Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Forbidden Encounter ❯ Gohan's got his mind on a date, while... ( Chapter 17 )

Disclaimer: I, Lady Valtaya still don't own anything in here… or anything else so don't sue me over this.

Forbidden Encounter

Chapter 17

The mall was like a miniature version of the city itself Gohan thought quietly. Satan City mall was overcrowded, all the shoppers were cranky, each of them seemed to want nothing more than to get home with their packages. And the delicious scents of food coming from the food court that left his stomach rumbling and his own mood rather sour, was only another reminder that things weren't the way they used to be- and they never would be again either.

Gohan sighed, he sat backwards on one of the food court chairs, resting his chin on his arm that was laid over the chair's high arched back. What was he doing here anyway? He was bored, it was dinnertime, he hadn't grabbed any more money before he had left, so he was down to ten dollars and he didn't know a single person he had seen here in the two hours he had been here so far.

"Hey." A scratchy voice said quietly. Gohan had a mind to ignore the voice, but it spoke again, this time also poking the demi Saiyan in the shoulder to get his attention. "Hey kid."

"What?" Gohan growled, but only half turned to look at the man. He was short and scrawny with a long snipe nose, dark, beady eyes and a two day beard. Gohan stood up and was about to walk away when the man when the guy's hand slid across the corner of the table silently, leaving three tiny purple pills in its wake. Gohan knew the food court security guard was due for another round any minute, so he quickly grabbed the man's offering, but he had to struggle to keep his voice low as he demanded. "What the hell are you doing?"

The man grinned. "Nothin' kid, you just look like you could use a little pick me up, that's all. These are kind of a free sample sort of thing, but I'll be down at the park on central tomorrow if you'd want some more and…"

Gohan snorted, and walked to the nearest trashcan and promptly threw them inside, he smirked at the man, daring him to object as the security guard strolled into view at that moment. "Get out of here before I tell Security what you just did, Asshole." Gohan growled, shouldering past the glaring little man.

"You shouldn't have done that."

"Shut up. Less than two weeks ago I would have beaten the crap out of you just because of what you gave me. Drugs are illegal not to mention poisonous to your body and you are giving them to kids? Could you slither any lower? Don't push me, you are lucky to be breathing. Get out of here and I'd advise you not to be at the park tomorrow or there will be cops waiting there to have a word with you."

The man left the food court hurriedly although Gohan could see that he had wanted to say something else. Gohan sighed as he moved off down the long, wide row of store fronts in the opposite direction. He wasn't really looking at the cheerful window fronts or the other shoppers and he was about to follow the curve of the doors ahead of him when he realized he was in front of the movie theaters down here, and there were several movies starting soon. He paused; looking at all the families he saw waiting in the ticket line. He wondered what the movies playing were, for there to be so many families in line. He growled at himself for thinking again of his family. Tearing his eyes away from the movie lines he noticed a tall girl with long black hair in pigtails walking with a petite, little, short haired blonde. When the girl with the pigtails turned her head and motioned toward a music store next to where he was standing, Gohan realized it was Videl.

He stared at her for a moment, half wanting to hide, the other half of him wanting to talk to her. No- he thought talk really didn't say what he wanted to do with her… and that was a little unsettling. He hadn't ever really talked to any girls before- well, besides his mom and Bulma. And suddenly his body was telling him to claim this one. He growled not really knowing what to do with his mixed up instincts. He shuddered a little too. It wasn't as if she were ugly or weird or anything, but something about her really got the attention of the Saiyan half of his body and Gohan wasn't too keen on listening to his Saiyan half these days.

"Well, well." Videl said coolly, dragging her companion over to where Gohan was still standing looking at her. "Gohan wasn't it? Have you come to the mall to shop or were you going to try your unique approach to crime prevention here too?"

Gohan blushed immediately, reminded that he had just let a drug pusher walk right out of the mall, but luckily Videl didn't seem to notice, since her blonde companion had followed her over and giggled.

"Videl," The little blonde giggled, tugging on the taller girl's arm. "You never told me how cute your fellow crime fighter is. Oh and shy too? Well, since she apparently isn't going to introduce me, hello Gohan, my name is Erasa. Videl and I both go to Orange Star High. Videl says you're new to Satan City. Can we show you around the mall?"

"Don't worry Gohan, you don't have to pay any attention to her, Erasa thinks every boy she's ever seen is cute. Her latest crush at school is Sharpener."

"That was so five minutes ago, Videl. You know perfectly well that Sharpener has always been my crush. Any since he is taking me to the dance on Friday, well I'll let you figure it out." Erasa giggled pretending to look hurt.

Gohan sighed, it wasn't as if he had anything else to do, and he couldn't deny that he did want to spend more time with Videl, even if it wasn't going to be just the two of them. The bubbly little blonde reminded him of Bulma's mom, so much so that he found himself completely at ease with the two girls. He grinned to himself watching Erasa point and giggle at everything as he got the tour of where to shop for everything at Satan City's biggest mall.

"Anyway, if you want to know who is who at school just ask, because between the two of us, Videl and I know every body." Erasa giggled taking a sip of her soda. "Oh, hey, I didn't realize we had gotten this far down this side already! That's The Store for women anyway, Foxwood Designs. I've heard Bulma Briefs likes to shop in there. Wow Videl, look at that dress! Wouldn't you love to wear that to the dance next Friday?" Erasa sighed, then she looked at the doors to another store across the corridor and smiled again. "But, my mom and I have already got this one on layaway. So come on, quit stalling, what are you going to wear, Videl?" Erasa prodded for the fifth time since Gohan had started following them.

"I-Erasa I'm not sure I'm going."

"Videl! You know you can't just skip the Prom!"

"Well, I don't exactly have a date either, do I?" Videl grunted.

"Maybe you should've tried saying yes to one of them when the five cutest boys in school ask you out!" Erasa sighed. "Hey wait a minute! Gohan you don't have a date either yet, right? Well, you could go to the Prom on Friday with Videl!"

Gohan hadn't really been listening to Erasa's chattering since they had passed the six jewelry stores all in a row halfway down the wing the theaters were on. Right now he was looking at the pizza stand he could see at the very edge of the food court, and his stomach was about to start growling loudly. He knew he'd have to go home soon even if it was just to eat…The three of them had bought sodas but the two girls had said they weren't hungry yet and he knew they'd think it was weird if they saw how much he'd eat. But he was shaken out of his little pizza induced trance as he heard Erasa say his name. "What??"

"You and Videl should go to the dance together on Friday next week! It'll be great! Sharpener wants to rent a limo! Daddy told Sharpener it's ok if he takes me to the dance in it as long as we have another couple there with us!"

Gohan gasped, trying to force himself not to back away from the bubbly blonde. "Uh, Erasa I don't know if that's a good idea… I'd have to ask my mom and I think we have plans already."

Videl nodded, desperately trying to think of an excuse herself, but Erasa just giggled. "Like what could be more important than going to the dance?" Erasa laughed. "Come on, I've seen the way you two look at each other when you think I'm not watching. Admit it, you're both a little nervous, but it does sound fun, doesn't it? Of course it does! Come on! It'll be just the four of us, and we'll have a great time! Oh! And Videl you have got to see this mag I bought yesterday! It has dozens of styles for long hair in it, and lots of ideas for short hair like mine too! We are going to look so gorgeous, especially you. And I know that, Videl because we are going to get you an incredible dress and I don't know what one yet, but I know it won't look anything like that outfit you're wearing now."

"Erasa!" Videl growled, looking down at her long tee shirt and the biker shorts underneath, "What exactly is wrong with this outfit?"

"Nothing dear, except that we are juniors in High School now and we both know you have a fantastic figure under that ridiculously long shirt. You've definitely got it, you should show it off, maybe then you wouldn't be the only girl in our entire class that hasn't been kissed yet." Erasa giggled. "Oh wonderful, look at these!" Erasa gushed, grabbing Videl's arm to drag her over to a cosmetic counter. I think that this lip stick, that foundation, these eye shadows and this mascara would look best on you. Oh, come on, Videl, hold still you know, I was only kidding about that kiss thing."

The lady behind the cosmetic counter paused in talking to another customer to admire Erasa's work on Videl's already pretty face. "Very nice, you could be a professional someday."

"Thanks, alright Gohan, I need your opinion…" Erasa giggled, as she put the finishing touches on her best friend's lightly blushing cheeks, she tried to turn her but couldn't. "Ok Videl-that means we turn this way, come on just turn so he can see you."

"No! Why did I let you talk me into coming to the mall with you today? This is so embarrassing."

"Why?" Erasa asked her expression deeply puzzled. "I'd say you look like one of these girls on these makeup ads, but actually you look prettier than they are! I promise I'm almost done I just want to ask Gohan if he thinks this lip liner or that one is prettier."

Gohan was about to just kind of shrug, and try to think of an excuse to leave, but he made the mistake of looking right at Videl instead, as she finally turned around, and all he could say was, "Wow."

Erasa looked smug as she dangled a pair of pink pencils in front of Videl's expression which looked like a cross between confused and annoyed. "Ok Gohan dear, which color, Frosted Rose or Raspberries and Cream?"

"I don't know, why don't you just decide?"

"Boys," Erasa groaned, then turned her attention back to Videl and smirked. "Actually, looking at your natural skin tone and your dark hair… I think we'll go with Rose Dust. Oh yeah, that looks hot, check out that mirror Videl. Now we'll just take your hair down and fluff it up a little… My holy Kami, you know I'd be really jealous right now but I'm feeling a little too smug for that at the moment."

"I hate to do this, but I should probably be going home." Gohan stammered, trying not to look at Videl again. He still felt silly, like he didn't know what to say. He never figured she'd actually need make up, she had already seemed pretty to him before. Seeing her all fancy and with her long hair framing her face like that. Her eyes shimmered like the tanzanite crystals Erasa had marveled about as they had passed the jewelry stores. Blue and purple highlights danced though her eyes, shifting with the light and her every move. He sighed, again wanting to compliment her, but not knowing how to do it gracefully.

"You know, you two, if this wasn't so adorably cute, how you two just don't quite know what to say to each other, I'd be feeling really disappointed right now. Now then Gohan would you like to go to the junior prom with Videl, on Friday night?"

"Well, I don't know anyone else that will be there and I'll have to ask my mom before I decide for sure and I don't know even what I'm supposed to wear, but… uh yeah." He said slowly, staring at the floor, not quite able to look in Videl's eyes again.

"Well, this is wonderful! Come on Videl, do you want to go to the dance with Gohan?"

Videl blushed and giggled, but finally managed to nod. "Sure but we'll have to tell my dad that we are only going as friends because he will totally freak out if he thinks it's like a real date. I mean, I think you are really nice and everything, but my dad is very over protective. Gohan, I just don't want my father to think he has anything to worry about, do you understand?"

Gohan nodded whole heartedly. No one alive had a more protective parent than he mother! Not that it could have been a surprise with all the things that had happened to him since he was four years old and Radditz had kidnapped him. He still wasn't sure how to tell his mother that he was going to the prom on Friday... With a girl he shouldn't actually even know yet because he hadn't actually had his first day of school yet. He growled deciding he would wait and tell her after school tomorrow. He couldn't remember the last time he had actually talked to his mom without either of them yelling and himself leaving the house… Whatever he said to her he knew he would have to do it carefully. Chichi was usually crying or on the verge of it whenever he saw her lately and since he didn't know how to help her but he hated to see her that way he had been trying to avoid her. But avoiding her was hard because that also meant avoiding Goten, and more than anyone else in the world, he loved his little brother- it just hurt to be around him because there was so much of his dad in Goten…

"Gohan, are you alright?" Videl asked putting a hand on his shoulder, which distracted him from his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah I'm fine but things are kind of… bad at my house… I haven't been there much lately because my mom and I fight all the time and I haven't seen my dad in what seems like ages…" Gohan sighed, then he glanced at a clock in a near by store. "I'm just not sure how I'll tell mom I'm going to the dance I guess without turning it into another fight."

Videl nodded slowly, she knew what it was like only having one parent, since her mom had died when she was little. "Well, if you need someone to talk to, I uh, you can talk to me."

Erasa giggled and came strolling back over with a big soft pretzel and a cup of cheese sauce. "You two are adorable. Hey Gohan if you need some ideas for what to wear on Friday, over there is the Tux Shop. I already know that Videl's prom dress will be something in a blue-violet color because it will show off her eyes, tell the person working that your date will be wearing a bold blue-violet sort of thing and the clerk will know what to do. So do you really want to leave, Gohan?"

"No, but I should. I have only been home once since Friday night and if school starts tomorrow…"

"Wow, sounds like things with your mom are a real mess." Erasa gasped. "And I thought my dad and I had problems… Look, if you need some place to crash for a few days, I've been staying with my older brother lately at his apartment downtown and…"

"Thanks Erasa, but I'll be fine at home." Gohan interrupted, quickly.

"Alright, but if you change your mind, let me give you my brother's address." Before he could protest, Erasa had given him a piece of her pretzel napkin with an address on it, and he sighed but put it into his pocket. "Well, good luck with your mom Gohan, so we'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Yeah! See you tomorrow!" Videl said quietly, still blushing in the make-up Erasa had put on her. She certainly looked good in it though! Gohan couldn't help grinning back at her as he headed out the doors.

As he flew home to the little house that he hated, his thoughts remained with Videl and the dance on Friday. He was already kind of nervous about school, but he had never been to a dance before… Would it be fun he wondered or would it be boring? He sighed as he landed in the tiny yard, he was about to use his Ki sensing abilities to find out where his mom was when she spoke, for the first time since the awful morning he had seen that his father had betrayed them, Chichi wasn't yelling at him. "Gohan, I know things have been hard around here lately... I feel like my insides have been torn out and I know you do too. Gohan I- I think we need to talk inside. Please, this is really hard for me, as your mom I'm really worried about you. I love you, and I hope with everything that has happened, that you still know that."

Gohan hesitated, then followed Chichi inside, as the door closed, Gohan braced himself for his mom to start yelling at him, but she didn't. Instead, she walked into the tiny kitchen and sank into a chair at the kitchen table and motioned toward the food that was on the table. "Gohan, I know why you left this afternoon. Trunks is a smart kid, he knew he sensed you and your father fighting last night. Of course he thought more androids had attacked... but I think you and I both know that isn't what happened, don't we?"

Gohan could see how hard she was trying to stay calm. He sighed, and looked away from his plate, he hadn't touched much of it yet, but his apatite was leaving him anyway. "Mom I…just wanted to talk to him, but when she came to the door every instinct I have just I don't know snapped and before I knew what happened I was in super saiyan and she was unconscious... I wasn't thinking and the next thing I knew I was taunting dad… I wanted to hurt him but I wasn't strong enough. If Vegeta hadn't gotten there when he did- I'd…"

"I know. I talked to Bulma on the phone for two hours this afternoon. She told me what happened, what is frightening to me; Gohan, is that I thought you knew better than to use your powers against normal humans. I know how you feel, I'd like to kill Goku's little whatever she is too but there are other ways besides fighting. I have decided Goku and I are getting a divorce. I want full custody of you and Goten. I have already talked to a lawyer, and he says that with the circumstances like your father being a fighter and leaving things the way he did that I have a good chance of winning the case against him."

"W-what?? You're getting a divorce?" Gohan scrambled out of his chair- up until now, even as angry as he had been he had still kept alive the tiny glimmer of hope that his parents might be able to get back together… "M-mom you can't! I mean what about…"

Chichi shook her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Gohan but there's just no other way. Goku and I just… aren't in love the way we were when we had you. I have known for a long time that we-"

"You've known what? That my whole life was a mistake?? That's what Vegeta said! That I shouldn't even have been born because you and Dad weren't bonded?" Gohan demanded. "What about Goten was he just a mistake too? Maybe if you weren't such a bitch about every little thing maybe dad would at least have said goodbye to Goten and I. Does it matter to you at all how Goten and I feel? Damn it mom if you knew that you shouldn't be together then… then why? Why did you stay so long?"

"Gohan wait!! I didn't mean that you were a mistake… I just knew that your father and I weren't meant to stay together. You are the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me! You and Goten are my life! I know that you miss your father and I know that he'll come back to see you and Goten! I just…"

For a moment all Gohan could do was stare at her, and then he interrupted with a low growl. "Miss him?" Gohan was simply incredulous. "How could I possibly miss him? Everything he ever told us was a lie! He betrayed us! And he kept it a secret for a year! I don't miss him! I hope I never see him again! He was going to kill me last night, and if it hadn't been for Vegeta, he would have!"

"I know you don't mean that! I know that you're angry and you're hurt but you don't hate your father. I also know he loves you and Goten, I want custody of you boys but I wouldn't try to take visitation from him…"

"I don't want to see him… I just can't believe you want a divorce- It just seems so final this way… I thought you loved him."

"I did!! But as you said he lied to me- he lied to all of us and the Goku I loved would never have done that!!" Chichi sighed. "I still can't believe it, but I just can't keep going through these misadventures with a man that hasn't ever loved me the way that I loved him!! I want out this time!! I just can't take one more intergalactic space pirate or one more android attack or another trip to another planet or try to tell myself that I can wait a year to see my husband when he is resurrected again! I'm just a woman with a family- that's all I've ever wanted to be- and with Goku things were never normal!! Even when times were good, they were never normal."

Gohan stared at her for a moment. He hadn't ever thought of their lives that way- but that was really all he had ever wanted too- was just to have a normal family. He just wanted to have two parents that he could look up to and know that they would always be there for each other, and for him. He hadn't ever realized before how hard it must have been on his mother when they were off fighting all those times or when he had been kidnapped and forced to fight at such a young age. He didn't like fighting- even though it was nice to hang out with his dad he hadn't ever liked to train either. "I have to get up for school in the morning- I better go to bed."

"Wait! Don't you want to finish your supper?"

Gohan shook his head quietly. "No."

"I suppose by now it must be cold anyway… ok. Good night, Gohan." Chichi said softly, but the boy hardly nodded as he went into the room he shared with his brother, and quietly shut the door.

Author note… Honestly, I feel just terrible doing this to poor Gohan… but infidelity happens in life sometimes, and when it does, it affects everyone in the family. By the way just because I am writing this, does not mean I'm pro adultery or anything, it just means that in here; I see one of my favorite stories I've ever read, one that needs to be finished because it has a powerful story that needs to be told. Writing things that are hard for us is the way we learn. You can't just write happy things all the time because characters are developed and defined by the way they handle adversity.

By the way… Erasa in here was modeled after my best friend when I was in tenth grade, more so than the girl from the show.

Now then… I know some of you are reading this!! PLEASE review. Also, feel free to check out the sequel to this story. It is called Saiyans Return, and it is also posted here in my gallery!! ^_^