CHAPTER 20: Revealed

Days passed by seamlessly on the space ship, and soon Keiko and Goku found their own rhythm of life. They got up when they wanted, training however long they wanted, ate when they wanted, and went to sleep when they wanted. Perhaps it was because Keiko and Goku were isolated, or maybe it was because they've been friends for so long, or it could have even been because Keiko was finally letting her true feelings show, but for some reason Goku and Keiko grew closer than they had ever been before. By the fifth day there were no boundaries between them. No longer did that unbearable blush threaten to glow on Keiko's face, because now she was used to being close to Goku. There seemed to be a magnetic connection growing, and when Goku wasn't training under heavy gravity, he was never farther than a foot from Keiko. They were constantly near each other, and neither of them seemed to realize the slight changes in their relationship. With Keiko's guard down it opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for discussion and interaction. For once in a long while Keiko was able to just live her life around Goku, without worrying about her feelings about him. She stopped fretting about if she should tell him, or not, and instead she began trying to show him. It was the most freeing feeling she had felt, the only thing that could top it was actually being able to tell him how she felt, because her affection could only go so far. She never allowed herself to cross an 'inappropriate' line with Goku, because he didn't know how much she loved him, and she wasn't about to get herself into a compromising situation.

Yet at times she wondered if Goku would even mind if she crossed that line. Krillin's words stuck with her, and in some of the things she saw Goku do she saw hints of him having feelings for her. Yes, Goku cared for her because she was a friend, but there was a level beyond that that she didn't see him show anyone else. The quick glances that he thought were unnoticed protruded in Keiko's mind and the lingering touch from a hug or the way his hand would ever so slightly graze hers, they were all signs towards something more. It was a hard thing for Keiko to begin to think about, because it was beyond surreal. She had it in her mind that her love would never be reciprocated, but now she was being presented with hints that perhaps Goku did love her, and perhaps he hadn't abandoned those feelings he once held for her.

Goku had noticed a change as well, but the change he noticed was the one stirring deep inside of him. He did not know why, but he had a bad feeling swirling around in his stomach. He didn't know what it meant, but he feared that something may happen to Keiko once they landed on Namek. A part of him said that he was just worrying because of Frieza and Vegeta, and because of when he saw Keiko take on Nappa. Yet there was an undeniable feeling that would not exit his mind, and that would control his thoughts and strike an unknown fear into his heart. Dreams began haunting him; causing him to wake up with sweat running down his face and his heartbeat sending a pounding chill throughout his body. His body would lurch up in the bed, a gasp or a yell ricocheting around the room, and his first thought was to check that Keiko was okay. There she would be, lying next to him in a deep sleep, only slightly twitching or moving around as if to acknowledge that there had been a disturbance, but her mind kept her in an unconscious state. Goku would have to physically reach out and touch her shoulder, just to make sure that she was truly okay. The dreams were vivid, and they ranged from realistic situations to things that the conscious mind knew would never happen, yet they all had one thing in common- Keiko's death. At times her demise would be at the hands of Vegeta, other times it would be by a black force which signified Frieza, but the worst of the dreams came when her death came at the hands of Goku. She would be falling and Goku couldn't catch her, or a blast would be coming towards her and he couldn't block it, and these dreams made Goku question his ability to protect those he cared about. The Saiyan had once been yearning to step foot onto planet Namek, but now with only one day before their arrival, he was not as excited as he once was. The thought of possibly facing Frieza was complicated by his need to protect Keiko, and he knew that if he was to face Frieza he would make sure his female friend was nowhere near him. He had made sure to tell her this, and without really thinking about it she had dumbly agreed, but Goku knew her much too well. She would fight to stay by her friends' sides because she was never good at saying goodbye.

Early in the morning on the sixth day of their trip, Goku woke up yet again to his heart pounding wildly inside of his chest. Beads of sweat ran down the side of his face as his grip on the sheets had his knuckles turning white. The breath that had been hitched in his throat slowly let itself out as his hands shakily loosened his hold on the sheets. His eyes danced around the room before timidly looking to his right to see that Keiko was lying there, not a scratch on her. Relief settled onto his shoulders, pushing all of the tension away as he laid his hand onto her shoulder. She was facing him as she lay on her side with both of her hands resting underneath her head. The relief Goku felt did nothing to stifle his worry and even Keiko's peaceful demeanor did not keep him from gently shaking her shoulder, rousing her into consciousness.

"What?" the word was slurred through Keiko's parted lips as she rolled over onto her back, trying to get away from the grip that was shaking her.

"Keiko, are you awake?"

His voice was merely a whisper, yet he sounded much more awake than the groggy female stretching her arms out beside him. Those blue orbs were slow to look at him, and he could see the clouds of sleep fogging her vision. Her mouth tried to form words, but instead of anything comprehensible a loud yawn echoed through the dark room. "Mmm Goku?" she mumbled, forcing her eyes to remain open despite the urge to fall back asleep.

"Can I ask you to promise me something?"

"Right now? What time is it?"

"I need you to promise not to fight."

"Not to fight who?" Goku's silhouette was going in and out of focus as Keiko remained puzzled as to what she was being asked to promise.

"Any of the people we may encounter on Namek."

"Namek?"

"Can you promise me Keiko? Can you promise me that no matter what you won't get involved in any battles?" Goku knew that Keiko was in no condition to be making promises right now, but his ears craved to hear the affirmation that she would not put herself in harm's way.

"No battles," she repeated his words dully, as her eyes threatened to close yet again.

"Promise?"

"I promise," Keiko yawned as placed her hands back underneath her head, "No battles."

"Because I can't lose you Keiko, I just can't." Goku knew that his words went unnoticed by the sleeping female next to him, but they did not go unnoticed to one certain Kai, who had been listening in on the conversation.

"Goku, what are you doing?"

"Shhh King Kai, you'll wake her up," Goku admonished the Kai as he placed his finger up to his lips to signal the need for silence.

"She can't hear me Goku; I'm just in your head!"

"Oh….what are you doing up this late?" the Saiyan whispered, sitting up straight in the bed as he listened to the soft breathing of his friend right next to him.

"The better question is what are you doing up this late? Another dream perhaps?"

"How did you know about that?"

"I wasn't born yesterday Goku," the Kai rolled his eyes as he stood on his small planet, his antennas twitching as he kept the connection between him and Goku's mind.

"What do you think King Kai? Do you think something is going to happen to her?"

"I'm not sure Goku, but you can't be making her promise to stay out of stuff when she is half asleep. It's just not fair!"

"King Kai," Goku sighed, "I just want to make sure she knows not to get involved, that's all. She isn't strong enough to fight the guys on Namek."

"She knows that, but you asking her to not get involved is like me asking you to not take on Frieza."

"But I won't fight Frieza unless I have to, I told you that."

"First off, you aren't to fight Frieza at all, do you hear me?"

"Yes King Kai," the Saiyan mumbled signifying that yes he heard the Kai, but he still wasn't making any promises.

"Secondly, Keiko won't get involved unless she feels she has to. If you are put in danger she won't hesitate to try to help."

"But she could get killed!" Goku's voice rose slightly, but he brought it down at once, trying to not wake up Keiko again.

"She knows that Goku, she isn't dumb!"

"Then why would she put herself in harm's way for me when she knows she could die?"

The silence that followed Goku's question was awkward to say the least, and when the first sound to break the silence was a snort from King Kai the situation became even more awkward, "You're kidding me right?"

"King Kai! Why are you laughing! I'm being serious!"

"No you aren't," the Kai held his stomach as he chortled with amusement, but when Goku didn't reply the laughing stopped, "Wait…you really don't know why Keiko would risk her life for you?"

Goku shook his head no, but realized that the Kai could not see that, so instead he gave a curt 'no' as his response. He was expecting the Kai to answer him, but instead there was a long silence, "Why would she risk her life for me?" Goku questioned, eager to know what King Kai found so humorous.

"Hmm…Goku, if I tell you this you have to promise me you won't tell a soul okay?"

"I promise, not a soul."

"Especially Keiko! She cannot find out what I'm about to tell you!"

"Okay, I won't tell Keiko, but what is it that I have to be so secretive about it?"

"The reason Keiko would risk her life for you is because she likes you," King Kai waited for the possible sudden gasp, or the yell of amazement, or even the barrage of questions, but instead he got silence and he knew exactly what that meant, "Do I have to spell it out for you!"

"I don't get it. Of course she likes me, we've been friends for years, I don't get why I can't tell her something she probably already knows."

The Kai couldn't help but roll his eyes, wishing that Goku would just infer the meaning instead of him having to explicitly tell him, "Goku, listen to me, and listen to me carefully. What I meant to say is that Keiko likes you as more than a friend," still more silence, "In a different way than she likes any other of her friends," not a word, "you are very special to her," nothing, "for goodness sakes she loves you okay!"

"WHAT!"

There it was. A mix between a scream and a question, both which almost startled Keiko into awareness, but instead the female just rolled over onto her other side, completely unaware of the conversation that was going on right next to her.

"But HOW! Since when!" The Saiyan nearly fell of the bed as his eyes went wide, waiting for King Kai to explain this all to him.

"You're telling me you really had no idea! Think about it, it's been rather obvious recently!"

Goku took a moment to first take a deep breath, and then think about any signs of Keiko being in love with him. "That explains why she has been acting so weird recently! But are you sure King Kai! I mean, are you sure she is in love with me?"

"She has been for over five years now."

"FIVE YEARS!" Goku screamed yet again, his hands slamming down on the bed, causing Keiko's body to slightly loft into the air before falling back down onto the plush bed. She let out a low groan of agitation, as if unconsciously telling Goku to shut up and let her rest in peace, "King Kai, are you being serious?"

"Of course I am! Why would I lie about something like this! If you just took a minute to think about it you would see it as clear as day."

Goku took the Kai's advice, and tried to allow his mind to focus for more than a few seconds, and suddenly things began falling into place. The looks, the way she would blush after their eyes locked, and the way she had been acting around him, but the most shocking thing was the feeling that this knowledge gave Goku. Underneath the initial shock, Goku couldn't deny that he truly wasn't that surprised, and in fact he was almost happy about it. The conversation him and Keiko had had the first night on the space ship came to his mind, and he remembered admitting to her that he once had wanted to marry her. Yet he didn't, and a part of it was because Keiko never said anything. Chi-Chi was blunt, abrasive, and told Goku she wanted to marry him, and with all the cards laid out on the table for him to see, Goku said yes. Yes, he had feelings for Chi-Chi, and he was happy with her, but if she hadn't of asked Goku if he would marry her when they were kids- he wasn't sure if he would have made the same life choices that he did. Keiko never said anything to him, she never objected his marriage, and as Goku thought about it he realized that if Keiko had asked him to not marry Chi-Chi he might have agreed.

"What you're thinking isn't bad."

"But King Kai…I'm married," Goku was feeling guilt set in, because he shouldn't be happy about finding out that Keiko loves him, in fact it should almost scare him because he shouldn't reciprocate any of those feelings.

"Keiko is a beautiful girl Goku, she is smart and funny, and her only downsides are that she is much too stubborn and shy for her own good. Once having feelings for her isn't a crime Goku, and still having some feelings for her isn't a crime either."

"I just…feel bad," Goku stared down at the woman sleeping next to him, and in this moment he felt that he knew her better than he ever thought possible. She was one of his best friends and she had always been there for him, through thick and thin, and never once did she allow something to get in the way of their friendship. She would have had every right to stop being his friend once he got married, but she didn't, because she was too good of a person to do that.

"What do you mean?"

"I hurt her, I let her down. I try to make sure she is happy, yet I'm the one who makes her sad, and I can't even do anything to fix it now….unless."

"Goku, you promised me you wouldn't tell her!"

"But King Kai it can't be good for her to keep it bottled up inside, and if she knew that I knew then I could tell her how I feel."

"How do you feel?"

Goku stayed silent, his eyes still staring down at Keiko as an unfamiliar feeling settled into his gut. He had faced the evilest of evils, died and come back, but yet this right here was unfamiliar territory, and he wasn't sure how he should tread. "I'm not sure King Kai, but I do know that whatever I feel is something I should probably keep to myself, but I can't."

"If you tell her she may never speak to you again! You need to give her time to tell you herself."

"But she hasn't told me for five years! Why would she tell me now?" Goku looked away from Keiko and up towards the ceiling, not being able to follow King Kai's logic. Keiko could internalize something forever, without ever telling a soul, and as far as Goku knew that is what she was planning on doing with her feelings about him. Keiko tried to make everyone happy, so she wasn't about to compromise their friendship or Goku's marriage and family.

"Trust me, she will tell you, you may need to pressure her a bit though- but that doesn't mean flat our telling her what I told you! You promised Goku, so you better keep that promise and trust me she will tell you eventually."

"Fine King Kai, I did promise, so I won't tell her what you told me, but I'm not so sure that she will tell me on her own."

"She will Goku, I mean how long could she possibly keep it bottled inside?" The silence that followed the Kai's question was all the answer both of them needed, "Okay, fine, maybe she could keep it bottled up forever, but she won't. So don't tell her."

"I won't."

"And no fighting Frieza either!"

"I will try my best."

"Ugh," the Kai sighed, "I'll take it for now. And try not to have any more bad dreams okay? I'm not sure what will happen when you get to Namek, but if you can keep Keiko away from seeing you fight then you will have a better chance of keeping her safe."

"Okay King Kai, thanks for the advice, and for telling me the stuff about Keiko."

"You're welcome Goku."

The Kai disconnected from Goku's mind, leaving the Saiyan with an eerie silence in its place. His body fell back down onto the bed as his hands went behind his head, his eyes staying focused on the ceiling above him. He could feel Keiko's energy from besides him and hear her steady breathing. He couldn't believe that she loved him, but the strangest part was that he couldn't stop thinking about how he once loved her back, and how now when those feelings should be long gone they were still lingering deep inside of him.

Keiko was used to waking up before Goku, so when her eyes fluttered open and Goku was nowhere in sight she wasn't sure what to make of it. Then she remembered that they would be landing on Namek today, and when she didn't see Goku in the room she figured he must be training again. Her first real clue was when she noticed that the ceiling was lower, which only happened when Goku was training under 100 times Earth's gravity. Keiko wished she could go upstairs to see the countdown clock that said how long they had left until landing on Namek, but considering she didn't want to be turned into a pancake she decided it was best if she just stayed downstairs.

The floor was cold on her bare feet, but as she walked to the wall to flick the lights on she adjusted to the temperature, and decided that she would get some training in as well. She had no idea what they would be facing when they got to Namek, but Goku seemed a bit nervous about it and Keiko wanted to be prepared as possible. As she kicked the punching bag she went through situations in which her help may be needed. I can't take on Vegeta. Or whoever this Frieza guy is. But I could always be a good distraction; as long as I can dodge or block their attacks I should be somewhat useful. Sweat began forming on her brow as she furiously punched the swaying bag.

"Take it easy there tiger." With one more harsh punch Keiko turned around to see Goku standing near the stairs, already dripping from sweat and taking his first break for the morning.

"I couldn't sense you," Keiko frowned as she was referencing the latest thing Goku had been trying to teach her. For the past three days he had been trying to help her figure out how to sense people's energies, but it wasn't going very well. Goku could do it even when he wasn't concentrating; Keiko had to be in a complete meditative state with no interruptions to even sense a flare of Goku's high energy.

"It takes practice," he threw the towel he was holding into one of the laundry baskets before moving into the kitchen.

"I just wanted to get it figured out before we reached Namek, that's all," Keiko left the punching bag to go into the kitchen and stand next to Goku, who was spreading peanut butter over three pieces of bread, intent on making three peanut butter sandwiches.

"Want one?" he offered, holding up one of the sandwiches in front of Keiko's face.

"Thanks," she smiled as she took the sandwich from his hand, "This is good, you should be a chef," Keiko said as she took a bite out of the sandwich, making a joke about Goku's lack of cooking skills.

"Haha maybe, so Keiko is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Huh? Uhh, no, why?"

"Just wondering, because if you wanted to tell me something you could, maybe a secret huh?" he leaned in, nudging her arm with his elbow. Goku! The Kai's voice rang out in his head, startling him into moving away from Keiko, You're being too obvious, just leave it alone! The Kai demanded, knowing that he shouldn't have told Goku because although Goku wouldn't tell Keiko that he knew, he wasn't the slickest at trying to coax information out of someone.

"You're being weird," Keiko rose one of her eyebrows, taking another bite out of the sandwich, wondering what was up with her friend.

"Me? Weird! Ha-ha, that's a good one Keiko!" the laugh that Goku emitted only made Keiko more suspicious as to what spurred up this conversation.

"Okay, whatever you say," she sighed as she left the kitchen, feeling that it probably was nothing to worry about anyway, "Hey Goku, were you up last night?"

"Yeah I woke up in the middle of the night, why?"

"I could have sworn I heard you talking to someone."

Goku's heart leapt into his throat as King Kai's voice began yelling inside of his mind. Don't tell her Goku, just say it was nothing! "Well I was talking to you," Goku stated, which was the truth, but he knew that she was instead referring to his conversation with King Kai.

"Me? Really? Huh, I don't remember that."

"Yeah you promised you wouldn't interfere with any fights."

"I did!" Keiko couldn't remember that happening at all, and as she sat down on the bed and finished her sandwich she tried to rack through her brain for the memory but she couldn't find anything, "Well you can't count that as a real promise if I don't remember it."

"Keiko," his voice caught Keiko's full attention because it was much more serious than she was used to. He didn't tend to talk to her in that tone of voice, unless he truly meant what he was about to say, "I don't want you fighting. We already know that Vegeta is one of the strongest fighters in the universe, and apparently Frieza is stronger than him. You can't take any of them on."

"I know I can't fight them, but I could always try to help," her gaze went down to the tile floor, feeling a bit foolish for disagreeing with Goku when she knew that he was right.

"Please Keiko," her eyes snapped up to meet his, "For me, don't fight."

She wanted to disagree and to insist that she could hold her own at least for a little bit, but she simply couldn't, so with a defeated sigh she finally agreed, "Okay Goku, for you."

"Thanks," Goku took four large strides until he was standing in front of Keiko. He leaned down and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her up from the bed and giving her a hug.

"I'm not used to you being the one giving the hugs," Keiko grinned as she wrapped her arms around his neck, a tingling feeling running down her spine.

"Do you want to practice sensing energy again?" Goku asked as he placed Keiko back down onto the floor, taking his hands away from her waist.

"Yeah, let's do it," she agreed and she took a seat on the floor.

Goku sat across from her, keeping his energy low, and then the silence set in. Keiko took a deep breath, allowing her eyes to close and for all thoughts to leave her mind. She focused on where Goku sat in front of her, trying to feel him without touch and see him without sight. Her whole body became relaxed, but the hardest part was getting all the stray thoughts out of her head. Keiko you have to focus, you're already taking too long! She knew that if she wanted to effectively sense energy she wouldn't have five minutes to calm her mind, instead it needed to be instant. With that last thought she swept through all of the random thoughts that were floating through her head. That's when she began feeling it. It felt like her skin was being pricked ever so lightly, and it made her stomach slightly hurt. It was faint, but soon it began growing until her whole skin was tingling and her stomach was in knots. The feeling was all around her though, and she needed to pinpoint it. Goku would normally move around the room until finding a spot to stay stationary in. Then he would raise his energy level so Keiko could sense it enough to tell where he was, and then she would turn her head so when she opened her eyes she would be looking at him.

Hmmmm that's odd. Keiko thought, allowing her mind to begin reeling now that she had sensed the energy in the room. It feels really close to me, but that can't be right. The proximity of the energy couldn't be correct because whenever she thought he was close he wasn't, it was just she hadn't allowed her senses to go through the room and instead the only thing she could sense was the glimmer of energy that was around her. Keiko felt her face tense up as she tried to find Goku in the large circular room, but every time she thought she had scoured the room she kept coming up with the same conclusion- that he was right in front of her. She hesitated on opening her eyes, because she didn't want to be wrong. She wanted to prove that she was getting better at this, not worse, so she focused her mind even more. She spread her reach out farther than she ever had before, making sure that she blanketed the whole room. Her whole skin was tingling as she concentrated more than she ever had while doing this, and then she felt a very small pinch in her stomach. It was coming from behind her, and she couldn't help the smirk from coming onto her face. He thought he tricked me! I wonder how he did that anyway, but I found him now. I bet he will be so surprised. Keiko thought about turning her head to look in the direction she felt the pinch, but she decided she wanted to be more coy about it, because she was extremely proud that she had managed to outdo Goku and find him in the room.

"Well that was tricky," she stated with her eyes still closed, "But I found-" she leaned forward, ready to snap her head around to look at Goku, but as her eyes opened the words were forced back down her throat as she let out a slight gasp. She had been wrong. Goku was not behind her, instead he was sitting on his knees right in front of her, leaning forward, and what happened next was unexpected to the both of them. Their noses were touching as her eyes opened, and their lips were only centimeters away. Keiko's breath was hitched in her throat and years of built up tension accumulated in one electric shock as she closed the gap between them, their lips touching softly in a kiss as light as air, but as soon as she felt the volt of energy run through her body she immediately threw herself away from him and only two soft, mumbled words could come out of her mouth- "I'm sorry."

Author's Note: So this chapter had a lot in it, and I really hope you liked it! I'm trying to speed stuff up a bit, and this chapter was a big leap in the right direction for some more romance/drama/craziness to happen! Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter, reviewed, and I even had some people add the story to their story alerts, so thanks! Please make sure to leave a review on this chapter letting me know what you thought.