Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ or any of its characters.

That Night

Gohan collapsed on his couch and rubbed his temples. How had things gone so wrong? First, Krillin had somehow become his gym teacher for the foreseeable future—apparently 18 had forced him to get a job to bring in some money. Not only did he make it clear to Videl and his class that he knew Gohan, but he also had tried to convince Gohan to do a 'demonstration.' It had taken a fair bit of persuasion and a few promises of information to dissuade him. Then, he had been partnered with the one girl most intent on discovering his secrets. To top it all off, he had managed to unwittingly agree to a date with her, as Krillin had informed him afterwards. He knew next to nothing about dating, but what little he did know made him sure that it would make everything a whole lot more complicated.

Not that the thought of a date with Videl was entirely disagreeable. Indeed, it aroused a violent storm of anxiety, excitement, and longing, just like when he had found himself gazing into her eyes.

Her eyes—those vast, shimmering pools of radiant blue, enticing him to enter their mysterious depths. For what seemed like an eternity he had stared into the glimmering spheres, unable to look away. One moment he saw a turbulent whirlpool of sorrow and pain that were so much like his own. At the center was a dark abyss that threatened to consume him. The next, it was as if the sun had dawned and the storm had died. Light sparkled on a calm ocean as peace and contentment filled the shining, cerulean orbs and cascaded into him, overwhelming him with the sheer force.

When Gohan finally forced himself to look away, he had felt a sense of loneliness return to him, something he had not realized he had been carrying.

No, a date with Videl was not disagreeable at all. And that was the problem.

This girl had the ability to break down all the barriers on his emotions that he had carefully erected over the years. That was dangerous. They were the only thing keeping him sane. Without them, the nightmares would return in full force. He was sure of it.

Given his unstable state, Gohan forewent his usual routine of homework and studying to spend the afternoon in meditation. His control had been shaken. He needed to reestablish it and strengthen it. He slowed his breath to a slow, peaceful pace. With each release of breath, he imagined he was expelling one of the emotions he sought to restrain. He refused to be ruled by such fickle things.

Never again would he allow anyone to be hurt because he gave in to rage or pride. He would not make the same mistake twice. Nor would he give himself to grieving. The pain was too great. He would be useless to anyone if he was incapacitated or driven to insanity by the nightmares or mere sleep deprivation.

That was why he had moved to Satan City. That was why he gave up fighting and training. The only solution he had seen was to start new. All his family and friends simply cared too much, and he cared too much about them. Their presence constantly reminded him of his failure. Training fed his pride and brought back painful memories of training with his father. He needed to humble himself, so he became an ordinary kid. The ki suppressor was meant to help with this. It suppressed his strength and with it, hopefully, the pride and arrogance that had forced Goku to sacrifice himself. He had stripped himself of strength, family, and home. In Satan City, he could maintain a level head and work to forget the past.

Or, at least, that had been the plan. Videl was throwing a monkey wrench into things. He had not counted on dealing with potential romance. Growing up with essentially no contact with other girls of his age, it had never occurred to him. What little he knew was nothing but theory. He had heard a bit about dating and relationships, but never experienced it. He didn't know what to expect.

One thing he knew, however. He could not afford to get emotionally attached to Videl. For one thing, she was all too determined to find out all his secrets, which would not end well. But more important was her effect on him. If he allowed her to get too close, he worried what would happen—what kind of tricks, twists, turns, and tumbles his mind and heart would do. It was doubtful he would come out unscathed.

As all these reflections bounded around in Gohan's head, it took far longer than normal to bring himself under control. But eventually he felt at peace again, or at least as peaceful as he could be under the circumstances. With that done, he was free to eat a quick meal and finish all his necessary homework. He went to bed early, unwilling to face Krillin that night. He would talk to him tomorrow at school.

What was his world coming to?

In the vast catacombs of Satan Mansion, Videl lay on her plush bed, exhausted from the marathon shopping trip Erasa had dragged her through. Apparently, it was necessary to visit every store in the mall at least once in order to buy a single outfit. How that made sense, Videl did not know, but Erasa was Erasa.

Now, happy to be home in her own room, she had time to relive the day's events. They mainly centered around Gohan.

She couldn't believe she had asked Son Gohan out on a date. She couldn't believe he had accepted so willingly. She couldn't believe she was actually going through with this.

She and Gohan were going on a date. A flutter ran through her stomach. Was she excited about this? The idea repulsed her. How could she be excited to go on a date with a nerd who refused to tell her anything about himself? Then again, those few seconds when their eyes had met…never had she felt so drawn to another individual before. It was as if in that moment he understood her better than anyone else in the world, yet no words had been exchanged. It was ridiculous…yet couldn't help but imagine what it would feel like for him to hold her in his arms, to caress her face gently and whisper words of comfort.

Videl jumped out of her bed, horrified by that train of thought.

No, no, no, no, NO, NO, NOO! She screamed to herself in her mind.

She immediately rushed down to their in-house gym. The workout that followed was long and intense. She didn't know how long she ran or how many times she had worked over the punching bag. There was no objective other than to physically beat thoughts of liking Gohan out of her brain. No, she should not and could not like Gohan.

Come on, Videl, get a grip! Her assault on the imaginary enemy was vicious. Boys are trouble. Plus, you don't know anything about this guy. You can't let a few stupid seconds of looking in his eyes shake you. He's keeping secrets for a reason. He's probably just like all the others. They all just want to get close to me to use me as some sort of sick trophy or to meet my father.

One last power kick to the worn-out bag sent it flying back a good ways, rattling the chain violently as it settled back into place. She needed to figure out that boy. That had to be her top priority, above everything else. Until she knew for sure who he was and what he wanted, she could not trust him.

A beat Videl returned to her room with new resolve. First, she headed into the bathroom for a shower. It felt good to clean up after a particularly sweaty workout. As the warm water beat into her skin, it relieved some of the pent-up stress from the last couple days. By the time she was done, she was relaxed enough to focus and think calmly.

Her mission firmly established in her head, she went to her computer to reexamine what had happened during gym. A fighter who was seemingly stronger than her knew and seemed to respect Gohan. That was suspicious. How did the two know each other?

She launched a search on Krillin and to her confusion found almost nothing. He existed—he had a birth certificate and driver's license—but there was no information about his place of residence. Even more bizarrely, there was not record of him having competed in the World Martial Arts Tournament even once, let alone three times. In fact, all records of three of the tournaments—the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd—seemed to have been lost. She could not find a list of contestants and winners anywhere. There were no video, no sound bites, no newspaper articles. They obviously happened, but there was no record at all of what happened.

This meant that she would have to grill either Krillin or Gohan for information, since they were the only two people that she knew could help. But she was getting really annoyed at all Gohan's dodging. He was determined not to let slip anything important. Krillin didn't seem nearly so secretive. Maybe he would tell her what she wanted to know—both about the tournaments and about Gohan. If that failed, she always had her death glare. It may not have worked on Gohan, but he had to be the exception to the rule.

That was it! If she couldn't get anything straight from Gohan, she would go through his friends and family, starting with Krillin. After all, didn't he say his family lived in…blast it, she couldn't remember. It was one of the remote areas with almost no inhabitants. If she could just remember, she could go there and meet his family. There couldn't be many houses out there. If she had enough time, she was sure that she could find it and talk to them. She could be very persuasive, and she was determined to uncover who Gohan was. If only she could remember!

Wait! Videl's mind turned back to Friday. She could get the information straight from the horse's mouth without making him suspicious. It wasn't going to be a real date, she reasoned, but more like an undercover reconnaissance mission. Instead of grilling him for answers, she would try to lure him into revealing even more about himself and who he knew. All she needed were the area where his family lived and maybe a few names. After that, she was certain the rest would fall in place.

Then again, wasn't that awfully mean to manipulate someone like that? Sure, he had his secrets, but using the pretext of a date to uncover them…it just sounded wrong. Then again, it was just one date, she reasoned. Gohan couldn't expect much of that. Nothing bad could come of it.

Besides she was going on this date because Erasa forced her to, and there was nothing wrong about using it to find out about Gohan. After all, wasn't that the point of a date, to get to know each other? She was just going about it in a roundabout fashion. It was completely normal.

At least that's what she told herself.