Chapter Fourteen: Dinner Theater

"Wow. The Tenkaichi Budoukai sure has outdone itself this time," Goku smiled as they walked through the hotel to their suite that they would be resting in before the next match at eight. "I wonder if the room is lined with tatami mats?"

"Probably," Videl stated knowledgably. "They are trying to make the room's match the ancient feel of the tournament."

"Tourist trap!" Krillen announced cheerfully.

"I'm in the mood for Makudonarudo! Whose with me?!" Goku boldly proclaimed.

"Me!" Trunks chirped. "We want two chicken nugget happy meals!"

"Okay!" Goku smiled. "Big Mac, Gohan?"

"Uh… nah. I'll stick with the dining hall down by the lobby. I am sure they have something there." Gohan flushed.

"Your loss. Anyone else want anything?" Goku asked kindly.

"I'm in the mood for some of their salad, Goku," Bulma smiled. "Could you pick me up some?"

"Hai," Goku nodded. "Chichi?"

"Nothing," Chichi smirked handing Goku some zenny. "Be back soon Goku. I'll keep the kotatsu warm."

Goku headed off the other way leaving the big group in the hallway to divide up the keys to each of their rooms. Vegeta got a nice sunny room with Bulma. Trunks got a rather large room with less fragile things in it and a huge four poster bed. Krillen got a room with enough room for his whole family. Chichi reserved the cabin-like room for Goku and her. Master Roshi managed to steal a room for himself and Yamacha without a lot of trouble once explaining he was the Master Roshi. He didn't get as nice as a room but it was better then the cheap ones. There were only two rooms left. Videl peeked into both rooms before Gohan could and turned around sharply holding out her fist.

"Jan-ken?"

"For what?" Gohan muttered dumbly.

"For the bigger room! Duh!" Videl smirked. "Ready?"

They held out their fists and moved them up and down with their words.

"Jan Ken Pon!" They both chanted.

Gohan kept out his fist while Videl changed hers to an opened hand.

"Ken over Jan! I win!" Videl laughed slapping her hand over his.

Videl triumphantly retreated into her room before Gohan could catch her. Her giggling could still be heard over the locked door. Gohan slunk into his own room, happy that he hadn't been entirely ripped out of a good room.

It was bigger then his own bedroom but not by very much. There were indeed tatami mats on the floor. Gohan quickly took off his shoes before he examined the room any further. There was a nice futon already laid out for him not as nice as the other beds. But it was something Gohan was used to. It didn't bother him much at all. He sat down on zabuton and stuck his socked feet beneath the kotatsu. Some cha was already properly set out waiting for him. It was one of his favorites. He sipped on his warm cha as he stared about on the pictures hung on the walls of his room. Some of them were just old pictures of the earlier Tenkaichi Budoukais. Gohan almost laughed out loud when he saw his father in a lot of the pictures. It was funny to see his father so young. It struck him painfully in the gut when Goten's memory came back to him. He set the chawan down and let out a small sigh. He glanced over at the picture hanging over his bed. It was a picture of a white kitsune. He smiled softly at its beauty.

"For luck." He smiled holding up his chawan up to it.

Gohan watched the clock nervously as it ticked nearer to seven. He had barely touched his hiyamugi when Videl sat down at the table he was at. She nibbled on a French fry as she slid a drink over to him, "You look worried. Here."

Gohan looked at it suspiciously and took a whiff. He pulled back suddenly staring at her, "Eiyo?"

"Builds stamina," Videl shrugged. "It's good for you."

Gohan took it cautiously and drank it. He set it down half full and sighed, "Also relieves stress."

"So they say. Better?" Videl asked curiously.

"Hai. Arigatou," Gohan muttered starting on his hiyamugi slowly.

"What's on your mind?" Videl questioned kindly taking back his drink and sipping on it herself.

Gohan blushed slightly and smiled, "Well, the match."

"It's more than that," Videl coughed somewhat overwhelmed by the powerful drink. "I know you, Gohan."

"Not much," Gohan smiled cocking an eyebrow at her. "You okay?"

"Fine. Fine," Videl gagged waving him off. "These things just get to me sometimes."

Gohan stared at her as she started on his hiyamugi possibly to work of the taste. They both chewed in the silence moving their hashi through the jungle of hiyamugi. Videl put down her hashi momentary and spoke, "You have a nice voice, right?"

"You be the judge." Gohan shrugged offhandedly digging for some hiyamugi at the bottom that were still warm.

"Great," Videl smiled. "Then you can sing for us!"

Gohan nearly choked on some hiyamugi he was slurping up carelessly, "What?! Sing? Videl, I can't-"

"Oh really? Have you even tried?"

"Uh no. But I don't really want to start…"

"Then it is settled. The band is playing at 7:30. They needed a soloist and a guitar player because… well, they had a bit too much makudonarudo."

"You'll be fine! I'll be with you," Videl smiled pushing Gohan up the stage. "I am decent at the guitar. That's why I wanted someone I knew taking the other part."

"But Videl…" Gohan began.

The other two men there looked relieved as Videl pushed Gohan up to them. Looked like they had no success getting a singer. Now Gohan couldn't refuse.

"You can read music, right?" One of the men looking suspiciously like a New Yorker asked, handing him a sheet of music.

"Yeah…" Gohan nodded, remembering a book he had to read when he was nine because his mother thought he had the potential to be a musician that week.

The lyrics were simple. Gohan scanned through them once memorizing them almost immediately. He thought he might have changed some of the lyrics with them if they had time. But they didn't. They had been suffering through the day with only two people. This was their last song of the night. Gohan looked down at the people sitting at the tables drinking their sodas or cha. Gohan nearly fell over with embarrassment when he saw his father and Trunks sitting not to far away in a booth chowing down on dinner. Vegeta and Bulma were near the front. Vegeta, there obviously against his will, was pretending not to be paying attention. Bulma gave him a thumbs up making Gohan blush darker.

Videl started up on the melody before Gohan even knew what was going on. The microphone was in his face and everyone was looking his way. His mind blanketed most of the lyrics as he stared at the dark speaker forlornly. He took a deep breath and started.

Taiyo turned the corner and nearly stopped dead at spotting Gohan on the stage. He cursed out loud causing passersbys to stare.

"What's the matter?" Tsuki asked softly.

"I can't get my cha with Gohan on that stage," Taiyo spat. "He'll see us."

"Sit and watch. I'll get our drinks," Tsuki offered turning from having blue hair to having a dark red.

Her eyes slipped into a pretty jade and her clothes changed to sort of American style t-shirt and jeans. She winked and whispered, "Back in a flash, Taiyo-chan."

Taiyo slunk into a booth close to the door. He listened with mild amusement as he listened to his older brother try to sing.

"They painted up your secrets, with the lies they told to you. And the least they ever gave you, was the most you ever knew." Gohan sang glad that his was voice was still reassuringly strong.

Even Videl seemed surprised that he was doing well. A strange feeling began slipping over Gohan as he sang though. It seemed like the song was all too familiar. His heart began to beat faster as the song picked up,

"And I wonder where these dreams go, when the world gets in your way. What's the point in all this screaming? No one's listening anyway…"

Gohan suddenly felt very strange. He closed his eyes pausing momentarily before continuing. He wasn't following the lyrics anymore. He was rather just speaking what he knew.

"Your voice is small and fading. And you hide in your own room."

Goku looked over when Gohan started to sing mildly in shock. Trunks was still too busy eating to notice. Goku smiled softly but then frowned as he listened the words the wove from the song. It couldn't be a coincidence… The words he spoke sounded just like Gohan out after the cell games. Goku watched intensely as Gohan continued

"Hmph," Taiyo snorted thumbing the plastic table. "Sounds just like you, brother."

"And your mother loves your father. Cause she's got nowhere to go," Gohan practically whispered repeating his own thoughts from before. "And she wonders where these dreams go, cause the world got in her way. What's the point in never trying? Nothing's changing anyway."

Videl glanced over at Gohan, knowing too well know he was improvising the lyrics. He ignored and continued. Strangely, his eyes wandered to a figure in the back in the room.

"They press their lips against you, and you love the lies they say."

Taiyo's eyes met with Gohan's as he sung his part. He felt a strange unwanted sensation flowing through him. Like guilt and jealously. He bit his lip listening to his words. Images of Gohan by his crib singing mom's lullaby to get him to sleep wove through his mind. He tried to block out the song but he couldn't.

"And I tried so hard to reach you, but you're falling anyway."

Taiyo's mind faded one time when he was rather young and putting up a fuss at bedtime. It was perhaps the first time Goten ever met Gohan fully. He was crying hoping to get his mother to see him. He remember the crack of the door opening and footsteps. But the face that peered over the crib was not of his mother. It was smaller and tear swollen. His dark eyes glinted with a sort of warmth that Goten had never known. Goten smiled a toothy grin at him and he returned it.

"And you know I see right through you, cause the world got in your way."

"What's the point in all this screaming. They're not listening anyway." The image of Gohan spoke stroking Goten's soft cheeks as they both fell asleep.

Taiyo rose from his seat just as Tsuki walked over with the cha. Without a word he walked off leaving, Tsuki bewildered. Gohan's eyes followed him until he was out…

"Amazing!" Videl cheered giving Gohan a big hug as the clapping rose, "I told you! Didn't I tell you!"

"Yep, you did," Gohan smiled softly eyeing the other musicians who were laughing and slapping hands.

"High five, man!" One of them laughed.

Gohan lightly smacked his hand with the man putting enough force to be as if he had hit hard as a human. The man didn't notice,

"Truely amazing for a first time!" The man grinned, "Keep it up dude. You're in the Budoukai, right?"

"Yeah," Gohan nodded.

"Great! We'll root for ya!" The other proclaimed.

"Crap! My match!" Gohan cried whirling about to look at the clock. "Three minutes?!"

"Run?" Videl smirked sheepishly.

To Be Continued…
Please R & R!

So much for that. Here are any definitions for the Japanese terms above!

Tenkaichi Budoukai- World Martial Arts Tournament
tatami mats- expensive fragile mats made out of bamboo (I think)
Makudonarudo- McDonalds (imagine that!)
kotatsu- sort of a table with a heater under it. Usually used for drinking tea.
Jan-Ken- Rock, Paper, Scissors (Ha!)
zabuton- pillow used on tatami floors
cha- tea
chawan- 'tea bowl' or tea cup
kitsune- fox: said to be supernatural. White foxes are sacred.
hiyamugi- noodles

background info- kissing is not really a open thing in Japan (more of sexual display). So most times they will share drinks to show their affection or touch something that another's lips have touched. Us Americans don't understand that well.