"." Indicates speech
'.' Indicates thoughts
Disclaimer: I Don't Own DBZ
Please read and review
Last Chapter: All of a sudden she understood the full extent of what he had meant by the consequences of anger being a lot more unpleasant that what had happened today, and she rushed towards the stairwell, hoping to confront his about her revelation before classes started.
Shadows Light - Chapter 8 - A Rival's Thanks
June 1st 771 9:02am
In her mad rush to catch up with Gohan, Videl failed to recognize that there was still rain falling, and consequently the concrete roof of the school was still rather wet. At the speed she was moving at, this fact made her realization the door down from the roof was still open from Gohan's earlier exit a rather interesting situation. And as she rapidly approached the stairs leading down form the roof she realized there was no grip to help her now fast moving form slow down.
So the only option left to her was to slide straight though the door and crash down the stairs, piling right into an unsuspecting Gohan consequently causing both of them to go tumbling down the remainder of the steps before crashing to a halt in a heap of limbs on the first landing. As they both reorientated themselves, they quickly realized just how embarrassing their currant position was. Gohan was on top of Videl, his grater weight and bulk causing her to be pushed roughly against the wall. The fact that both of their hair was wet and splayed everywhere from the tumble down the stairs just added to the hilarity moment.
Gohan quickly stood up. "You know, I'm glad no one saw that. They probably would have got the wrong idea," he said with a laugh, proving that the naivety that Goku continually showed had not been passed no to his eldest son.
Videl blushed furiously, her skin turning several shades of red deeper than was supposedly possible. She tried to stand but was quickly forced down to the floor again as an excruciating pain spread through her ankle.
"Ah, crap that's not good" she said through gritted teeth.
"What's not?" replied Gohan, concern evident in his voice.
"Think the fall did something to my ankle." Videl replied.
"Do you want a hand?" She nodded and he placed his arm under hers, pulling her up and supporting her weight. She was surprisingly heavy for her size, which he quickly concluded mean that she had more muscle than was immediately apparent from her appearance. It didn't bother Gohan though; his extensive training making him used to carrying much heavier objects in gravity of up to 500g's.
Videl was surprised when he turned back up towards the roof rather than the stairs leading down to the rest of the school. "Why we going up here?"
"Well seeing as most of the school will soon know who I am from the stunt I played on the roof earlier I though I might as well take the quick route down."
"The quick route?" she asked quizzically.
"You sure you didn't bump your head, or do you still think flying is another 'Trick' which uses mirrors and cables." He replied with a Vegita like smirk
Before she could reply he jumped over the edge of the roof and free fell 9 of the 10 stories before slowing and landing softly on the ground.
"SON GOHAN! Next time you intend to jump off a 10 story building please tell me before hand!" Videl shrieked, causing him to cover his ears.
"Now all she needs is a frying pan," he muttered under his breath
"What was that?"
"Nothing Videl, Nothing. Now lets see about getting you to the nurse's office. We're already going to be late as it is." Looking at his watch he quickly realized that although he was at school 20 minutes before it started, he was still going to be late to class.
"Don't worry about that, I'll just tell the teacher what happened." Videl said, almost smiling.
"No," Gohan stated firmly "If you aren't able to walk on your ankle you should be at home resting, not at school, I'm sure I can cope with being late again" he finished, grinning as he did so. Videl looked him in the eye. Where earlier all she had seen was anger now she saw a whole range of emotions, the most dominant being concern.
"No, I'll be ok. Plus, my dad will be disappointed if I'm not there to see his 'speech' about how he beat Cell." Suddenly her inquisitive side took over again "And talking of Cell, you've got a lot of explaining to do Mr. Gold Fighter," pointing Gohan in the chest while she said this to emphasize her point, "Or everyone will know who you are, not just me; I doubt Sharpeners pride will allow him to say he got scared of a nerd."
Both of them shared a chuckle at this last statement and after a few seconds of deliberation Gohan finally said "'Ok you've got a deal. We'll talk about where and when at lunch as I don't really want to come in during the middle of one of the guest speakers."
*****
5 minutes later, Gohan and Videl walked out of the nurse's office. Videl had been allowed to stay at school but the nurse had made it clear she was not to use her ankle and appointed Gohan to help her get around. Gohan had also suggested to Videl that they stay near Erasa, as there were a few places where he couldn't help her especially as people could get the wrong ideas. She had blushed at this comment but thankfully, Gohan didn't make mention it. As they entered the classroom Gohan was forced to cover his ears as a teachers high pitched voice cut through the general murmurs and almost deafened him.
"SON GOHAN! Why are you late to my class? I have a good mind to." She was quickly cut short as Videl entered the conversation.
"Miss, Gohan was helping me. I went up to the roof to think and it started raining. As I was coming back in I slipped and sprained my ankle. Gohan saw me and helped me get to the nurse. I didn't want to miss the assemblies today, so she allowed me to stay but said that Gohan should help me walk if my ankle starts playing up again." The teacher seemed to grudgingly accept this explanation though Gohan swore he heard her whisper "I'm going to get you some day Son Gohan" under her breath. He shrugged and when up to his seat next to Videl.
As Gohan looked over at Sharpener he saw that he was visibly shaking.
"Its not that cold in here is it?" he remarked innocently, causing Videl to smile slightly at the annoying blonde's discomfort at the current situation.
Suddenly the teachers voice cut through the room again. "People, start making your way down to the main hall for the guest speakers." There was a mixture of groans and shouts of excitement as the class stood up and joined the rest of the mass of people moving through the halls.
There was complete chaos when they reached the assembly. People were running around everywhere trying to find their friends and chatting loudly as excitement took over. For a few figures in the room, the noise was almost unbearable. Gohan covered his ears and followed Videl, muttering the occasional sorry to people who ran into him or otherwise hindered his movement, as they were usually sent sprawling on the floor as they hit the moving 'brick wall'. After a few minutes of searching they finally found some seats which offered a good view of the stage but weren't too cramped together. Just as the two of them managed to get sat down the principal stepped up on to the stage and tried fruitlessly to quiten everybody down. Of course, even with the P.A. system turned up full, many people didn't hear, while most just blatantly ignored him. That was until one of the guest speakers got up onto the stage.
"SHUT UP BRATS!" Gohan cringed as he heard Vegita's voice cut through the ruckus, without any need for the aforementioned P.A. system. Everybody was silent almost immediately.
"Thank you sir" said the principal, his voice quivering slightly "Now that you're all quite, I would like to thank you for your hasty arrival today. Well, without further ado, I would like to welcome our first guest, Bulma Briefs"
There was a round of applause from all present, apart from one. Gohan was sitting, praying to Dende that no one made any remarks about Bulma's appearance, or anything else to do with her for that matter, he didn't fancy going head to head with Vegita today, least not in the middle of a school assembly. His prayers weren't answered, as several wolf whistles and other remarks were made by a number of student in the front row. Not really wanting to beat the hell out of Vegita in front of his entire school Gohan instead raised his ki level sharply as a clear warning to the Sayjin prince, gaining a look of apprehension from Vegita, as well as preventing him from killing any of the students.
"I want to make it clear that if I hear any more inappropriate remarks about my wife you will wish you hadn't uttered them." Vegita stated menacingly.
Gohan shrugged. It wasn't the best way it could have been dealt with but it was about as good as he was going to get from Vegita. Just to enforce his silent threat to Vegita he shot a piercing glare his way, which ended up with him starting a battle of wills with the Sayjin prince.
*****
Vegita slowly made his way over to Bulma who was composing herself for her speech, keeping his eyes on Gohan and meeting his glare.
"Bulma, Kakarrot's first brat is here." He said quietly.
"Let me guess, that's why you moved away from those kids. And I thought you had actually gained some self control" she responded in a quite but smug tone.
Vegita almost chuckled at that last comment, and he broke off his staring match with Gohan, not willing to risk putting his life on the line for his pride on this occasion.
At this point Bulma decided to start her speech, hoping that her chosen subject wouldn't cause Gohan too much harm.
"For all but a very small number of the people sitting here the defeat of Cell was a moment for celebration. Despite this there are some people here who suffered a great loss that day as a good friend to them was killed on that battlefield 6 years ago."
Some smart alec in the front row decided to comment. "Well then they should've left it up to the great Hercule and not relied on tricks and light shows."
Bulma cringed at this expecting retaliation. It came but not from the source she expected. Instead she watched in awe and silent appreciation as her husband walked purposely towards the front of the stage, his icy glare carefully looking over each of the students in turn, making them feel as if he was looking directly into there souls
"You people really are completely worthless fools. You take Hercule as a champion yet the truly great people of the world are passed by as you look for the loudest and most ignorant fool to name as your champion." Spoke Vegita's gruff voice, almost a whisper, but still strong enough to cut through the light mummer spreading across the auditorium at his first comment, His voice commanding respect, and the students not hesitation to give it.
What surprised Gohan was amongst the strong tone of anger and intolerance there was also the slightest hint of pity, pity for the human race as a whole, there lives so shrouded in lies and half truths they wouldn't believe the truth if it was rammed into there faces at high velocity. Vegita returned his glare back to the boy who had spoken, someone who probably had no idea of what loss felt like, and no idea of the stupidity displayed by his words.
"So, brat, what do you think makes a great man?"
The boy looked at him and then said "Someone who's big and strong." A slight cheer went up from the surrounding Jocks, but they when silent again when they saw the look of barely contained fury on Vegita face.
Vegita looked at the boy with distaste and disgust before slowly continuing. "So you say that's what you look for in a great person. Yet you worship a foolish, arrogant buffoon rather than a person who died to allow you to live? A person who was prepared to sacrifice everything for people, even though he knew that he would never be thanked, but ridiculed, because a fool said that his techniques, that he had spent all his life mastering, were tricks, because the fool wasn't skilled enough to use them." With that Vegita turned and walked to the middle of the stage and then said quietly but with barely hidden venom.
"And if any of you think yourselves deserving of such people, then the least you could do was offer a moment of silence on the day of his death." With that he turned back to the school children and stated "Trust me when I say that a being much more powerful than me stands in this hall, and I doubt they will be as forgiving as I am if you pay disrespect to this mans memory"
As he finished Vegita looked over at Gohan and nodded, signaling to both of them that the gratitude Vegita had for Gohan saving his life at the cell games was still present, along with the deep if slightly grudging respect he had gained for the Son family over his years as an inhabitant of the earth, however well it was hidden.
"That one was for you kid, and your baka father," he whispered, a rare smile spreading over his face as he said it, though it was quickly replaced by his characteristic scowl. For the one it was intended for however that was all that was needed.
Bulma stood in shock as Vegita walked quickly to the edge of the room. Quickly noting to 'thank' Vegita for his speech later, she turned back to the assembled students and prepared to finish off.
*****
"Thank you, Vegita" said Gohan with a whisper. He knew how much it took out of a person's pride to stand up and admit that your greatest rival was a truly great man, but Vegita had done it, and would gain respect from many people because of it. Gohan, at that moment knew that his father had heard all of it, he didn't know how, it was just a feeling in this gut, the same feeling that came over him whenever he felt like giving up, reminding him of what his father had strived for and how it was now his place to take up. For the first time in 7 years, on the anniversary of Cell's defeat, Gohan truly smiled.
Bulma's voice cut into his voice at that moment and he listened to her words, although he already knew what se was going to say. "As my husband has just said, I would ask you to all spare a minute of silence now, not just for those who died at the hands of Cell, but for anyone else who had died fighting to keep your lives safe."
With that a respectful silence spread over the room. Even the most stubborn students had been moved by Vegita's words and now sat in quiet remembrance of the many heroes that had fallen over the years to keep them safe.
That was until Hercule burst uninvited into the hall.
A/N: You may notice that I am using the occasional Japanese words in my writing. I'm only going to do this occasionally, mainly if I feel that the Japanese word fits into the mood better than the English would. If anyone objects to This then please say and I will try not to do it.
Disclaimer: I Don't Own DBZ
Please read and review
Last Chapter: All of a sudden she understood the full extent of what he had meant by the consequences of anger being a lot more unpleasant that what had happened today, and she rushed towards the stairwell, hoping to confront his about her revelation before classes started.
Shadows Light - Chapter 8 - A Rival's Thanks
June 1st 771 9:02am
In her mad rush to catch up with Gohan, Videl failed to recognize that there was still rain falling, and consequently the concrete roof of the school was still rather wet. At the speed she was moving at, this fact made her realization the door down from the roof was still open from Gohan's earlier exit a rather interesting situation. And as she rapidly approached the stairs leading down form the roof she realized there was no grip to help her now fast moving form slow down.
So the only option left to her was to slide straight though the door and crash down the stairs, piling right into an unsuspecting Gohan consequently causing both of them to go tumbling down the remainder of the steps before crashing to a halt in a heap of limbs on the first landing. As they both reorientated themselves, they quickly realized just how embarrassing their currant position was. Gohan was on top of Videl, his grater weight and bulk causing her to be pushed roughly against the wall. The fact that both of their hair was wet and splayed everywhere from the tumble down the stairs just added to the hilarity moment.
Gohan quickly stood up. "You know, I'm glad no one saw that. They probably would have got the wrong idea," he said with a laugh, proving that the naivety that Goku continually showed had not been passed no to his eldest son.
Videl blushed furiously, her skin turning several shades of red deeper than was supposedly possible. She tried to stand but was quickly forced down to the floor again as an excruciating pain spread through her ankle.
"Ah, crap that's not good" she said through gritted teeth.
"What's not?" replied Gohan, concern evident in his voice.
"Think the fall did something to my ankle." Videl replied.
"Do you want a hand?" She nodded and he placed his arm under hers, pulling her up and supporting her weight. She was surprisingly heavy for her size, which he quickly concluded mean that she had more muscle than was immediately apparent from her appearance. It didn't bother Gohan though; his extensive training making him used to carrying much heavier objects in gravity of up to 500g's.
Videl was surprised when he turned back up towards the roof rather than the stairs leading down to the rest of the school. "Why we going up here?"
"Well seeing as most of the school will soon know who I am from the stunt I played on the roof earlier I though I might as well take the quick route down."
"The quick route?" she asked quizzically.
"You sure you didn't bump your head, or do you still think flying is another 'Trick' which uses mirrors and cables." He replied with a Vegita like smirk
Before she could reply he jumped over the edge of the roof and free fell 9 of the 10 stories before slowing and landing softly on the ground.
"SON GOHAN! Next time you intend to jump off a 10 story building please tell me before hand!" Videl shrieked, causing him to cover his ears.
"Now all she needs is a frying pan," he muttered under his breath
"What was that?"
"Nothing Videl, Nothing. Now lets see about getting you to the nurse's office. We're already going to be late as it is." Looking at his watch he quickly realized that although he was at school 20 minutes before it started, he was still going to be late to class.
"Don't worry about that, I'll just tell the teacher what happened." Videl said, almost smiling.
"No," Gohan stated firmly "If you aren't able to walk on your ankle you should be at home resting, not at school, I'm sure I can cope with being late again" he finished, grinning as he did so. Videl looked him in the eye. Where earlier all she had seen was anger now she saw a whole range of emotions, the most dominant being concern.
"No, I'll be ok. Plus, my dad will be disappointed if I'm not there to see his 'speech' about how he beat Cell." Suddenly her inquisitive side took over again "And talking of Cell, you've got a lot of explaining to do Mr. Gold Fighter," pointing Gohan in the chest while she said this to emphasize her point, "Or everyone will know who you are, not just me; I doubt Sharpeners pride will allow him to say he got scared of a nerd."
Both of them shared a chuckle at this last statement and after a few seconds of deliberation Gohan finally said "'Ok you've got a deal. We'll talk about where and when at lunch as I don't really want to come in during the middle of one of the guest speakers."
*****
5 minutes later, Gohan and Videl walked out of the nurse's office. Videl had been allowed to stay at school but the nurse had made it clear she was not to use her ankle and appointed Gohan to help her get around. Gohan had also suggested to Videl that they stay near Erasa, as there were a few places where he couldn't help her especially as people could get the wrong ideas. She had blushed at this comment but thankfully, Gohan didn't make mention it. As they entered the classroom Gohan was forced to cover his ears as a teachers high pitched voice cut through the general murmurs and almost deafened him.
"SON GOHAN! Why are you late to my class? I have a good mind to." She was quickly cut short as Videl entered the conversation.
"Miss, Gohan was helping me. I went up to the roof to think and it started raining. As I was coming back in I slipped and sprained my ankle. Gohan saw me and helped me get to the nurse. I didn't want to miss the assemblies today, so she allowed me to stay but said that Gohan should help me walk if my ankle starts playing up again." The teacher seemed to grudgingly accept this explanation though Gohan swore he heard her whisper "I'm going to get you some day Son Gohan" under her breath. He shrugged and when up to his seat next to Videl.
As Gohan looked over at Sharpener he saw that he was visibly shaking.
"Its not that cold in here is it?" he remarked innocently, causing Videl to smile slightly at the annoying blonde's discomfort at the current situation.
Suddenly the teachers voice cut through the room again. "People, start making your way down to the main hall for the guest speakers." There was a mixture of groans and shouts of excitement as the class stood up and joined the rest of the mass of people moving through the halls.
There was complete chaos when they reached the assembly. People were running around everywhere trying to find their friends and chatting loudly as excitement took over. For a few figures in the room, the noise was almost unbearable. Gohan covered his ears and followed Videl, muttering the occasional sorry to people who ran into him or otherwise hindered his movement, as they were usually sent sprawling on the floor as they hit the moving 'brick wall'. After a few minutes of searching they finally found some seats which offered a good view of the stage but weren't too cramped together. Just as the two of them managed to get sat down the principal stepped up on to the stage and tried fruitlessly to quiten everybody down. Of course, even with the P.A. system turned up full, many people didn't hear, while most just blatantly ignored him. That was until one of the guest speakers got up onto the stage.
"SHUT UP BRATS!" Gohan cringed as he heard Vegita's voice cut through the ruckus, without any need for the aforementioned P.A. system. Everybody was silent almost immediately.
"Thank you sir" said the principal, his voice quivering slightly "Now that you're all quite, I would like to thank you for your hasty arrival today. Well, without further ado, I would like to welcome our first guest, Bulma Briefs"
There was a round of applause from all present, apart from one. Gohan was sitting, praying to Dende that no one made any remarks about Bulma's appearance, or anything else to do with her for that matter, he didn't fancy going head to head with Vegita today, least not in the middle of a school assembly. His prayers weren't answered, as several wolf whistles and other remarks were made by a number of student in the front row. Not really wanting to beat the hell out of Vegita in front of his entire school Gohan instead raised his ki level sharply as a clear warning to the Sayjin prince, gaining a look of apprehension from Vegita, as well as preventing him from killing any of the students.
"I want to make it clear that if I hear any more inappropriate remarks about my wife you will wish you hadn't uttered them." Vegita stated menacingly.
Gohan shrugged. It wasn't the best way it could have been dealt with but it was about as good as he was going to get from Vegita. Just to enforce his silent threat to Vegita he shot a piercing glare his way, which ended up with him starting a battle of wills with the Sayjin prince.
*****
Vegita slowly made his way over to Bulma who was composing herself for her speech, keeping his eyes on Gohan and meeting his glare.
"Bulma, Kakarrot's first brat is here." He said quietly.
"Let me guess, that's why you moved away from those kids. And I thought you had actually gained some self control" she responded in a quite but smug tone.
Vegita almost chuckled at that last comment, and he broke off his staring match with Gohan, not willing to risk putting his life on the line for his pride on this occasion.
At this point Bulma decided to start her speech, hoping that her chosen subject wouldn't cause Gohan too much harm.
"For all but a very small number of the people sitting here the defeat of Cell was a moment for celebration. Despite this there are some people here who suffered a great loss that day as a good friend to them was killed on that battlefield 6 years ago."
Some smart alec in the front row decided to comment. "Well then they should've left it up to the great Hercule and not relied on tricks and light shows."
Bulma cringed at this expecting retaliation. It came but not from the source she expected. Instead she watched in awe and silent appreciation as her husband walked purposely towards the front of the stage, his icy glare carefully looking over each of the students in turn, making them feel as if he was looking directly into there souls
"You people really are completely worthless fools. You take Hercule as a champion yet the truly great people of the world are passed by as you look for the loudest and most ignorant fool to name as your champion." Spoke Vegita's gruff voice, almost a whisper, but still strong enough to cut through the light mummer spreading across the auditorium at his first comment, His voice commanding respect, and the students not hesitation to give it.
What surprised Gohan was amongst the strong tone of anger and intolerance there was also the slightest hint of pity, pity for the human race as a whole, there lives so shrouded in lies and half truths they wouldn't believe the truth if it was rammed into there faces at high velocity. Vegita returned his glare back to the boy who had spoken, someone who probably had no idea of what loss felt like, and no idea of the stupidity displayed by his words.
"So, brat, what do you think makes a great man?"
The boy looked at him and then said "Someone who's big and strong." A slight cheer went up from the surrounding Jocks, but they when silent again when they saw the look of barely contained fury on Vegita face.
Vegita looked at the boy with distaste and disgust before slowly continuing. "So you say that's what you look for in a great person. Yet you worship a foolish, arrogant buffoon rather than a person who died to allow you to live? A person who was prepared to sacrifice everything for people, even though he knew that he would never be thanked, but ridiculed, because a fool said that his techniques, that he had spent all his life mastering, were tricks, because the fool wasn't skilled enough to use them." With that Vegita turned and walked to the middle of the stage and then said quietly but with barely hidden venom.
"And if any of you think yourselves deserving of such people, then the least you could do was offer a moment of silence on the day of his death." With that he turned back to the school children and stated "Trust me when I say that a being much more powerful than me stands in this hall, and I doubt they will be as forgiving as I am if you pay disrespect to this mans memory"
As he finished Vegita looked over at Gohan and nodded, signaling to both of them that the gratitude Vegita had for Gohan saving his life at the cell games was still present, along with the deep if slightly grudging respect he had gained for the Son family over his years as an inhabitant of the earth, however well it was hidden.
"That one was for you kid, and your baka father," he whispered, a rare smile spreading over his face as he said it, though it was quickly replaced by his characteristic scowl. For the one it was intended for however that was all that was needed.
Bulma stood in shock as Vegita walked quickly to the edge of the room. Quickly noting to 'thank' Vegita for his speech later, she turned back to the assembled students and prepared to finish off.
*****
"Thank you, Vegita" said Gohan with a whisper. He knew how much it took out of a person's pride to stand up and admit that your greatest rival was a truly great man, but Vegita had done it, and would gain respect from many people because of it. Gohan, at that moment knew that his father had heard all of it, he didn't know how, it was just a feeling in this gut, the same feeling that came over him whenever he felt like giving up, reminding him of what his father had strived for and how it was now his place to take up. For the first time in 7 years, on the anniversary of Cell's defeat, Gohan truly smiled.
Bulma's voice cut into his voice at that moment and he listened to her words, although he already knew what se was going to say. "As my husband has just said, I would ask you to all spare a minute of silence now, not just for those who died at the hands of Cell, but for anyone else who had died fighting to keep your lives safe."
With that a respectful silence spread over the room. Even the most stubborn students had been moved by Vegita's words and now sat in quiet remembrance of the many heroes that had fallen over the years to keep them safe.
That was until Hercule burst uninvited into the hall.
A/N: You may notice that I am using the occasional Japanese words in my writing. I'm only going to do this occasionally, mainly if I feel that the Japanese word fits into the mood better than the English would. If anyone objects to This then please say and I will try not to do it.