Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ!
Note: This is just a one shot story I wrote at 3 in the morning. I don't know much about chicken pox- it's been many years since I had them. I got the idea from the mosquito bites I have. Thought it might make a nice story.
Chicken Pox
Piccolo watched the pyramid float in mid air.
The saiyan's were coming in 6 months and all Piccolo could do was wonder if they would be ready. Yes, he was doing everything he could to become stronger, but he wondered about all the others. The bald man, Krillin had said he would be training for the upcoming battle. Piccolo also guessed that the three eyed man was training with his clown friend somewhere on the planet, as was the man with the scars on his face.
His thoughts then turned to Goku. He knew this man was training as hard as he could in other world as we speak.
Goku had surprised Piccolo. First, how much his strength had grown over the years of peace and second, how much he had matured. Piccolo had to admit that he was a little shocked to find out that Goku had a son. He had watched Goku try to protect his son on that small island before Radditz, Goku's brother, had taken him away. Piccolo had then joined forces with Goku to take down the large saiyan.
Piccolo and Goku fought hard to defeat Radditz but it was not an easy task. The man was much faster than the both of them. In the end, Piccolo had to shoot his special beam cannon through both Radditz and Goku, killing them both.
He had then taken Gohan, Goku's son, for some training after witnessing his power. He did not care the boy was very young. He had power and they needed it to fight the saiyan's.
There were times when he wondered if it was a waste of time, especially the first couple days when the boy somehow managed to get himself stuck on a large mountain. Piccolo still did not know exactly how he had gotten there and neither did the boy. More trouble came when the boy couldn't get himself down. It was these moments where Piccolo was going to give up on the boy. He was just a mere child of four years old and he found himself questioning whether or not the boy was too young.
A couple days later, Piccolo had returned to see if the boy was off the cliff yet and was met with an unpleasant surprise. He had watched Gohan turn into a giant ape and begin trashing his surroundings. It was after Piccolo had destroyed the moon that he knew this boy was going to be useful in one way or another, and he decided he would continue to train him.
After about a week, Piccolo saw that Gohan was getting the hang of living in the wilderness and decided he didn't need to watch over him anymore.
That was months ago and Piccolo hadn't seen the boy since. He had stopped checking his ki and had been concentrating on his own training. He suddenly wondered if the boy was still alive. He focused his mind on the island that Piccolo had left Gohan on. After searching the island, he finally found Gohan's ki signature. He let out a frustrated groan when he discovered that the boy's ki was wavering and was very low.
"I better go see what he's doing" Piccolo said to himself, annoyed that his training was being interrupted.
He flew to the island and quickly found Gohan walking slowly through the many trees, heading towards a mountain. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his sword was strapped onto his bare back.
When Piccolo found the child, he was confused at what he saw. The boy was scratching himself like crazy. He was even rubbing his back against trees and rocks as he passed them in order to reach certain areas on his back that his hands could not reach.
Piccolo's first thought was that Gohan had simply come across some poison ivy but he quickly dismissed that thought when he realized that poison ivy would not weaken your ki.
He flew down and hovered right in front of Gohan, who looked up at him with a surprised face.
"What are you doing here Piccolo?" the young boy asked as he scratched his arms. His voice sounded weak and tired. Piccolo just watched as the boy scratched his stomach with one hand while the other scratched his cheek. He was panting slightly as though he had been running.
He had never seen this before. Little Gohan was covered in little red spots. As far as Piccolo knew, this was not caused by any type of plant; poison ivy left a rash, not spots.
"Why are you covered in spots Gohan?" Piccolo asked the child.
"I don't know, but they really itch!" The boy explained as he rubbed his back on a tree.
"Where is your shirt?" Piccolo asked.
"I left it in the cave," Gohan said simply, "I'm really hot!" He sat down on the floor. He then looked up to Piccolo with his big black eyes, tears threatening to fall. "Please Piccolo, make the itching go away". Piccolo could tell the boy was in pain.
"Please!" Gohan pleaded.
"What am I supposed to do?" Piccolo asked with an edge in his voice. He didn't know what was going on, how was he supposed to do anything?
"You can take me home and mom can help" Gohan said hopefully.
"You're in training kid, you're not going home" Piccolo stated angrily. Gohan had better not be doing this just to go home.
"Well you could go and ask my mom what's going on and how to make the itching stop" Gohan provided another option.
"I'm not talking to your mother kid. She'd probably torture me until I brought you home" He watches as Gohan began scratching both his legs through his pants. He made a small sob that proved to Piccolo that he was hurting.
Something inside of Piccolo had changed and he knew it. He was finding it hard to watch the boy as he tried not to cry as he continued to scratch. He wanted to help Gohan but this was something he had never seen before.
"This must be some sort of human thing," Piccolo stated, "or maybe a saiyan thing."
"Maybe Bulma or Krillin or someone could help" Gohan stated as he remembered the people he had met when he went to Master Roshi's house.
Piccolo didn't say anything. Gohan stood up from the ground and clenched his fist at his sides, fighting the urge to scratch. Piccolo looked down at him.
"Could you go ask them?" Gohan pleaded. "I promise to train really hard. Just make the itching go away," Gohan had given up on not scratching and his hands shot up to his neck as he started to scratch again. "Pleeeease!"
Piccolo sighed. The boy was clearly in pain.
"Fine, I will find one of them and ask them what's going on." Piccolo said. A small smile appeared on Gohan's face. "Wait here. And stop scratching, you're making your skin raw" he added.
Piccolo flew into the air and hovered above the island trying to find the ki signature of one of Goku's friends. He soon found all of them, Krillin, Yamcha and Tien, all in one place, high above the earth.
After a while, Piccolo could finally see the lookout. He was floating above it, observing what they were all doing. The woman, Bulma, was also there with a jet plane landed not far away. She and the fighters were all standing in a circle and they appeared to be just talking.
All of a sudden, Krillin, sensing a family ki, looked up and noticed Piccolo hovering above them all. He jumped back a bit, "P-P-P-Piccolo!" He exclaimed with surprise as the others looked up as well.
Piccolo flew down to landed in front of them. He noticed that Kami and Mr. Popo come out to see what was going on. Piccolo just stood there with his armed folded across his chest as everyone gathered around him, being careful not to get to close.
Bulma, however, did not seem to be afraid of him. She walked right up to him.
"What have you done to Gohan?" She yelled at him. He sent her a glare and she took a step back.
"He's training" he stated simply. Bulma took another step back and put her hands on her hips.
"Well what are you doing here?" she questioned.
"Something is wrong with the kid" Piccolo stated simply. The others looked at him with signs of worry on their faces. What had he done to Goku's son?
"What did you do to him?" Yamcha accused.
"I have done nothing to him. I found him today covered in red spots that he keeps scratching at. He also claims to be very hot. He's begging me to make the itching stop so I came to see if any of you knew what is going on" he looked around at everyone who just looked back at him. Finally, Krillin, stepped forward.
"Sounds like he has the Chicken Pox," He looked at Bulma who nodded in agreement.
"Chicken Pox?" Piccolo asked, not knowing the term.
"Every human gets them, most of them when they're young," Bulma explained, "the good thing is that you only get them once in your life but there are special circumstances where people get them a second time." Bulma then pulled out a capsule out of her pocket and dropped in on the ground. When the puff of smoke cleared, a white first aid kit was laying there.
"This is Calamine lotion," she pulled out two pink bottles from the first aid kit. "It won't make the spots go away, that will take about a week from when the spots first appeared, but it will stop the itching and sooth the skin." She handed the bottles to Piccolo. "I'm giving you two bottles so that it will last. Tell Gohan to put the lotion directly on the spots. As for him being hot, he probably has a fever; it's a symptom of chicken pox. That will go away with some sleep."
"Couldn't he just eat a senzu bean?" asked Yamcha.
"It's better if he suffers through this, that way he'll build the immunity that he needs instead of having the spots just vanish" explained Bulma.
Piccolo looked back to Bulma. "Thank you" he mumbled. He was now floating in the air, about to take off when Bulma shouted something else.
"Piccolo," she yelled. Piccolo looked back down at her. "Don't let him scratch or he'll get scars!" Piccolo nodded and flew away.
"I wonder how Gohan got the chicken pox in the middle of nowhere," Krillin voiced he surprise.
"Who knows" Bulma shrugged, "I'm just glad he's looking after Gohan!"
As Piccolo flew, he held the two bottles in his hands protectively. What was he feeling? Was it worry? Was he worried about the boy? He did agree to ask for help for the boy. That was something he normally wouldn't do. Asking Goku's friends for help had been awkward, but at least now he could help Gohan.
He found Gohan right where he left him, sleeping against a tree. Piccolo decided to not wake him since Bulma told him that his fever would go away with sleep. He would give Gohan the lotion when he woke up. In the meantime, Piccolo floated in the air, meditating.
It was mourning when Piccolo noticed that Gohan was waking up.
"Here kid," he handed Gohan the two bottles. "That blue haired woman said to apply it directly onto the spots and it will make the itching stop. She also said not to scratch or you will get scars"
Gohan had already poured some lotion into his hands and was spreading it across his face and neck. Piccolo watched as he took smaller amounts and applied them to each individual spot.
"So can I leave you to it, kid?" Piccolo asked.
"Yeah," Gohan replied. Piccolo started to leave. "Hey Piccolo," Piccolo turned to look at the little boy, "Thank you." Piccolo nodded to the boy and flew away.
It had been a day since Piccolo had left Gohan, however every few hours he would check on his ki signature. A couple days after that, he decided to go see the kid just to be positive he was doing alright.
He found Gohan in a cave, fast asleep. His sword and the two pink bottles were beside him and he was lying on his stomach using his shirt as a pillow. A small fire lit up the cave and Piccolo could see that Gohan had managed to get the lotion onto his back, although he had no idea how. The spots had faded a little and Gohan's ki suggested that his fever was gone.
Piccolo knew the kid was going to be just fine and he knew it was time to get back to his training and leave the kid alone again. He would come back in a couple of months and then Gohan's real training would begin. As he was about to exit the cave he took one last look at Gohan, sleeping peacefully.
The End
Please review.
If there is an idea for a one-short that you think I could write, let me know.