"And it seems that even Satan City's very own heartthrob, Videl Satan was unable to prevent herself from being blown away by the charming good looks of the wealthy Azel Castrol! After seeing each other for the last few months, it has been reported that they are now officially in a relationship."

"I don't know about you Candice, but I certainly think that this is a match ma-" Videl pressed the off button on the remote before tossing it away in frustration as the TV shut off.

"Grr..." she grit her teeth, "when are they going to stop with all this nonsense?"

"Well it's been a few months now and they've still not let up," her blonde, bleary-eyed friend replied before trailing off in a dreamy tone. "It's not like they could've chosen a hotter guy though..."

"You've met him!" exclaimed Videl incredulously, "You know how much of a jerk that guy is."

"But sometimes being a jerk's a good thing..." said Erasa, almost lost within a fantasy world of her own. "Why don't you accept his offer to go on a date sometime, Vi? I mean I'm sure he'd take you to the best restaurant on the planet with all the money his family has."

"He could take me all the way to heaven and I wouldn't care," said Videl stubbornly. "Besides, we're rich enough to go to any place they can!"

"Actually, Cloudes Magazine says that they've almost triple your dad's net worth," informed Erasa, causing Videl's face to redden slightly.

"I still don't care," protested Videl. "Money's overrated anyway, I just want the damn press to stop speculating on my love life with this douchebag."

"You know, no matter how much or in what way you deny it, they're not going to care," said Erasa, a bored tone to her voice.

"So what?" questioned Videl, "It's not like these things don't fade after a while."

"If you feel content with waiting out the rest of the year and then having people constantly bring it back up, sure," Erasa blew on her nail gently.

"W-What..." stuttered Videl at a loss for words, before sighing slightly. "Okay then, what should I do to get them off my back?"

"Find a boyfriend."

Videl blinked a few times in rapid succession before looking at the blonde girl as though she had grown a second head. "How would that help?"

"Simple," answered Erasa, her voice picking up as a smirk began to form on her face. "You find a boyfriend, all these rumours go away, you dump your 'boyfriend' and we all live happily ever after."

"Wha-no, I'd never date someone just for something like that..." Videl massaged her temples knowing that she was nowhere near superficial enough to go along with something like that, "And besides, it's not like I'd manage to find a boyfriend anyway."

"Take it that's a 'yes', then?" Erasa's eyes shimmered, "And don't worry about the boyfriend bit, you can count on me to find one."

"Erasa," interrupted Videl, sighing as the blonde ignored her, lost in a list of potential boyfriends. "Erasa!" snapped Videl, gaining her friends attention.

"What?" asked the girl sheepishly as she grinned.

"I don't want a stripper to be my boyfriend," said Videl dryly as the blond girl deflated a little.

"Awww..." she sighed, before perking up slightly. "Wait, I think I've got it."

"Got it?" questioned Videl, unsure of what exactly the blonde girl meant.

"Yeah, got it," reaffirmed Erasa as she stared into the Satan girl's eyes. "You want to get the press off your back, right?"

"Right," nodded Videl cautiously, not having the slightest clue of where the girl intended to take this.

"Well why don't we pursue someone who's already an expert at dodging the press?" Erasa asked, going on a hunch.

"And who would that be?" queried Videl as she decided to humour her friend.

"Saiyaman, of course," said Erasa as though she'd had a stroke of genius. As Videl's face instantly paled, Erasa explained, "Think about it, people are always trying to shove recording devices into the guy's face... and plus, he can keep a secret too!"

"You can't be serious," lamented Videl. "I've had enough trouble just attempting to corner him, what makes you think that I'll even get close enough to him for starters? And that's not even taking what's under that helmet of his into account... what if he's some freaky old man?"

"You worry too much," laughed Erasa. "Besides, there's gotta be a reason that you've been trying to chase after him all this while."

"I'm still not convinced," huffed Videl. "How exactly do you expect this to work?"

"Just trust me," Erasa grinned. "Now the first step is to set up some form of a meeting with him..."

…

Videl nervously rubbed her lips together, the small amount of velvet red lipstick that coated them spreading further. Her knees were rigid yet shaking horribly at the same time while her stomach felt as though it was walking backwards across a tightrope above a flaming pit. All just for Saiyaman. The slutty dress that Erasa had pushed her to wear, the coaxing of the officers off duty to pretend that there was some sort of a crime occurring at the abandoned warehouse she was in... all just for Saiyaman.

Wobbling awkwardly over to a window in the highest pair of heels she had been able to find, Videl anxiously took a peek outside of it. There was quite a view, a horribly ugly one, but a far-reaching one, however she could see no sign of the caped crimefighter anywhere. Maybe he wasn't coming? Scolding herself for not thinking positively, Videl's gaze rose towards the dark, cloudy sky... perhaps he was somewhere amongst them, fighting his way through the light drizzle to reach the fictional hostage situation?

Resisting the urge to fiddle with her hair - Erasa had all but forced her to have it done at a salon - the Satan girl felt a twinge of guilt surface as she continued to stare outside. Was this really that good an idea, to have him come through all the rain? It would almost certainly put a damper on his mood, nobody liked the rain when they had somewhere to be, but what if he got sick just for her damn ploy? She knew that there were many things worse than attempting to seduce her co-crimefighter, who she still refused to acknowledge, but honestly... what kind of a person did that?

Videl liked to think she wasn't a bad person. Sure, she beat up the young and misguided on occasion, but generally she devoted a fair chunk of her time to putting evil doers behind bars. However, the thought of using someone for her own personal gain didn't sit well with her. Wishing that she had a bottle of water on hand, Videl gulped.

It wasn't that she had never used people before, she was quite sure that every human being had. But she'd never even attempted to do something even remotely close to what she was attempting. It went against everything she believed in, what society expected of her and her dad's wishes. And that was why, despite some small amount of guilt she would have to push to the back of her mind, she absolutely, one-hundred per cent wanted… no, needed to do it. Every time one of her knees wobbled, her excited heart beat faster. Every time her stomach felt anxious, her gut lusted for the moment even more. Every time her mind told her it wasn't a good idea, her heart pushed her forward with even more might.

Brushing her hands down her skimpy blue dress in order to straighten it out, she twiddled her thumbs as she waited. She was on her own now. Erasa had made that much clear, and there was no backing out now since she was bound to get an earful from her best friend if some kind of juicy kiss didn't occur.

The drumming in her heart increased slowly, as though it were a piece of music beginning to reach its crescendo. She took in the room around her, everything needed to be just right - anything less would mean that she would be going home empty handed tonight. The lighting was just dim enough for her to see the creamy walls that she had been leaning against mere minutes ago, but it was bright enough to almost bring a sense of alluring warmth to the place. The gentle pitter-patter of the rain outside dribbling away against the window was like a child playing on a xylophone: so inconstant but so innocently pure, whereas the room was almost drenched in the stench of the expensive perfume that Videl had put on. She hadn't been all too keen on that at first, but she'd convinced herself that it - a sixteenth birthday present from her father - would be a good finishing touch. The pig-tailed girl just hoped that her boyfriend to be liked the aroma of rich strawberries and chocolate, if not she hoped that helmet of his did a convincing job of blocking out the smell.

She felt excited, nervous for sure, but excited nonetheless. She was ready and now all she had to do was wait, then maybe she'd finally get rid of the burden on her back that had been the rich oil company owner's son. Potentially sneaking in a look at the face that was under Saiyaman's cartoonish helmet was just the icing on the cake.

Azel Castrol was one of those people that you wished you had never been unfortunate enough to meet. He was a collected young man, rather cocky too, and had a sleek aura about him - the dirty kind. His father was nice enough, she supposed, although that was only going on her own father's words and as much as she respected her father, it wasn't extremely difficult to fool him with a facade. Things hadn't been all too bad until a few years ago, back when she had hit puberty and started seeing boys in a slightly different light. As far as she had been concerned up until fifteen anyone of said gender was a pompous, ill-mannered asshole… then things had changed. Evidently they had for Azel, her somewhat good childhood acquaintance, too. And their parents, ever the observant ones, had taken it upon themselves to attempt to merge their two empires and push the two together.

Videl wasn't exactly as naive as some of the people she knew, but she was ashamed to admit that she'd been clueless about Azel's romantic advances in the first few weeks. Soon after, she had managed to snap into her senses and sought out her father to have a deep, long-winded chat about the situation. Fortunately, he immediately realised that Videl really had no intentions to pursue the relationship and decided to leave it at that.

The Castrols on the other hand… not quite. They had been milking the situation for all it was worth; with such a monopoly on the oil market Mackenzie Castrol, Azel's father, had more than a few contacts in high places within the media. Hercule did too, but freelance journalists were more than happy to discuss the latest developments in the non-existent relationship between herself and her childhood sweetheart.

Even though the window was shut, a swift breeze blew over Videl, catching her at an odd moment as she was wrapped up in her thoughts. The cool air gently blew over the back of her dress, teasing and touching her bare back and tickling her nerves as she realised what a sudden 'gust' of wind meant.

"M-Ms. V-Videl," the high-pitched voice of the dorky superhero rang out from behind her, catching her ears as goosebumps sprung across her arms. "A-Are you in need of any assistance?"

Her legs turned to jelly. The manly tenor of his voice just added all that much more to the situation, as she quivered slightly. This was it.

"Ms. Videl?" he questioned again, more insistently in the hopes of drawing out a response.

"I-I'm just fine," she whispered in a hushed tone as she slowly spun around on her heels. His cape was soaking wet, his humongous green tunic drenched and water was still slowly dribbling off his helmet. Drip, drop.

Her cheeks almost lit on fire as she turned around to fully face him, her body feeling so revealing that she may as well have been standing stark naked in the room. Total silence met her as she stared into his moist, black visor, and even though she couldn't see through it, the crime fighter knew that their eyes had locked.

At first, it was as though they were in some kind of a deadlock, neither able to even move a muscle away or toward the other for a few agonizingly long seconds, before Videl shyly threw her gaze to the ground. It was a rather cheap looking timber flooring that probably hadn't been polished for the better part of the last decade, there was no doubt that her high heels had left small indents all over it. Her burning cheeks slowly faded to a rosy pink blush that she could almost feel as his voice reverberated through the empty room.

"Y-You smell nice, Ms. Videl," he complimented, stuttering to find the right words almost as though he were on a pilgrim to find them.

"Just call me Videl," she bit down gently on her bottom lip gently in a manner that she hoped he found cute, uncaring for the small amounts of lipstick that slowly smeared itself onto the back of her pearly, white teeth.

Once again they caught themselves stuck looking the eyes of the other person - Videl had to imagine it, but that merely added more to the mystery - and Videl took a slow, but sure step forward. He grinned, the usual dorkish bravado and confidence he showed gone, as he inched forward just a little too, clearly just as nervous as she was.

"Alright," said Saiyaman, the superhero tone to his voice having vanished like a candle that had been put out. He was soft spoken, his voice much more gentle than the pigtailed girl had dared to expect, however that just flustered her even more. "You look nice, Videl," he teased with a little more confidence, his body language showing that he was well aware that he had complimented her on a different thing… why did he seem so… so… perfect all of a sudden? Drip, drop.

"I-I've been wanting to do this for a long time," she lied although a certain part of her wasn't sure if she really was.

"Have you?" his gentle, normal voice asked with childlike amusement. If her legs had been like jelly before, they were almost certainly like pudding now.

Little shrills dancing around her skin, Videl took another nervous step forward. Her perception of time had been shot out the window but that didn't stop her from feeling as slow as a turtle as she slowly reached closer to him. All of a sudden, she broke out of the trance-like state that she had fallen into as she realised that she was standing mere centimeters away from him.

His hot breath drawled across her face, smelling of the purest mint, as it created contrast with the damp atmosphere of the room and sent a flurry of emotions crashing through her body. It wasn't anything like Videl had ever felt before… all these feelings, the uneasiness in her stomach, the thumping that felt like it would break her chest, the dizzy spell floating inside her head; they all felt as though they were crashing against any opening they could find. Her breathing quickened rapidly, now almost fast enough to beat her heartbeat in a race, as she slowly eased herself forward.

For some reason, everything else didn't seem to matter anymore. Azel, Erasa, her father, the media… all she was focussed on was the mysterious man in front of her. He was nervous too, she realised as she dropped both her hands on his shoulders, but he was handling it in a mystifyingly calm manner.

Videl subconsciously entwined her fingers together behind his back, leading him with her lively cerulean irises as he almost hesitatingly reached for her hips and grasped them with two firm, gloved hands. Her mind was too clustered to think, her body too hot to move from the awkward position it was in, but that did not deter her from greeting the cold lips of Saiyaman with her own red ones.

And then it felt as though every feeling that had been building up within her for the past half an hour exploded with more strength than any bomb could. Her stomach tightened a little, almost constricting itself, as she pulled him closer, pushing her tongue to his lips with little hesitation. His mouth widened as though his lips had merely been the gate which guarded a wonderful treasure and her tongue gently met with another so warm that it would put a volcano to shame. Everything felt surreal as every single emotion that she had ever experienced was washed aside by the... amazing feeling that the simple action generated. His own steamy, hot tongue pressed back against hers with a surprising amount of strength yet in a manner so gentle it felt like her hands were being warmed by a campfire. Like two novices nervously dancing for the very first time, like two great waves far in the middle of the sea on a stormy night, their tongues crashed against each other once more with a passion so great that Videl couldn't even describe it.

...