Tears of a Pink Balloon Part 2: This Kiss, That Kiss
By: Kei Arisugawa

The revelation stayed first in Buu's thoughts for the rest of the day. A few times he saw Mr. Satan, who would smile, wave cheerfully at him and mention how good it was to see Buu back to normal. He spent most of his day wondering what he was to do now that he knew he was in love with Mr. Satan. His employer had not shown the slightest hint that he knew anything about Buu's feelings for him. It made things much harder since Buu desperately wanted to let Mr. Satan know how he felt, but how he was going to go about doing it was a complete mystery to him.

*I want it to be special when I tell him...* Buu thought, lounging about in his room, where he had shut himself up since his talk with Mr. Satan earlier that day. He had been trying to come up with the courage to tell Mr. Satan, but he didn't seem to come up with anything he liked.

*Saying 'I love you' just doesn't seem like enough....* he thought, frowning. He had never been much for words due to his limited vocabulary, so he had always relied on his actions. *Maybe I can show him.... but how?*

His dilemma lasted into the evening and when he decided that he had gone for long enough without something to eat, Buu decided to go down to raid the fridge, giving his brain a rest.

When he reached the kitchen door, which was closed, he sniffed the air. Funny smells like something was burning were wafting out of the kitchen. Curious, he pushed open the kitchen door and gaped at the sight that greeted him

Videl was running around frantically, trying to get everything ready before Gohan arrived. Glancing over at the various pots and trays with blacken masses on them that Buu could only guess were food on them, the pink demon concluded that the cooking had been an utter disaster. Five of the steaks looked disturbingly like charcoal and the others looked so dry from overcooking that they acquired an appearance likened to a raisin. The vegetables looked even worse.

"I tried to make Ra-ta-tooi..." she explained to Buu, sheepishly. The final product of her efforts was a large lump of vegetable matter partially stuck to the bottom of the pot she had cooked it in. What she had scraped out didn't even look remotely edible.

"Want some help?" Buu asked, sweatdropping at the destroyed food. Videl nodded, looking on the verge of tears as she tried to scrub the pot that the vegetables were cooked in. When they finished washing the dishes, Videl sank into a kitchen chair, looked truly warn out and miserable.

"Miss Videl? You should probably get ready. Gohan should be here in a little while." Buu said, feeling sorry for her. She had been so excited about it and she had spent the whole day trying to prepare the dinner. *It's really a shame.* he thought, sadly.

"Maybe we can go out someplace..." Videl said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and getting up. Buu's eyes suddenly lit up as a lightbulb went on in his head and he instantly forgot why he had originally ventured down there.

"Wait, Miss Videl!" he said hastily. She looked back at him, her eyes red. "You won't have to go out to eat. I can make the dinner for you!" Buu smiled broadly at the look of utter shock mixed with joy that passed over Videl's face.

"Are you sure?? You would make the dinner??" she asked, quickly, as if to make sure that he had said what he had. Buu nodded.

"I can make it in a few minutes!" he declared, striking an overly dramatic pose. "I can change things into more then just candy~!"

Videl's eyes spilled over with tears of joy. She ran over and hugged the large pink demon tightly, startling him. Buu looked down at the small human in surprise. What in the world was she doing?

"Um…Miss Videl?" he asked. She looked up at him, smiling.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?" Buu gestured as best he could at the hug. She gave him a funny look then smiled sweetly.

"It's called a 'hug", Buu." She said. "It's a gesture of affection or gratitude." Videl gave him a quick squeeze and broke the hug. "In this case, utter gratitude."

" A gesture of affection?" he asked, making sure he had heard her correctly. She nodded and his face lit up, remembering what he had been pondering for most of the day. He had found the perfect way to show Mr. Satan how he felt! He pulled Videl into a big bear hug, lifting her off her feet and twirling them both around. After he set her down and she regained her balance, Videl chuckled.

"What was that for?" she asked, humorously. Buu grinned at her and clapped his hands.

"You helped me solve the problem that's been bugging me all day! Thank you!!"

Realization dawned on Videl's face and she gave him a genuine smile. " I'm glad I could help." She glanced at the clock. "AH!" she cried when she saw the time. "Gohan's due in half an hour! I need to get ready!" she turned to Buu. "Thanks alot! You're a lifesaver!" and with that, she dashed out of the kitchen.

Buu spent two minutes making a full 7 course mean out of the pots and pans that he and Videl had washed. When he was finished, he dashed out of the kitchen himself, determined to find Mr. Satan.

Mr. Satan was sitting in his office, flipping though an issue of 'Martial Arts Monthly'. He was smirking at the article about himself when there was a knock on the door. Quickly shoving the magazine inside one of his desk drawers, he called out "Yes? Who is it?"

"It's me..." Buu called through the door. Mr. Satan smiled, got up and went over to the door, opening it. Buu was standing outside, looking very nervous. His head was facing somewhat downward and he was fidgeting.

"Hey, Buu!" Mr. Satan said, cheerfully. "What brings you up here?"

It might have just been his imagination, but the World Martial Arts Champion could have sworn that Buu's face had become alot redder. The pink demon quickly scooted into the office as Satan shut the door.

"I...um..." Buu began, his fidgeting turning into furious wringing of his hands. "...I...need to...uh..tell you...something..." This made Satan curious.

"Really?" he asked, his interest sparked, "What do you need to tell me?"

Buu took a deep breath and gulped. He had never been so nervous in his life! He began to lose faith that his knees would support him if he kept procrastinating.

*Now or never. Now or never...*he chanted his mantra in his head in an attempt to reassure himself. *Just do it!*

Rushing foreword, he wrapped his arms around Mr. Satan and pulled him into a fierce hug.

Satan was beyond surprised by the gesture. Why did Buu suddenly want to hug him? He suspected that it might have something to do with the demon's strange behavior that day when the solution hit him like a rock to the head.

*He needs comfort!* Satan concluded, *He was probably afraid to ask for any! His problem must be really bad. Poor Buu!* he wrapped his arms around Buu in a comforting hug.

Buu took the return gesture entirely the wrong way. *H….he's responding!* the pink demon thought, excitedly. *But what do I do?? Should I stop? Should I say something or wait for him to do something???* Questions buzzed around in Buu's head like a swarm of rabid bees until he heard Mr. Satan speak.

"It's ok, Buu. I'm glad you came to me. You know you can always come to me if something is bothering you...Don't ever think that you can't come to anyone with your problems..." he looked as if he was going to break down into a bout of overly dramatic crying.

Buu, on the otherhand, looked as if he had just swallowed fecal matter. Mr. Satan had absolutely no idea of what the true meaning behind the hug. Weren't you supposed to show your feelings for someone if you hugged them? This reaction he hadn't expected at all. Buu hadn't known what to expect but it hadn't occurred to him that Mr. Satan would miss the point entirely.

*Maybe I did something wrong?* he thought as Mr. Satan broke the hug and looked at him with a river of tears pouring down his face that made the word 'drama queen' pop into Buu's mind.

"Please remember that both Videl and I will be there for you if you ever need to tell your problems to anyone! Don't be afraid to share what you think and feel with others!"

Buu sweatdropped at the dramatically tearing fighter's speech but continued listening as the object of his affection began to ramble about trusting in others and not boxing in emotions. The demon was seriously thinking that this hadn't been such a good idea after all, due to the return of the queasy feeling in his stomach.

*I've got to get out of here…* Buu frantically thought. He took a few small steps away from Mr. Satan, who still was rambling, and, without thinking, bolted from the room as fast as his legs could carry him. He heard Mr. Satan call out to him as he left. It might have been a request to stop or it might have been his name, but at this point Buu really didn't care. He needed to recharge his confidence and rethink his plan of action first.

When Buu had finally decided that he'd gotten as far away from Mr. Satan as possible, he stopped running and looked around. He had somehow found his way outside in the backyard. Noting that he really hadn't paid much attention to where he was going, he plopped down onto the grass and turned his most recent encounter with his employer over in his mind.

*I hugged him...he hugged me back....why didn't he get the message?* Buu thought, tapping his chubby cheek with a gloved finger. *I hugged him as best I could without crushing him...maybe I was supposed to do something else? Something different?* He banged his fist against the ground in frustration.

*What did I do wrong??*

The sounds of voices caught Buu's attention. He got up and snuck over to where the voices were, lowering his ki to almost nothing just in case. When he came up to where the talking was coming from, he saw two people: Videl and Gohan. He jumped up into the branches of a tree so as not to be seen as he spied on the two. Videl was looking off into the sky, which was filled with stars that evening. Buu observed that she had the same dreamy look on her face as she had had that afternoon when she spoke about Gohan. The half-Saiyen didn't look like he was enjoying himself as much as Videl was. He looked somewhat sad and guilty while he looked up at the stars with Videl. They were holding hands.

"Isn't the sky lovely, Gohan? I've always love nights like this..." Videl said in a dreamy voice. Gohan shrugged in response, his face seemed to look even grimmer.

She turned to face the half-Saiyen, her eyes shining. "Gohan...." she sounded more like she exhaled the word rather then actually saying it.

Gohan winced slightly when he heard her say his name like that. He looked down at Videl, who was looking at him like he was the most wonderful person alive. She closed her eyes and leaned foreword, pursing her lips together, expecting a kiss. Gohan bit his lip nervously and glanced around as if he was looking for a way out. He looked down at Videl, whose face was inches from his. With a forlorn look, he let her kiss him.

Buu watched in fascination, ignoring the nagging little voice in the back of his head that told him that it wasn't nice to spy on people. Videl seemed to be enjoying herself immensely, but Buu couldn't honestly apply the same for Gohan. If he didn't know any better, Buu could have sworn that the half-Saiyen looked grossed out. Just a little, but enough for it to be noticeable by any large pink demons spying from the tops of trees. W

hen the kiss ended, Gohan pulled back sharply, a look of relief washed over his face. Videl smiled, glowing with happiness and blushing to the roots of her hair.

"Um…" Gohan said, looking uncomfortable. "I…I guess I'd better get home…Mom will be worried about me."

"Oh…" Videl said, the smile melted to a badly masked frown of disappointment at the sudden announcement. "I'll see you to the door then…" She and Gohan left the backyard garden through the large double doors that Buu remembered Mr. Satan put in just so he could get into the house without trouble. When they were both gone from view, Buu jumped out of the tree, landing with a loud *THUD* . He thought about what had just happened between Videl and Gohan. Was that a surefire way to show Mr. Satan how he felt? Videl had that misty look in her eyes when she kissed Gohan, which clicked in Majin Buu's mind as a display of the affection she had for the half-Saiyen.

*Good thing she didn't see Gohan's face… * Buu thought, remembering the cringing look the demi-Saiyen had on his face. Something about that look didn't seem right. Not at that moment, anyway. Nonetheless, it had helped Buu's mind fuel with new ideas for his problems with Mr. Satan.

"Videl loves Gohan and she kissed him!" Buu deduced, excitedly. "And I love Mr. Satan! So maybe I should do that too!"

Buu's courage rushed back to him like a tidal wave. He now knew a guaranteed way to show Mr. Satan how he felt. There was no possible way he could mistake the meaning of a kiss!

*And if he does...I'll eat my cape!* Buu swore to himself, eager and determined to try his newly learned technique out on the object of his affection. *But....* the thought occurred to him, *...I'll do it tomorrow. He's probably asleep by now...*

Nodding to himself, Buu went back into the Satan mansion, feeling like a million dollars and thinking constantly of what tomorrow would bring.

TBC