I'm far too lenient with you guys. Only two reviews, and I come crawling back to give you another chapter? Ah well, I've had so many great reviews that you guys can slack once in a while... but don't count on such kindness with this update. You should have high expectations for my writing, so I expect many reviews to help me reach those expectations.
Alrighty. Enough lecturing from me, here we go.
Chapter Eleven
When Gohan arrived, which only took a few minutes, he landed far enough away so that he could not been seen from his house, but close enough that he could see what was going on. He saw no one outside, so he crept closer to a window that looked in on the kitchen. He felt all too odd, snooping around his own house, and spying on his own friends, but he knew that he needed to be noticed only at the right time; at the wrong time, the results could be catastrophic.
He looked through the window, and saw his mother washing a lone person's worth of dishes, eyes obviously on the verge of tears. She began to lift one dish from the sink, but her hand was shaking so much that the dish fell from her grasp and smashed to the floor, shattering completely. She did not motion to pick it up, but turned around and began to sob into her hands. Behind her, Gohan could now see their table, neatly set and organized for two- one set of dishes showing residue from eaten food, the other untouched and unused. His heart broke at the sight of this; his mother was still setting the table for two, thinking by some miracle that her son was alive, when she truly knew that he was dead and gone forever. It must be so difficult for her- first losing her husband, and then her son only a short while after. Gohan felt awful. He just wanted to rush in and comfort her- tell her that he was alive, and that he was so sorry for what he had done. However, Bulma soon joined her, supporting and condoling her.
"Yes... it's alright to cry... just let it go... no shame here... we all understand what it is like... shh..." She cooed.
Chi-chi was somewhat comforted by this, and managed to return to the other side of the room, where she and Bulma were joined by Tien, Yamcha, Chiaotzu, and Krillin. She managed to suppress a few sobs as she tenderly stroked her rounded stomach. They all met and, very solemnly and somewhat awkwardly, began to say goodbye to each other, every one talking about "getting back to their normal lives" in some way or other, suggesting that for the last while they hasn't been living their lives normally. Gohan had no idea that he had made such an impact on their lives when he left them.
He was starting now to think about how he would return to them- would it be best if they heard him before they saw him, or vice versa? Would it be better to draw attention to himself, or to allow them to stumble upon him? Would it be better to wait, so that they would have accepted of his death, and therefore wasn't going to be traumatized after such a big shock, or would it be better to not wait, for they would not believe that he was alive? The thoughts troubled him and he thought of so many ways that he could make things worse, that he even begun to think that it would be better that they didn't find him. But, as soon as that thought occurred to him, something made him remember his father, and all he had done for him, and the promises he made to him. He would tell them- he just was going to wait until a better opportunity arose.
Suddenly, a figure burst into the house and immediately broke the awkward silence that enveloped the scene.
"He's gone- he's not here!" Piccolo burst out, without specifying whom he was referring to, although it was obvious to all present. If it was possible, Gohan's heart sank even deeper into his chest. He wanted with all of his will to go out and greet Piccolo, to ask him to forgive him for everything, and to tell him about what happened, but he kept quiet, and shifted uncomfortably in his hiding spot.
"We all know that Piccolo- I'm sorry that you are taking this so hard-" Krillin began, before being interrupted by Piccolo.
"No- his body's gone! It was moved from its spot- and someone's been through the tower- they rummaged through everything, and touched everything," he growled, very much annoyed at the thought of someone disturbing the resting place of his admirable young pupil. The others had similar looks on their faces, as they stood and shook aggravated heads and clenched fists threateningly at the unknown offender.
"Why those little-" Yamcha started, but was too infuriated to finish.
"Who could be so heartless?" Tien questioned aloud.
Piccolo did not answer, for he- and everyone else- could not think of someone who would dare to do something so callous. Chiaotzu suddenly spoke up, with a frightened edge on his voice.
"What… what do you they're going to do with him?" He timidly posed.
Everyone's heads shot up, as they each thought of numerous things that the perpetrator would do with the body, and each one was more sickening than the last. Chi-chi once again began to cry, supported again by Bulma. Everyone was becoming more and more revolted, when an unwelcome guest broke the stillness.
"Humph. What do we care? He's dead- the body isn't that important. Whoever it is can have it for all I care. I don't even know why you bothered making that idiotic monument."
Piccolo turned around and shot Vegeta a glare that matched the one that Gohan had given him before, and was about to do more than that when he heard a hushed noise of shock with his highly sensitive Namekian ears- even more acute than that of a Saiyan's hearing.
Gohan immediately clasped his hand over his mouth, but the action was done. He was so shocked at the fact that Vegeta was alive that he could help but make a sound- his father had saved him!
"Who's there? Show yourself!" Piccolo announced loudly. Now everyone knew that someone was there. Gohan panicked- he did not want to be seen yet, at such a fragile moment- and hastily decided that he should leave.
They don't know it's me yet-
But as he took off, his aura was visible out of the window, and golden due to the unknown-to-him Super Saiyan form he was in. Not only that, but he released some of his energy and all those who possessed the power to read energy signals immediately recognised it. Half a dozen shouts came forth as they did, but Gohan had already left.
He immediately acknowledged his mistake, swooped to the ground, and began to run away from the six pursuers undoubtedly following him.
He ran for a nearby forest, found one particularly dense tree, and began to hurriedly scramble up it. He waited there, and soon enough, one of the followers began to head his way. It was Tien, and as he passed by Gohan held his breath, not wanting to make any unwanted noise. The martial artist paused under the tree, and for one uneasy moment Gohan thought that he had been found. However, Chiaotzu simply came up to him alongside Yamcha.
"Have you seen any sign of where he went?" Tien asked.
"No," Yamcha replied, then paused for a moment before adding, "Do… do you really think it's him? I mean, how could it be- he's dead."
"I'm not sure," Tien answered, "But I don't know anyone else with that energy signal. Even Piccolo thought it was him- and he knows him better than any of us."
Yamcha nodded, but Chiaotzu was not satisfied.
"How could he be back to life? Piccolo said that even Shenron couldn't bring him back, because he-" Chiaotzu paused for a word that didn't sound dishonourable, but failed to find one, "Because he died the way he did. If Shenron couldn't bring him back, what could?"
Neither of them could answer that, so they went back to searching. Unknown to Gohan, Tien mentally noted to Chiaotzu to return to this spot after they had searched for a while longer. Tien and Yamcha headed one way, and Chiaotzu another.
Gohan told himself that if he waited until nightfall, he could find someone by themselves- preferably his mother or Piccolo- and reveal his existence like that. He really did not want a large mob of people finding out at once and making a big scene out of it- bombarding him with questions, and too many ears to understand the explanation the first time.
Gohan began to think while he hid. He was so grateful for the second chance he'd been given- the thought of his friends being so distraught pained him. He felt so significant, too- they were even going to find the Dragon Balls to try and wish him back! This made him feel miserable as well, though, for he felt so shamed and contrite at the notion that his friends went to so much trouble over him. They built the monument, found all of his things, arranged them, and made the statue, drawing and accounts- he now realised that Vegeta did the crude account of himself, though probably not by choice.
Tien, Chiaotzu and Yamcha returned after a few minutes of searching, much to the shock of Gohan, who cursed himself for not moving when he had the chance. He was once again stuck, unable to move from his spot until they decided to leave, which could be quite a long time.
"…if it is him, why do you think he ran away?" Chiaotzu posed some time later, following in the pattern of referring to Gohan as either "he", "him", or a similar pronoun, and avoiding his name like some sort of taboo.
"Maybe someone's following him," Yamcha suggested, "Someone that he is running away from."
"Out of what?" asked Tien, "Fear?"
"No."
The three swung around to see Piccolo looking down on them, not happy in the slightest of their chatter. They immediately knew that he wanted them to continue searching, so they darted away before he could even say more.
"Gohan would never run out of fear," he said more to himself than the long-gone warriors, "…he's progressed beyond that. I know it."
A half-stifled noise came from above, very audible to Piccolo.
"Who's-"
Piccolo looked up and his eyes met Gohan's. The Namekian's face took on an expression of such joy that it was almost too much to physically handle.
Unfortunately, Vegeta was only a few feet away, but on the other side of the tree, so when he heard the noise, he fired a full-power blast at the unprepared, un-ascended Saiyan out of reflex.
Had Gohan been in the powerful, but merciless ascended Saiyan state, he would have easily been able to dodge, block, or reflect the blast. However, he was too enveloped in the thought of being reunited with Piccolo to even see the blast coming until the last moment, when it was too late. It made contact with his tender left side, enveloping that half of his head and torso and his left arm and leg. It hit him with enough force as to knock him clean off the tree, to the unforgiving ground below. This stunned him to such an extent that he was completely dumbstruck, and unable to even perform the simple action of preventing himself from falling. A sickly leap of his stomach came forth as he fell over twenty feet from the tree, staring up at the pale blue sky.
He winced in anticipation of the collision, but instead of hitting the firm, cold ground, he was caught by the careful arms of Piccolo. He looked up into the black, shimmering eyes, and did not say a word- perhaps out of fear of ruining the special moment. The stillness only lasted a second though, for he then threw his arms over Piccolo's head, enclosing him in a warm, unforgettable embrace. He would have stayed like that for some time had he not jolted back as the pain of Vegeta's blast caught up with him and made his hastily mended shoulder dislocate again.
The sudden jolt came as enough of a surprise as to knock Piccolo off of his feet in an attempt to keep his hold of the half-Saiyan. Gohan took a sharp, pain-filled gulp of air as he felt the familiar numbness encompass his left side again. From the previous time, he knew better than to try and stand and so stayed where he was, defenceless in Piccolo's arms. They looked at one another, and only Piccolo seemed to remember the similarity that this scene had to another- one that he'd be all too happy to forget. He said nothing, though, and they both remained silent.
Unlike most silences, this was not an awkward one. Oddly enough, it seemed to be quite the opposite of silence, since there was never any true silence- except in situations such as the one in the black chasm-like abyss, where it is impossible to physically hear- for the subtle, white noise was capable of being heard now that the rest of the world was quiet, and it was comparable to that of music. The gentle rustle of the overhead leaves to the cool, early-autumn wind was the harmony to a melody of chance noises- a bird chirp here, an acorn drop there- and during the odd moment were no such sound could be heard, the soft rumble of a nearby stream took charge, as the bass line but too quiet to be heard at any other time. The most astounding of the noises, though, was one that was almost silent, and was so hushed that it was possible that it did not exist at all. It was a quiet, soft, gentle hum, one with a very warm, bright sound, but quiet nonetheless. The brightness, warmth, and general comfort that were brought by this sound made it almost undeniably the product of the sun. However, this was not completely verifiable, as the noise was almost impossible to hear, and only when there was an odd moment when the animals were silenced, the wind calmed, and the river was hushed, that this hum could be heard. It was such an uplifting sound when it was able to be heard- so much that even the pain-stricken Gohan couldn't help but sigh with satisfaction when he was able to focus enough to hear it. When it could be heard, it only lasted a second before a noise came and overpowered it. It was like the conductor of the music: unnoticed until there was silence, and it directed how the sounds should resume. The result of such a combination of ambient, simple noises was beautiful and surprisingly breathtaking.
Gohan was able to hear all of this, and was happy with the simplicity and lack of worries. He wouldn't have minded one bit if he stayed there, carefree and relaxed, in the arms of Piccolo for the rest of his days. Fate, however, seemed determined to not allow him to live such a life.
"SNAP OUT OF IT, BOY!" Vegeta's aggravated voice roared, shattering the wondrous music of nature, and making Gohan become painfully aware that his wounds had not healed during the few moments of tranquility. He looked up at Vegeta's scowling expression, who quickly turned away so that his face could no longer be seen. Unknown to them, though, was that he did so because he did not want to show the look of relief on his face that Gohan was alive.
…It would be just my luck for both Kakarot and his son to die... twice...
Gohan looked around, and somewhat disappointedly saw that not only was Vegeta there, but Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha and Krillin as well. Their faces were each filled with the same questioning look of disbelief and happiness, as they stared uncomfortably down at him. He sighed, and braced himself for the onslaught of questions, but then winced as his dislocated shoulder screamed in protest of being ignored. He gave a half-hearted chuckle.
"I-if you guys wouldn't mind," he managed to whisper, the pain causing him to speak with a cracked voice, "I-I think I need… some rest… j-just a little."
He looked for a few seconds at the warriors gazing down at him, and cocked his head to one side as if he was seeking their approval. He shivered for a few moments, attempting to keep himself awake while waiting for a reply, but none came. Even though he valiantly tried, he found the warmth of Piccolo's arms all too comforting, and his exhausted and devastatingly injured body couldn't help but fall into a state of unconsciousness yet again. Unconscious though he was, he appeared to be in a somewhat sleeping state, as he managed to turn to one side and curl up next to Piccolo, his body rising and falling with his natural, undisturbed breath, and oblivious everything going on in the disturbed, outside world.
Steeeeeeeeeeeeeee-rike One! Curveball pitched at the bottom of the eleventh inning. Yay.
Well, that was... alright? Argh... maybe not... I have a hard time judging my own work. It's too hard to like it, since it is so easy to find the bad parts when I was the one who wrote it... That's why you guys are the best! You are able to honestly, unbiasedly tell me what is good and what is completely horrendous.
I'll have you know that I am very well trying to resist the temptation to rant about how awesome the Olympics are. I realize that an ill-placed comment can have an entire country of people at my throat, so I will simply say that I love the competition and seeing where every country excels and seeing hard-working, deserving people win a medal, especially during that truly awe-inspiring moment when you can stand and face your country, watching your flag rise slowly to the tune of your national anthem playing for one person, that makes you proud to be Canadian. Or Australian. Or American. Or German. Or Korean. Or Chinese. Or Japanese. Or British. Or... anything! Patriotism at its best. I will be eagerly watching the final, gold-medal hockey game between us (the Canucks) and our brethren to the South (United States of America). Whatever the result, we know that it was deserved...
Alright. I'll stop being so politically correct. Go Canada. Go US. Go World. I absolutely love the Olympics. Maybe I should write a little one-shot about the DBZ charactes at the Olympics... Opinions?
Okay. Shut. Up. OkamiGohan.
Until next time, warriors!!!!
