The Torment 18: The Visit
Disclaimer: I wish I owned it, then I wouldn't be sitting
here writing fanfiction, right?
A/N: People keep yelling at me to get Piccolo to see the
light. It'll happen, it'll happen, but I have to have a little more fun with
him first.
Goku
cuddled the wiggling form of Imp to his chest, as he flew back to his house in
the Black Forest.
The little
girl was still a delight to him, as she took in everything she saw, and would
give him her observations in a grave voice.
It bothered
him, though, that Piccolo didn't want his son to know that he was a father.
There was no real reason, in his mind.
He would
have to ask again, and try to get Piccolo to understand. So what if Piccolo was
a Namek? He knew they loved each other.
Imp pointed
suddenly, at the house below them, and Goku stopped. He was glad no one saw him
shoot by, because he had been thinking so hard.
He needed
to talk to Piccolo again, alone, without Imp there. Maybe he could help the
Namek.
Settling
down to the ground, he walked in the house.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I'm back!"
he shouted, and there was a stomping of feet as Goten greeted them, followed by
Gohan.
"Hey, wow,
is that Piccolo's kid?" he asked, not having made the distinction between 'kid'
and 'student'.
"It sure
is!" Goku answered, and then saw Gohan.
"Not that
they are related or anything- I mean, she doesn't look a thing like Piccolo-
right?"
Imp, Goten,
and Gohan looked at Goku like he was crazy.
Well, maybe
they were right.
"Can I hold
her dad?" Goten asked, and Goku nodded. Imp was having the time of her life, as
Goten picked her up, and tossed her in the air.
Gohan
watched their antics, grinning. "I'm surprised that Piccolo let you take her.
He's very protective of his children."
Gohan meant
this in that any child he had trained, i.e. himself and now Imp. Goku didn't
know that.
He freaked
out.
"No, she is
not his kid! Did I say she was his kid? No, uh-uh, no way. They are not
related," he said emphatically, and everyone sweat dropped, even Imp. It was
her very first.
"Um… I'm
going to go spar with Piccolo now," Goku said, when he realized he had said
something wrong.
"But, I
thought you wanted to play with Imp-chan," Gohan said, taking the little girl
in his arms. She cooed, and wrapped her arms and tail around him, snuggling
close.
As Goku
practically ran out of the house, he overheard Gohan say, "I hope that when I
have kids, they are just like you."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Goku
grinned, thinking about what he heard.
"Maybe if I
tell Piccolo about Gohan saying he wished Imp was his, he will stop feeling so
worried about it," Goku mused to himself, as he flew over.
What he had
expected to find was Piccolo mediating by a waterfall. What he saw was Clair
sitting on a large rock, carefully combing out her hair.
"Weird," he
said aloud, and Piccolo-chan looked up at him.
"Why are
you in girl form?" he asked, and Piccolo-chan blushed slightly.
"Sometimes
it helps me meditate better if I comb my hair," she shrugged. "I really can't
do that as myself, now, can I?'
"Oh, I
guess that makes sense," Goku replied, putting his hand behind his head.
"I heard
Gohan say he wished Imp was his kid," Goku told her, and she looked at him,
eyes blank.
"I do think
it would be a good idea if you tell him," he said softly, and Piccolo-chan's
face turned pale.
"I want
to," she answered. "I want to so bad, it hurts, but every time I think about it,
I keep seeing that bastard- and what he might do to Imp."
She paused
for several moments, and sighed. "There are other things, as well. I love
Gohan, but does he love me, or Clair? Is am I Goku?"
"You're
Piccolo, aren't you?" he asked in confusion.
She
grunted. "I don't know. My father was Piccolo. I was created with all his
memories, but he would never have fallen in love with anyone, let alone your
son. Then I fused with Neru, and that gave me another set of memories to deal
with, and bits and pieces of another personality to deal with. Then, again,
when I fused with Kami… Technically, I became the same Namek I had been when I
arrived on this planet, but not. Not really. Add in being Clair, and dealing
with suddenly being human, I am very confused."
"If you are
all of those people, what's the big deal?" Goku asked.
"How can I
be all those people?"
"You are
you," Goku told her, like she was a child. "You are a mixture of all of those
people, but you aren't them. You can't be them, because they are dead and gone.
You have to live your life, no matter what else is hanging over your head. You
and Gohan are part of Imp, but she isn't you. Right?" She nodded slightly.
"Well, all
we have to do is get you back together with Gohan!"
"I don't
know if I can do that," she whispered, and shivered.
"Why NOT?"
he nearly screamed.
"Because-
because-" she started to quake.
Goku did
what he would do for any of his children. He picked her up, and gave her a bear
hug.
She started
to cry, and buried her face in his chest like a little girl.
Goku
instinctively knew this was what she needed. She had always been alone, both as
Clair, and as Piccolo. Gohan had helped, but she had never had someone like a
parent; she had always felt she must take care of Gohan.
Goku sighed,
and hugged her tighter. He had had his grandfather at first, then Master Roshi,
and Kami himself when he had needed adult comfort and guidance. Piccolo had
never had that, and despite being a Namek, he had needed it. From what he had
seen on Namek, they lived in communities, they needed people, not living alone
like Piccolo did.
He had
lived alone like Piccolo for so long, and it didn't bother him, but being alone
for the aftermath of his torture, it had been like a festering wound.
Goku
remembered what it had been like to see Gohan born. He remembered the pain that
Chi-Chi had gone through. It must have been awful for Piccolo, alone.
He let her
sob, for as long as she needed it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Imp!"
Goten shouted, as the baby Saiya-jin went running across the kitchen table. It
was at that moment she learned how to fly, it seemed, and took off to the
counter.
"Gohan,
catch her!" Trunks yelled. He had come over to visit his friend, and was
regretting it.
Gohan tried
to get a grip on the girl as she ran into the flour canister, breaking it, and
white went everywhere. Squeals of delight rang from the thick cloud.
"Where is
she? WHERE IS SHE?" roared Goten, and he dived into the powdery white.
They didn't
see her go into the living room.
They didn't
see her get into the crayons, and they didn't see her display her artistic
talent on the walls.
Wait a
minute, Trunks did find it…
"KAMI-SAMA!
What the hell?"
Brilliant
smears of green, red and blue were liberally coloring the once plain walls and
doors.
"HOLY KU-"
screamed Goten, before Gohan slapped his hand over his little brother's mouth.
"Not in
front of the baby!"
CRASH!
"Oh, Kami,
Mom is going to kill us," whispered Gohan, as they heard the good dishes being
broken.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Feeling
better?" Goku asked his friend and daughter in law.
Sniffing
loudly, she nodded, and Goku found a hanky for her to blow her nose on.
"See? Now
we can go get things right between you and Gohan," Goku said soothingly, and
smiled encouragement.
"Yeah, mm,
yes, you're right, much as I hate to admit it," she told his chest, and pulled
away.
"If you
ever tell anyone about this, I will have to kill you," she threatened, and Goku
laughed.
"It's a
deal."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"WHERE THE
HELL IS SHE NOW??" screamed Gohan, his own temper fraying.
Giggles
could be heard from the master bedroom.
"Oh, no,"
Trunks whispered in terror.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I wonder
if Imp is behaving herself?" Piccolo-chan mused aloud as they flew back toward
the Son residence.
"She is
such a sweet little girl, I don't think they'll have any trouble with her,"
Goku answered.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"She's
asleep?" Trunks asked.
All three
boys were sitting in the couch, among the wreckage of the living room, and the
rest of the house, completely worn out, staring blankly into space.
"Yes."
"Are you
sure she's asleep?"
"I said
yes."
"Thank
Kami."
Then there
was a baby-ish scream of terror from the bedroom that they placed Imp-chan.
"Don't
worry," Trunks told Gohan as he instinctively got up. "It's probably a
nightmare."
The screams
didn't decrease, though, and increased in pitch.
Then there
was a loud laughing.
All three
half breeds jerked in shock, and jumped outside.
There was
little Imp-chan, in a position that Gohan could still remember from his
childhood, when his uncle had kidnapped him.
Then, the
man grabbed her tail.
The screams
had been from fear, at first, now they were of pain.
"Tell the
demon that if he wishes to see his daughter alive, to come to the place that I
am sure he will…remember."
To be continued.