-faced idiot, his face so red that it couldn't have been natural. The two earthlings were displaying a victorious smirk, like they had caught the hybrid doing something; seeing the desperate look on the boy's face, Vegeta knew that that was certainly the case here.

Well, as long as they stayed away from him, it didn't matter.

"You mean your girlfriend falling into your arms was an accident?" Krillin asked sarcastically, speaking loudly so that everybody heard him so as to embarrass Gohan as much as possible.

And it worked wonderfully; straight away, every eye turned to the demi-Saiya-jin who's face was soon going to explode from so much blood in it. Gohan tried to clam down nevertheless, breathing deeply a few times.

"She's not my girlfriend, Krillin. And yes, it was an accident."

"Oh really?" Yamcha said, an eyebrow raised, "and was it also by accident that you were breathing her hair?" He teased.

Gohan's face, which had pretty much recovered its natural color, flared up right away once again. The boy tried to retort something, anything, but all that got out of his mouth were unintelligible stammers; he was so embarrassed by what Krillin and Yamcha had seen in the Jet. Why on Earth did they have to turn up precisely at that moment? Gohan barely dared imagine how Videl felt right now; she who had hesitated to get off the Jet because of her sudden shyness, she certainly wasn't going to, now!

"Gohan, what is this all about? What happened in that Jet?" Chichi asked.

The teenage boy breathed in deeply before turning to his mother. She wasn't angry or anything, just a little confused by what the friends of her late husband had said. A little uncomfortable, Gohan explained himself as best as he could.

"To be honest, I'm not sure of what happened. I was pulling Videl up and moment later," he paused, not really wanting to tell this part of the story, but continued nonetheless, eyes down and cheeks pinkish, "she was in my arms." Gohan rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes still down, "I must have pulled her hand too strong I think, or it was her that lost her balance, I don't really know actually…"

"You're the one that pulled me too strong."

Everyone turned toward the Jet where the voice that just spoke was coming from. Appearing at the entrance to the jet, Videl stood with her arms crossed and brows slightly furrowed; then a light smile tugged at her lips.

"After all, you should know that I never lose my balance," she finished.

The Satan City crime-fighter scanned the group of people; some faces looked familiar to her but she didn't pay it much attention. Then, her blue eyes stopped on the boy who was constantly in her thoughts; Gohan seemed surprised for a moment, he probably didn't think that she would overcome her shyness by herself and appear like this – he should know better! Then a gentle smile came to the young man's lips, and Videl felt her heart skip a beat, her face flushing very slightly. Ordering herself to pull herself together, the teenage girl smiled back to her friend then climbed down the Jet, perfectly conscious that all eyes were on her.

Arriving in front of all these people that she didn't know, Videl lost a bit of the confidence she had recovered only moments before; she didn't know what to say before all these strangers; yet it was so evident – she needed to introduce herself of course. All she had to do was introduce herself, plain and simple, but her mind was blank, her voice caught in her throat. Nothing came out.

Gohan noticed his friend's trouble and came to her rescue straight away,

"This is Videl, a friend from high school," he explained.

It was then that a beautiful, blue-haired woman broke away from the group to take a few steps toward Videl. The breath of the latter woman got caught in her throat when she realized who it was.

"Hello, I'm Bulma Briefs; I will be your host this weekend. Nice to meet you, Videl."

"N-Nice to meet you too," Videl stammered, miraculously finding her voice back.

Smiling warmly at her young guest, the President of the Capsule Corporation then proceeded to introduce the remainder of the people there,

"And the man over there, it's Vegeta, Trunks' father." Bulma finished.

From afar, the Prince of Saiya-jins watched the human girl with the abnormally high Ki; she was very young and yet, she was as strong or stronger than the harpy who was the mother of Kakarot's brats, that woman being most probably the strongest female earthling that existed. Vegeta's curiosity was stirred, that was for sure.

Deciding that the best way to discover more about it was to question Kakarot's eldest, the Prince went toward him, and while he was at it, why not take advantage of it to spar with the boy in the Gravity Room?

"By the way, Gohan," Krillin began, "you still didn't tell us why it was that you were breathing Videl's hair in the Jet."

The two dark-haired teens blushed instantly and looked down while everyone was turning to them for explanations.

Vegeta rolled his eyes and decided, for once, to be nice and to save the brat from his embarrassing situation; he wanted to spar with him anyway – why not kill two birds with one stone?

"Gohan," he called, interrupting the boy's stammers and attracting everybody's attention on him, "come with me."

"To go where?"

It wasn't Gohan but his mother that questioned him; Vegeta scowled at her, glaring, but it left the woman with the bun unmoved, not being afraid of the man who had been, in the past, the biggest rival of her late husband in the least.

"It does not concern you, woman," Vegeta growled.

Videl frowned; who did this guy think he was, talking that way to Chichi? She was a princess, after all! She deserved more respect than that!

Hands on her hips, Videl walked toward the man, intending to teach him some manners; she was only able to take a few steps however, because an arm blocked her the way. Looking up to see whom the arm belonged to, the young girl raised her brows when she saw Gohan's serious expression, his eyes staring at the Prince.

"What do you want, Vegeta?"

The Saiya-jin Prince raised an eyebrow at the boy's almost aggressive tone and at the way he protected the girl; a smirk tugged at his lips.

"Well well… It seems like you've found yourself a mate, brat."

Gohan lost his serious expression straight away and his face took a crimson shade again while his eyes widened.

"Wh… What?"

Actually, Vegeta thought, those two idiots were rights; nagging Gohan about this girl was very entertaining. His smirk widened while he continued.

"You'd have to be blind not to see that you've chosen that girl."

Gohan breathed deeply, trying once again to calm down. Don't get in his game. He absolutely had to stay calm and not get worked up; it was just what Vegeta wanted and Gohan would not give him that pleasure.

"Stop talking nonsense and tell me what you want from me, Vegeta."

The Prince raised an eyebrow again, his smirk still present, "Nonsense, huh? We'll see if I'm talking nonsense. Anyway, I just wanted to talk to you, and take advantage of it to use the Gravity Room. What do you say?"

"Absolutely not!"

This time again, Chichi replied instead of her son. Vegeta rolled his eyes; couldn't she let her son speak for himself? It was becoming irritating.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, woman."

Videl narrowed her eyes; couldn't he talk to anyone normally?

"Hey, you!"

Vegeta turned to the girl with a raised eyebrow, looking amused, "What's it, little girl?"

"Little girl?!" Videl repeated, outraged at being called this, "I'm no–"

"Videl," Gohan interrupted her, "stop."

The young girl looked up at him with angry eyes, "Stop? Didn't you hear what he just called me? And how he talked to your mother? And you want me to stop?!"

"Yes. Please," Gohan answered seriously.

Videl was about to retort stubbornly, but Gohan's eyes stopped her. Usually so cheerful and carefree, those eyes she loved so much were now reflecting worry, almost fear.

What are you afraid of, Gohan?

Videl ended up sighing, complying reluctantly. In any case, she already hated this Vegeta guy.

Gohan smiled, thanking her, then turned to the other Saiya-jin, "Sorry Vegeta, but I'm not going to leave everyone to go and spar with you; maybe later, if you still want to."

Vegeta stared at the boy for a while, the latter maintaining his stare without batting an eyelid. Then an almost imperceptible smirk tugged very slightly at his lips. The brat really was a true Saiya-jin.

"Very well," Vegeta finally conceded. "Tonight, after this stupid party; don't be late," he demanded.

Gohan nodded, and Vegeta went back to leaning against the tree he had left a bit earlier; Vegeta could wait for this party to end for his spar and for the information about the girl.

To Be Continued…