Color Me Blood Red by MajinWTF

Sequel to Heaven Is.

Chapter One: Feels as Though You're Letting Go

Gohan returned home from school a little early that day. Chichi was outside hanging laundry when she saw him- on foot for once, rather than flying.

"Welcome home, Gohan-kun!" She then realized what time it was, and how early of a start he would have had to have made to make up for the extra time spent walking. "Were some of your classes canceled today, honey?" After a couple seconds passed without an answer, she grew suspicious. "You didn't CUT CLASS did you?!"

Gohan didn't look at her as he kept walking, entering the house and heading to his room. Chichi made one more try. "Are you not feeling well?"

"Yeah mom, that's it, I just need to lay down, alright?" he then shut and locked his bedroom door before she could react.

- - -

Gohan's mind and heart were a mess.

"Oh, Videl..." They had been drifting apart for months, but he knew he still loved her. And she maintained that she loved him, too. At least at first. But Gohan had made mistakes. He had been too clingy, too needy, too desperate for every little last bit of her presence until at last she grew tired of it.

She didn't break up with him at first, but she told him that maybe they needed some sort of break from the relationship if it was going to work. She cried while she said it but she meant what she said. He resisted, promised to be better, promised to do anything to keep her- but she pointed out that his neediness was a big part of the problem, and that if he couldn't learn to control it then maybe they shouldn't even have a chance at a future, after all.

And so, Gohan found himself alone, effectively dumped. Like most of us, he'd had crushes and infatuations and even pure physical lust for multiple people, but Videl was the only one he had fully and honestly found it funny- he had seen unimaginable horrors, witnessed the deaths of friends and family members, seen the entire world on the brink of destruction- yet none of that had felt as real or immediate or painful as this.

- - -

A month had passed and the Son family were all very worried about their eldest. Gohan seemed normal in some respects- still going to school, still studying hard- but deeply unhappy. He'd still smile when it was expected but mostly he stayed inside himself, not wanting to answer any questions about why he was acting odd.

When Videl's formerly frequent visits abruptly stopped the answer became obvious.

Goku made one attempt at a man-to-man talk about the harshness of love and how sometimes you just had to accept that sometimes your heart and your fate don't mix, but he had never been a very good speaker and ended up just confusing both himself and his son.

Gohan did find two things that calmed his misery, the first of which was long walks alone in the forest, and he did this every evening after his homework was done.

The second was a renewal of his friendship with the Supreme Kai, who had visited shortly after the break up to give his condolences and had became a regular presence in his life ever since.

As KibitoKai had explained it, he had felt that the two of them shared a very strong connection when they all too briefly fought and trained alongside each other during the fight with Buu, and he had regretted not pursuing a friendship with him at the time.

Gohan figured that there was more to it than that- before giving his heart entirely to Videl, he had a bit of a crush on Shin, and had long suspected that, as crazy as it seemed, the Supreme Kai had been interested in him as well. But they never had the chance to explore the possibility of a romance- while KibitoKai was still in many ways Shin, he was also in many ways Kibito, and that made it difficult for Gohan to be attracted to him in the same way as he used to be. Further, his relationship with Videl had progressed quickly, leaving him almost forgetting he had ever been interested in anyone else.

So the half Saiyan had a feeling that KibitoKai, who surely had been aware of Gohan's former feelings for half of him thanks to his ability to read minds, was hanging around in part to remind Gohan that Videl wasn't the only one he had ever been interested in as a way to help heal his heart.

This was a correct assumption, but left out the fact that the Supreme Kai had been in love with him all along, and that the fusion had complicated but not reduced his love for Gohan. And while he knew he shouldn't, KibitoKai still held on to the hope that Gohan would be his.

- - -

With Summer vacation came an abundance of free time. Gohan was taking college classes online, as Chichi had insisted, but he tended to get his work done in an hour or two each day and have the rest of it to do as he pleased.

KibitoKai took advantage of this fact and visited more frequently. Not long into the summer he appeared in front of the Son family residence and lifted a hand to knock on the door only to have it be opened before his fist made contact with the wood. "Hello, Goku-san!"

Goku looked pleased to see him. "I was hoping you'd come visit today! That's why I was watching for your Ki. There was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Anything you'd like-"

"But not here! Let's go somewhere private!"

"If you insist, Goku-san..." Anticipating Goku's next request, he put his hand on the Saiyan's arm and transported them a few miles back into the forest. "We should have privacy here. So tell me, why is it you want me to help you collect the Dragon Balls?"

Like most people, Goku wasn't a fan of having his mind read and talked quickly to prevent the Kaioshin from reading out the rest of it before he had a chance to explain. "Well, you've been such a huge help for Gohan, it's meant the world for him to have a friend right now. But I think I know what can get his mind off Videl for good- Hey, KibitoKai, why are you blushing?"

Glad that the mind reading ability didn't go both ways, he quickly answered, "Oh, it's just really warm out here, that's all. You can continue."

"Oh, is that it? There's a reason most people don't wear as much clothing as you do in the middle of Summer, you know! So where was I? Oh yeah! Gohan hasn't had a proper fight since Buu. He's a Saiyan, so I know that, despite his mild personality, he craves battle, like I do! I think a good fight would remind him that there's more to life than girls."

"I suppose it might help wake him up a bit. Why not just fight him yourself? Or I could spar with him, perhaps?"

Goku shook his head. "It's no use, I already offered, he claims he doesn't want to fight right now. He's not going to go up against a friend just for the fun of it. But if we got him into a fight that he felt like he had no choice but to go through with..."

KibitoKai could see where this was going and didn't like it. "So you want to revive a slain villain and set up a fight between him and Gohan? A lot could go wrong with that plan, you know. For example, what if Gohan loses or still refuses to fight? Then we'd have another potential global catastrophe on our hands."

Goku grinned broadly. "I already thought of that, and I know the perfect fighter! You remember that Demon King Deborah? I'll bet-"

"It's Dabura, not Deborah," the Supreme Kai cut in. "And don't even consider it, Goku-san! Dabura is NOT to be trusted." Especially around Gohan, he thought to himself.

"Why not? Chichi actually met him in heaven, she says he's totally reformed. But Gohan doesn't know that, so if he suddenly made an appearance, he'd feel compelled to fight him! I'll bet he's just itching to finish the battle they started."

"I have my doubts that his supposed reformation will last long outside the purifying atmosphere of heaven, but I can see you're going to go through with this, with or without my help."

"You're right about that! So will you help me? I ask you both because you seem as concerned for Gohan as I do and because your kaikai ability would make finding the balls a snap. So what do you say?"

"I suppose I'll help. But while we gather the Dragon Balls we should try and think of someone to revive other than Dabura. I firmly believe he'll cause more problems than he'll solve."

- - -

Gohan was in his room, reading, wondering why he had felt KibitoKai's presence a few hours back but his friend hadn't came up to say hi. He supposed the delay was a good thing- he had nearly finished his book, after all, and had planned on talking about it with the Supreme Kai, who had been reading the same one.

It was then that the sky suddenly went dark. He went to the window and looked out, wondering which of his friends had summoned the dragon this time, and for what purpose?

- - -

The Supreme Kai frowned up at the Dragon. He hadn't been able to talk Goku out of reviving Dabura, but at least he'd convinced him to leave the other two wishes unused. KibitoKai fully intended to re-gather the balls as soon as possible and wish the Demon Lord back where he belonged.

"Our wish is to have the Demon King Debor- uh, Dabura revived! And that's all for today, we don't need the other two!"

The dragon's eyes glowed for a moment. "It's done." He then vanished and the Balls went flying.

"Oops!" Goku laughed awkwardly. "I just remembered, they revive where they died, not where the wish was made, huh?"

"We need to find him as soon as possible, Goku-san! Before he can make any trouble! Let's see, where was it that Buu ate him... I can get us to that area, at least."

"Don't worry, I've got this one! I can feel his Ki!" He grabbed KibitoKai's hand and they vanished.

- - -

Dabura wasn't sure what had happened. One moment he had been arranging a lovely bouquet of chrysanthemums and pansies and the next next he was back on Earth in the very spot that his life had ended. What was this? His head hurt a bit. It had been a long time since he had been free of both the wizard's curse and heaven's oppressive purity.

It was a little difficult reclaiming any sense of who he was before that.

Lucky for him, he was about to get a reminder. Several feet away from him, the Supreme Kai and Goku appeared.

"Long time no see, Dabura!" Goku greeted him cheerfully as though he was an old friend rather than someone who had tried to kill his son.

"Goku, and..." the Demon carefully regarded KibitoKai for a moment, "The Supreme Kai? That's a new look for you."

"Indeed," the Kai didn't want to give Dabura any more information than necessary, so he didn't explain the fusion that had occurred.

"So Dabura! We heard you were reformed now, so we brought you back to life! We wanted to give you a chance to finish what you started with Gohan. The boy has had some heartbreak recently and needs a good fight to bring him back to reality! Are you interested?"

He considered this for a moment, then smiled. "Very, actually. There's nothing I'd like more."

"We'll be keeping a very close eye on you, Dabura," Kibito Kai said, "and if you try anything that you shouldn't we'll get rid of you immediately. You know how strong Goku is now, right? And for that matter, my strength has grown tremendously as well! Yours, on the other hand, has decreased now that Babidi no longer controls you."

"I'm well aware of these facts. Now then, shall I go find Gohan?"

"Oh, that's the other thing!" Goku had almost forgotten, "Gohan doesn't know you're reformed and probably won't fight you if he thinks you're a good guy, so maybe pretend you're still bad until after the fight?"

"That will be easy enough," he said with a smile that KibitoKai didn't trust in the slightest. "I'll be off, then!"

He flew off. The Supreme Kai tried to follow him but Goku advised against it. "If you approach along with him it'll make it obvious that he's acting on our behalf! You can go back to Kaioshinkai and relax or whatever. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on their Kis. I'll step in if Gohan loses. That won't happen, though!"

So KibitoKai returned to his home, nervous and worried. There was a lot Goku didn't know about Dabura...

End Chapter One: Feels as Though You're Letting Go