Disclaimer: If I owned would I be writing fanfiction? I think not.

Title: Blame

Author: The Unconventional Lady

Summary: As he observes Gohan's transformation during the Cell Games, Piccolo reflects on the effect he and his biggest rival have had on the boy and comes to a conclusion…One Shot.

-Begin-

Gohan.

To say that he's just my student would be writing off my relationship with him. That is something I would never do. Not after all we've been through together.

To say that he's just my dearest friend isn't enough either. It doesn't describe the depth of the feelings I have for him. He is the most important person in my life. I gave my life for him. I would do it again.

In all honesty, I don't know what Son Gohan is to me. I don't think there is a word that can label a relationship such as ours.

But now, staring down at him as he advances on the blubbering and quivering Cell, I am suddenly terrified of what I have become to him.

I glance at Goku. His emerald eyes, for the first time since Gohan had begun his fight with the mechanical monster, were filled with worry. His brow began to crease when his son delivered a crushing blow to the android and then failed to follow through…failed to finally destroy Cell.

Years ago…back before I began to train him, Gohan never would have behaved like this. He would have recognized the gravity of the situation, recognized how dangerous it was to drag this out any longer, and he would have destroyed the monster before him without hesitation. Hell, he probably would have done it even as late in his history as Namek. So why…?

Gohan was smirking now, watching Cell struggle to his feet, clutching at his stomach with frantic hands. That was not a look that belonged on his face…it was not a look that belonged on any child's face. What had happened to the boy I had met all those years ago? What had happened to the boy who sobbed when I barely batted him with my fist?

His eyes were colder than I had ever seen them. His face, once round and open, had hardened…the lines sharpened. Even his stance was more aggressive, more dangerous.

What had happened to MY Gohan?!

A sick feeling rose in my stomach. Gohan had been so innocent as a child. He had hated the thought of fighting and violence. It wouldn't surprise me if he had never harmed any creature before the battle with Raditz. He had been the definition of purity.

That is, until I came along.

I had seen Gohan's power and I had craved it. I knew, that if I trained him, that if I corrupted him, I could use him to take over the world I so despised. And I had been cruel, even after he started to break down the walls around my heart. I had hardened him even after I decided that maybe world domination wasn't worth it, wasn't all it was cracked up to be. And I had allowed myself to become his mentor, had knowingly become the dominant male influence in his life when Goku had disappeared into space for all those years. And now here he was, the boy who had become a man under my iron fist, under my influence.



He was being cruel. There was no other word for it. Yes, it was Cell he was so mercilessly torturing, but even he deserved a quicker, less humiliating death than this. It was clear that Gohan knew exactly how monstrous, how Cell-like he was being. It was also clear that he didn't care.

Sweet, kind, pure, innocent Gohan had slowly turned into a demi-saiyan version of me.

I would have tortured Cell like this, regardless of the moral views of my fellow warriors. They would have told me to finish him, same as they were telling Gohan now, and I would have ignored their words. I would have that sadistic grin plastered on my face. I would be enjoying Cell's screams.

Gohan was turning into a monster and I was the one to blame.

Suddenly Goku was shouting. He told his only son that we all saw his strength, that we knew what he was capable of, that it was time to finish it. And Gohan, his eyes narrowed, turned to fix his father in a seething stare.

"No."

Even knowing that I had turned Gohan into a mini version of myself could not have prepared me for that. I loved Gohan and therefore could not deny him anything. And from the moment I met him, I had known that Gohan had felt the same way about his father. And yet here he was, deliberately disobeying a direct order from Goku and looking at him with the darkest…most dangerous look in his eyes…no it couldn't be…I refused to believe what I saw radiating from Gohan's stare.

Hatred.

I had seen Gohan angry…I had seen him enraged enough to kill. I had seen him scream words of loathing at some of the most vile scum in the universe and attack them with a fury unlike any I had ever known. But never in all the years I'd known him had I seen that look on Gohan's face.



And then it hit me.

This display the demi-saiyan was putting on, this torture he seemed to be enjoying so much…it was all a façade. Looking into those hate filled eyes I could see it, it was written all over his face some of the ugliest black letters I had ever seen. He hated what he was doing even more than the android he was doing it to. It was tearing up his already delicate soul. He was so full of self loathing at that moment I was surprised he wasn't self destructing on the spot. Everything about the situation made him sick.

And it was clear it wasn't me he blamed for it, it was clear he didn't fault me for the catastrophic damage to his soul.

No, the violent, angry, hate filled look was directed at the man next to me.

He blamed his father.

-Fin-

…Hmmm. That didn't turn out quite the way I expected. For me the ending was too abrupt. I may do a sequel, from Goku's pov, about his decision to give his life and the reasons he didn't voice at the time. Let me know if you think it's a good idea.