For disclaimer, seek ye the first chapter.
Author's Note:
How's about this for updates guys? Two in one day! (Saying FF.net will let me on this time…*Grumbles*) At any rate, Your comments have been a wonderful pusher for this lazy author. And I swear I'm going to thank you until I'm blue in the face! Or, maybe not that much ^_^() Now then, what does Sharpner here have up his sleeve? Read, review, and ENJOY!
Sharpner's Trick
He would have preferred it to be dark. But it wasn't. The room was quazi dark. It should have been pitch black. But some intelligent person beyond him had installed a non-removable nightlight. Gohan flopped onto his stomach. Actually the light wasn't the problem. It was the bloody bunk. OK, honestly it wasn't that either. It was him.
To put it bluntly, Gohan was afraid to go to sleep. With sleep came nightmares. Especially here. The way a person was treated when imprisoned, one started to feel depression in short order. With nightmares came waking up. That wasn't bad. But for a guard to walk in a Great Saiyaman screaming in his sleep…. How does one explain that?
Not to mention that nightmares generally induced sweating. Gohan really wanted a shower. More than that, he wanted a real meal. A hearty, filling, meal. A tasty, delicious, homemade supper. And more than that, he wanted terribly to sleep. Besides the weird little cat naps he had managed to get in. To really sleep. In a soft bed with Videl's warm body beside him…
Gohan blinked and sat up. Where had that come from? One night drunk with Videl sleeping on top of him and his subconscious suddenly had very strange ideas it was coming up with. Of course, the ideas weren't necessarily bad…. The demi-Saiyan pinched himself. This was no way for a decent young man to think! His mother would have a coronary on the spot!
The young man lay back down on his back and closed his eyes. He very much so hoped that the jury would find him innocent. Gohan needed to talk to Videl. The more time he spent in this rotting hole, the more he realized that he wanted Videl as more than a friend. And despite the things he lacked in a relationship, he hoped that maybe she would go for him too.
It took Gohan a moment, but he figured out that there was someone standing above him. His Ki senses told him as much, as well as who it was. Piccolo. Gohan, whose glasses were all ready removed for the evening, opened his eyes and greeted his mentor with a smile. "Hi , Mr. Piccolo!"
The Namek nodded, but did not return the greeting. Gohan sat up. "What are you doing here?"
Piccolo grunted. "You were to train with me this afternoon. When you did not show up, I became curious."
"Oh yeah. I'm sorry Mr. Piccolo."
"Hn. I would not panic about it, were I you. For what reason has the human populace chosen to put you in this place?"
Gohan slouched with a sigh. "I've been… well no. Great Saiyaman has been accused of murder. Suspected murderers need to be locked up."
"Murder? You would not commit such an act."
"No, I wouldn't, but apparently a lot of people think I would."
The Namek leaned back against the wall. "Tell them you are innocent of this deed and that they need to find the real culprit."
The half Saiyan shook his head. "I wish it were that simple Mr. Piccolo. The majority of the police force thinks I am guilty, so… they are not even looking for the real killer, I've been told. At least, not seriously."
"Then, if you know you are innocent," Piccolo stated, "Why is that you have allowed yourself to be held like a rabid beast in this place? For how long?"
"For three days. And until the trial on Friday. I want Great Saiyaman to be proven innocent. The only way to do that, is to use their methods. Including staying in here until the trial."
Piccolo snorted. "You do of course realize that is the logic of a mad man."
Gohan grinned. "I beginning to, yes. But I'm half way there and refuse to back out now."
"You always have been too stubborn for your own good. If these police officers can not see fit to assist in finding the real culprit, perhaps I should."
The demi-Saiyan blinked. "You would do that? Go out and search for the real murderer?"
"I can not decently keep track of my pupil's continued training while he is in here. Until you are allowed free again, I see that training will not even be a possibility. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that we find the real criminal and remove you from this place."
Gohan wore a small, secretive smile. Piccolo was going through a lot of effort to cover what they both knew. The Namek would do anything for his friend, including poking around to find a murderer. It also gave Piccolo something to do. Not that he would ever verbally admit to those reasons. Gohan stood and wrapped his arms about the Namek in a tight hug., just restraining a childlike giggle when he stiffened. "Thank you, Mr. Piccolo."
As if just realizing they were alone in the little room, Piccolo relaxed a bit and returned his pupil's hug. He was also the first to break from it. "I will leave you now, Gohan." and quietly, "You are, all right in here?"
"It's not like home, and I miss all of my friends, "Gohan looked significantly at Piccolo, "but I can make it. I've got a lot of people on the outside helping me, after all!"
The Namek snorted again, and with a flourish of his cape abruptly vanished. That was a trick that only the Namek seemed to know, along with knowing how to blow out every camera in a stadium. That was Mr. Piccolo for you though, always full of surprises.
His spirits much lifted by the visit, Gohan laid back down and tried to sleep again. This time, with more success.
******************
Erasa gasped loudly. "Murder? They think that Great Saiyaman committed murder?"
They sat in Miss Sweena's office, preparing to discuss what they had seen Saturday evening. Sharpner rolled his eyes. "Erasa, have you been living under a rock for the last couple of days? This has been all over the news."
"It has been? Oh…"
"You'd know that if you would bother coming to school."
"Hey, I've been sick! With…. the flu."
Chi Chi was once again conspicuously missing from the group. Bulma had sent her off on some tedious little mission. Neither Videl nor the blue haired woman truly wanted to deal with Chi Chi when she discovered this whole thing had begun at a drinking party. They would hold off that bit of news until the very last moment if at all possible.
Miss Sweena took over the conversation again. "I do not care weather you were at school or not lately, it is not my concern. We are here for Great Saiyaman's case."
The tone in her voice drew everyone's attention. "Good," smiled Sarah, "Now, I plan to ring every piece of information that I can out of you, if it kills one of us."
The group nodded their agreement. "Now then, is it true, Mr. Sharpner, Miss Erasa, that you were at a party on Saturday evening?"
The two heads bobbed in unison. "Good. Is it also true that Great Saiyaman was there at some point during the evening."
Suddenly seeing where this was going, Erasa smiled. "Yes…"
Sarah looked up at that, but let it slide to continue her questioning. "Uh huh. And at what time exactly would you say that Great Saiyaman showed up at this party?"
Sharpner considered. "About eleven Saturday evening."
Videl and Erasa nodded in agreement. "Eleven. And when did he leave?"
Videl crossed her fingers and hoped that Erasa and Sharpner would catch on to her game. She hadn't had the chance to talk to them before coming into the lawyer's office that morning. When Sharpner responded that Saiyaman had left with Videl at 1:15 Sunday afternoon, she sent a silent thanks to Dende.
Miss Sweena looked at the faces in the room. "Do you all agree with that time frame?"
Videl nodded, Erasa just squinched her nose. Sarah saw the hesitation. "Erasa, how about you?"
Beginning to panic, Videl decided that were Erasa to say the wrong thing, she would strangle the blonde herself. "Well, I don't really know when he left. I was kinda in the restroom then. I know it was way after that time when that other guy says he saw Great Saiyaman."
The young Miss Satan sent a second thanks to Dende. Sharpner spoke up again. "So, does that help?"
Sarah shook her head. "Only the slightest fraction, if what else I've been told is true."
"What's that?" asked Erasa.
"That all of you were also drunk at the time. The only benefit I have from you is that three of you saw the same thing. Drunk or not, that may stand up for something in court."
All three teens looked down at their feet. Sharpner shifted slightly and half made to raise his hand to ask a question, as if to a teacher, before correcting himself. "Would a picture help at all?"
All eyes in the room shifted to the blonde male. He squirmed. "What?"
Videl made her voice very calm and very exact. "You have a picture of Great Saiyaman?"
"Yes…."
"From Saturday night?"
"Yes… It's dated as well, if that helps."
Abruptly Videl was out of her seat, hands around Sharpner's throat throttling him. "What do you MEAN you have a picture and never bothered to say anything!"
Sharpner tried to answer, but choked instead. "You've known about Great Saiyaman being accused of murder since Monday, and you've just sat there on a piece of evidence like this!"
And then three sets of hands were pulling at her. Bulma, Erasa, and Sarah each trying to get her off of Sharpner, whose face was positively as red as a tomato. Lack of oxygen, said the logical part of her mind. That same part of her mind suggested that perhaps she should let him breath, or else another big name murder trial would be coming up soon.
Videl stepped back from the unfortunate man and pulled free from the three women who held her. Stalking off to a corner, she glowered at Sharpner. They allowed the boy a chance to recover before Sarah continued. "Sharpner, do you have this picture with you?"
Shying away form the glare in the corner, Sharpner nodded. "Yeah, its in my back pocket."
Miss Sweena smiled gently, "Could you pull it out for me?"
Looking cautiously at Videl, Sharpner moved slowly to do so. Holding it between to fingers, he handed it to Sarah. The woman's sweet smile promptly feel into an aghast stare. "You never said you guys got Great Saiyaman drunk as well!"
Videl's curiosity got the better of her, and she slunk around behind Miss Sweena to look at the picture as well. And very nearly cracked up laughing. It was Great Saiyaman all right, up on a table with a lamp shade in one hand and singing into a spoon. A drunken flush darkened his cheeks.
Erasa did break down into a giggling fit when she saw it, and Bulma laughed openly. Even Miss Sweena couldn't help but grin after a moment. Despite the amusement of the situation, the picture was indeed dated by the camera at the bottom. Sunday, March third, 12:16 AM.
Sharpner was the one glowering then, as he looked at Videl. "That's why I was sitting on that Videl, literally. I have enough respect for Saiyaman to not want to humiliate him that way if I didn't have to."
Miss Sweena's grin turned into a triumphant smile. "I don't care how much this will damage our hero's pride, it very nearly guarantees us a win in court! Between this picture and you three testifying, I think we'll have this wrapped up."
Every one in the room caught on to Sarah's excitement and cheered for the up coming court date. Videl shook her head. Gohan may hate her for this one later, but he would be out of prison to do it. Now all they needed to do was wait.
*Looks about* Forgive me, I found this quote, and enjoyed it so much I just had to share it.
"The Man who invented the eraser had the human race pretty well sized up." - Annonymous