Helpless
By: Lady Setsuna
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or SM so….leave me alone!
*Note:* None of the SM characters in the story were mad up, they did not however appear in the anime. They first appeared in the SM manga book 12.
Piccolo scowled as he hovered in the air overlooking the mountains that he now called home. Home, what an absurd word. He'd never known a home, like a nomad traveling from place to place. It had been a year after they'd defeated Cell and Gohan had realized that he'd no longer needed his former mentor; nor wanted him around. He grimaced angrily as he thought of Chi-Chi chasing him out of her house, saying that while Goku was not around, the last thing Gohan needed was a green monster influencing her son. He laughed bitterly; it was about time that that woman realized that. It was all for the better anyway, he needed no one; he never had anyone anyhow. Anyone who'd ever looked upon him, civilians rather, were always scared to death, looking at him in fear or screaming that he'd come and destroy the earth. He felt a smile creep to his lips, what a strange world this was. He'd have given his life to protect this Earth, yet these humans didn't even give a damn. What irony he thought as he took off across the snowy mountain range, his cape flapping behind him. He flew for a while, then gradually began feeling himself weighed down by his cape. His body felt strangely weak, and the sun shone painfully in his eyes. "What the…" he said wearily as he plummeted into the ground
***
A raven-haired girl wearing a dark blue dress looked up from where she was gathering herbs and looked curiously at the falling light. She dropped her basket and ran towards it.
Piccolo stirred as he felt something cold pressed on his forehead. His whole body seemed on fire and his head sported a splitting headache. He felt something stirring over his chest and a soft, smooth hand placed itself over where his heart lay. A moment later he felt a cold metal object placed. He tensed, nobody had ever touched him in a way like this before, he grabbed the hand and snapped his eyes open. He saw a young girl with jet-black hair, around the age of 17 holding what looked like a stethoscope. She looked surprised, but strangely unafraid. Upon opening his eyes, he felt his head pounding even more and quickly closed them. He groaned inwardly; what is wrong with me?! His inner self screamed at him. He'd near felt remotely close to this helpless before. "Are you alright?" asked the girl in concern. Neither had he been looked after by a girl. He didn't know whether to accept her gracious offer or be angry at this humiliation. Before he could say anything, he heard the faint sound of a door opening them slamming and talking. "…are you sure? Your said she found what?!" asked a male voice. It sounded strangely familiar, but his mind was too scrambled to register it. He heard footsteps approaching then a gasp. Piccolo waited for a scream, he was then surprised when he heard none. Even more when the person asked, "Piccolo…are you alright?" he opened his eyes and saw Trunks hovering over him. "What's going on?" he asked in a hoarse hostile tone. "My fiancée's sister said she found you on a cliff near her house" he said as he motioned towards the girl besides him. Piccolo looked from the girl besides Trunks to the one that had been taking care o him, then back. They looked identical. "Am I hallucinating?" he mumbled as he closed his eyes and shook his head. "Don't worry, you're not. Let me introduce them. This is my fiancée Phobos and her twin sister Deimos. "Piccolo sighed inwardly as he felt another wave of pain flow over him and his consciousness leaving him. He sure damn hoped that this was a dream.
For the next week after Piccolo had awakened to meet the twin sisters, he stayed in a deep unconscious sleep. He didn't care anymore what happened to him. He no longer had anything to live fore. The ones he had cared for had deserted him, the people of Earth, the innocent that he'd gone out of his way to protect shied from him. He just didn't care anymore. Thus he slept on.
After what seemed like merely hours, Piccolo awoke. He looked at the clock besides the bed. 3:00 p.m. it read. How long have I slept, he wondered. He turned to see a figure slouched in a chair besides him asleep. It was the same girl that saved him from the mountains. Deimos wasn't it? Has she been by my side this whole time? He asked himself. Stupid human, probably wants something, like all the rest of them. He attempted to sit up and found that he was weak, despite the fact that the pain was gone. She stirred slightly and woke up. She smiled shyly at him, "How are you feeling?" His face remained apathetic, "fine." She seemed slightly taken aback but continued, "You had a pretty bad virus there, most humans would've died. You're pretty strong." She said in her soft flowing voice. Piccolo didn't respond, he had nothing to say. Deimos sat there a while waiting for a response. When none came, she stood up to leave then Piccolo spoke, "How'd you get me here?" She turned around and smiled faintly, "I have my ways." Before he could say more Trunks came walking in, closely followed by Phobos. "How's he sister?" asked Phobos who was dressed in a red dress. Deimos yawned quietly, "A lot better." Meanwhile Piccolo was talking to Trunks. "What're you doing here? I thought you left for the future?" asked Piccolo. Trunks grinned, "That was before I met Phobos. Man, what a girl. What do you think of her sister? Isn't she something?" Piccolo smirked, "What am I supposed to think?" Trunks looked expectant, Piccolo looked slightly confused, "What." Trunks looked exasperated, "It's not everyday you come across a girl like her." Piccolo growled, realizing what Trunks was trying to do. "Pathetic." He muttered. Trunks looked confused then shrugged. Like Krillin, he thought it wise not to get on the bad side of a Namek, especially one named Piccolo. Soon after Trunks and Phobos left silence reigned and both people in the room looked at each other uneasily. Deimos looked at Piccolo in interest, so this was Trunks' friend's mentor. She'd gone with Phobos and Trunks to visit his friends and family and he'd introduced them to her. When Trunks asked where Piccolo was, the woman named Chi-Chi scowled and Trunks' friend Gohan looked slightly uneasy. A short man had pulled Trunks over and began talking to him in a whispered tone. She'd seen Trunks' eyes get large as the story went on. When she'd asked who was Piccolo, Trunks had said it'd been Gohan's mentor. She'd never expected him to look like this. In reality, Piccolo, despite being green and an alien, wasn't too hard on the eyes. She was knocked out of her thoughts as she heard rustling as Piccolo attempted to get out of the bed, unsuccessfully. Deimos went to him and put her hands on his shoulders, sitting on the side of the bed. "Don't get up, you need to save your strength." She said softly. Piccolo closed his eyes and didn't respond. Deimos sighed and got up, leaving the room.
Over the next 2 days Piccolo slowly regained his strength. Deimos had chose to leave him alone and give him his privacy. Piccolo was glad of that; the last thing he needed was a human girl chattering over him. Finally one morning, Piccolo found that he could finally get up. He looked around for his gi and cape but his search was in vain. All that he had on was his extremely soiled pants. This would have to do he thought. He quietly left the room and saw that he was on the second floor of the building. He jumped over the railing and floated down to the ground. He found himself facing a kitchen. He saw Deimos wearing a navy blue apron; her nose buried in a cookbook that she held in her left hand and a ladle in her right. Piccolo felt a tug at his mouth that formed itself into a grin as he watched Deimos bustle around the kitchen. Piccolo's smile quickly faded as realization dawned on him at the smile on his lips and the weird feeling he had in his soul. He shook his head, must be the after-effects of the virus. Just then his nose picked up the smell of burning cloth as he saw that Deimos, oblivious of where she was walking, backing up into the stove and the back of her apron was beginning to burn. Before Piccolo realized what he was doing, he'd rushed over to her and pushed her down before the flames could consume the cloth. This ended up Piccolo kneeling over Deimos who had her cookbook covering half her face. "Watch where you're going." Snarled Piccolo. Deimos looked sheepishly at him, "Thanks." She said. They stared at each other awkwardly; then Deimos noticed the dirty state that Piccolo was in. She began a little uncomfortably, "Piccolo…do you want to take a bath?" Piccolo stood up and said nothing. She winced; hopefully she hadn't hurt his pride. Then to her surprise he spoke up, "Where?" She led him to the bathroom and showed him in. While he was in there, she went to fetch a towel and a pair of clean jeans and T-shirt that Trunks had graciously forgot to take home last time he and Phobos had stayed over. She then went back to the kitchen to finish cooking. She heard the water stop in the bathroom, then the door opened and Piccolo walked out. Deimos stared at him in interest; he looked a lot different with 'normal' clothing on. Piccolo noticed her stare, "Yes?" he asked. "You er…look nice." Said Deimos. Piccolo smirked, "Thanks." He said and went back into the bathroom to gather up his things.
A week had passed and things hadn't changed between Deimos and Piccolo. Deimos looked out the clear sliding door that divided her room from the balcony where Piccolo sat hovering slightly above the ground meditating. She smiled at his serious figure; she was a healer, a healer of the body, able to treat anything from the slightest cold to the most serious of injuries. She never knew that she one day would be a healer of hearts. She'd finally found out from Trunks what Krillin (that was the short guy's name) had told him the day he'd taken her to visit his friends. Apparently there was a great battle with a monster named Cell. Because of the battle, Gohan's father had been killed (she wasn't very clear on that part.) Anyhow, after the battle Piccolo had stayed with Gohan while he'd gone back to school. At school people made fun of Gohan, mostly for the fact that a green monster named Piccolo stayed at his house. Gohan had told him mother about it and she'd chased Piccolo out of the house. Poor Piccolo, she thought. From what he'd gathered from Trunks, all of Piccolo's life he'd been hard and cruel, with a hard wall of stone covering his heart, never letting love or any emotion penetrate it. Then the kindly Goku had befriended him, allowing Piccolo's wall to crack slightly. He then became Gohan's mentor, Gohan's happy and cheerful nature and finally crumbled the last of Piccolo's wall and he'd finally allowed his heart to accept emotions. Then tragically came Goku's death soon after followed by the desertion of Gohan, the boy he'd come to love as a son. His soul had been torn and slowly bit by bit he'd built a wall up. When he tried to live in with civilization, he'd been scorned, laughed at, and people had even tried to kill him (not that they could). Thus he'd grown hostile to the world and hated mankind. Again he'd built the wall up; this time gilded in lead and even harder to penetrate. Deimos sighed, despite being together for nearly a month, Piccolo had remained as apathetic as he'd been when he'd first came. Despite what she had expected at first, healing his heart would probably be even more of a challenge than she'd thought. Piccolo didn't speak much and if he did it was in emotionless tone. He never laughed, smiled…come to think of it he rarely showed any emotion whatsoever. Suddenly she got an idea and went to the sliding door and slid it open, "Piccolo, do you want to go shopping with me?" Piccolo opened his eyes and scoffed, "I'd rather not." Deimos was persistent, "Come on, you never do anything but train and meditate." Piccolo shrugged, "I don't see how that is any of your concern…" Before he could finish speaking or figure out what was going on, Deimos was dragging him down the stairs and soon into the garage. "Get in." said Deimos firmly pointing at her jeep. Piccolo blinked as he stared at the strange vehicle. "How?" he asked annoyed. "What?" Deimos asked confused. "Please don't tell me you've never been in a car before." Piccolo shook his head. Deimos sighed, Piccolo may be one of the strongest fighters on the Earth but he knew absolutely nothing about technology and such. She opened the door for him and he got in. Before long they were driving along the road on their way towards the store. Piccolo groaned, he still hadn't realized how he ended up here. Stupid human machinery, flying was a lot faster. Before long they'd arrived and they stood facing the tall 2-story building that read 'Wal-Mart' at the top. He and Deimos entered and Deimos took a shopping cart and a list out. He followed behind her as they walked around. She stopped by to look at some women's clothing. Piccolo stood, annoyed. This was one thing he hated about women; their shopping habits. He'd heard from Trunks what Phobos called enjoyment; walking around in stores buying clothing. He sighed, as he wandered to a cluster of hangers next to where Deimos was browsing that contained strange pieces of cloth. Some of them were lacy and others were silky. He picked one up and tapped Deimos on the shoulder, "What's this?" Deimos turned a deep shade of red as she saw what Piccolo had picked up; a black lacy bra. "Ai!" she said as she grabbed it from him and placed it on the hanger, pulling him somewhere else. Piccolo stared at her strangely but decided not to ask; strange humans. Next Deimos headed towards an aisle with shelves containing rows upon rows of bottles. She looked at them and occasionally took one down and put it in her cart. After reading them for a while he found that they were medicine bottles to treat things such as headaches, stomachaches, colds, fevers, etc. He rolled his eyes, the things humans needed. After Deimos had picked up what she needed they headed to yet another aisle filled with food. Deimos, again, went picking through the shelves picking up what she needed. Piccolo, by this time was getting pretty restless and he leaned against one of the shelves. To his surprise and Deimos' horror the shelf toppled which fell on top of another, then another , then another, creating a domino effect. Soon all the shelves in that row was toppled over and there was a huge crowd gathered around them. Deimos moaned and put her head in her hands, this was NOT supposed to happen. After calming down the raving manager, and paying him for the damage Piccolo had caused (which was not a small amount…it came to 4 digits) Deimos had left the store fuming. "I am NEVER taking you anywhere." She said turning around and poking Piccolo in the chest. Piccolo smirked, "Hey, I never wanted to go in the first place." At that remark Deimos seemed to turn purple, that remark had finally discarded her of the last of her patience towards him. Hell with trying to heal his heart, right now all she wanted to do was to maim him. "Ugh! You're impossible you know that?! Try being nice to you and see what I get! You know what, you are the most unappreciative, insensitive and impossible person I've ever met! The least you could do is say sorry! But no, I guess you're too…"before she could finish she felt a weight on her lips as Piccolo pulled her to him and pressed his lips to hers hard. Her eyes went wide with surprise and didn't know how to respond, but her senses told her to return his embrace and she did just that. Deimos never realized that a person could go so long without air as she finally let go; however reluctantly. Piccolo smiled slightly at her, "Just because I act insensitive doesn't mean I don't have any emotions." She grinned at his smile, it looked good on him and helped to soften his complexion, "That still doesn't get you off the hook." He grinned, "I never was on the hook." He said as he pulled her up into the air. He expected her to be scared but instead she seemed as if she'd been used to being up so high. "What about the car?" she asked. He took off a short distance and dropped her off by the car and whispered in her ear, "I'll meet you back home." He said and took off. Deimos sighed, she'd been planning to only open his heart to love, she hadn't expected to open hers.
***
6 months later:
Piccolo took off towards Trunks and Phobos' house. He'd told Deimos that he'd meet her there. First, however, he needed to do something. He headed towards where Krillin's house was located and before long arrived. He knocked on the door waiting for a reply. It was awkward for him to admit but he needed to ask Krillin for some advice. He was surprised when a woman answered the door. It was Juuhachigou, his newly we d wife, the beautiful yet deadly android 18. She crossed her arms in front of her, "Yes?" Piccolo returned her emotionless gaze, "Is Krillin there?" She nodded and showed him in. She went in to get Krillin and before long Krillin came in. He greeted Piccolo with a wide grin, "Hi Piccolo, how's everything?" "I need some advice." He said. Krillin was surprised, now this was a first, Piccolo had never in his entire life ever asked anyone for advice. He felt honored and sat up taller, "What is it?" he asked, curiosity filling his voice. Piccolo shifted uneasily in his seat, "How did you ask Juuhachigou to marry you?" Krillin face-faulted. "What?!" Piccolo coughed, this was really hard for him to get out "How did you ask Juuhachigou to marry you?" he asked again. Now Krillin was dying with curiosity, "So…who's the lucky girl." Piccolo groaned, maybe asking Krillin for advice was a bad idea. "Will you just answer the question?!" he asked annoyed. Krillin grinned, "It was nothing, I just went up to her and said, 'Hey, would you like to marry me?' and she immediately said yes…" Just then her wife, who had placed herself conveniently within hearing range burst out laughing, "Krillin, stop lying. Piccolo, Krillin didn't even ask me to marry him. He turned all red and never finished his sentence. It was Yamcha who finished it." Krillin turned a deep scarlet red and looked sheepish. Piccolo groaned, this didn't help him whatsoever. "Heh…at least it all worked out." Said Krillin timidly. "Just tell her how you fell, I'm sure if she truly loves you she'll say yes." Said Juuhachigou with a smirk. Piccolo nodded and stood up, thanked the couple and left. On the way to Trunks' house he kept thinking about Juuhachigou's words, "…if she truly loves you she'll say yes." What if she didn't? What if Deimos only saw him as a beast, yet treated him kindly because of pity? He shook his head thinking of their life together those 6 months together. Deimos had been the first he'd loved in a year. He'd opened his soul to humanity and show him that maybe not all of mankind was as cruel hearted as he'd first thought it. He arrived at the house and flew towards the back towards the balcony that was part of the room that Deimos usually occupied whenever he visited. His ears picked up voices and decided to listen. There were two voices, both sounding like the other, he picked out Deimos' immediately and found that the other was Phobos'. "…could never love a monster." Said Deimos. Piccolo felt his chest tighten but continued to listen. "I'm sure he'll understand." Said Phobos. He heard a sigh from Deimos, "It would never work out. Besides, he'd probably be furious if he finds out that I was pretending the whole time." He didn't stay to hear anymore and took off. He was in complete blind rage, pretend?! So that what she was doing the whole time. Leading him on to pretend that she loved him and causing him to opening his heart once again to love. What an ass he'd been, believing that anyone would love a person like him. He felt his heart solidify, never again he thought angrily would he allow himself to be such a fool.
***
It had been a week since Piccolo had overheard Deimos talking to her sister in private and he still felt the pain the words she said caused. He tried to rid himself of it by training himself to the limit. At the moment he was fighting in split form, putting his complete concentration in defeating his clone. He was in such concentration that he didn't notice the two figures approaching him. "Piccolo!" he heard an urgent voice call out to him. He was snapped out of him concentration, and at that moment his clone had taken the chance to slam him into the ground. He snarled and called for his clone to meld back into him. Once he'd done that he went to face the intruders. It was Trunks and Phobos. At the sight of Phobos he felt his heart wrench painfully, she reminded him so much of Deimos. He blinked back his thoughts and snapped angrily at the couple, "What do you want." He felt a sting across his face as Phobos slapped him angrily. He felt his hands tighten, if it weren't for the fact that he never hit women, well except for Juuhachigou, he would have punched her pretty hard. "Where have you been?! Do you know all the pain you've caused my sister?! Because of you she's…" "Why should I give a damn about her?!" He growled at her angrily. He saw Trunks' eyes flash angrily, "How could you say that Piccolo. She loved you and you know it. I know you're still bitter but didn't you have to lead her on, pretending that you cared for her?" he asked thinly. "Me lead her on?" he asked amused, "I'd never dream of stooping that low. I heard her talking to Phobos that day I was to meet you at your house. Ask Phobos, she'll tell you." He said, turning his gaze towards Phobos. He saw Phobos look even angrier, "If you heard then you would understand! She was afraid to tell you because she was afraid you'd leave her. Apparently she was right." Piccolo anger and fury could be held on no longer as he yelled bitterly at her, "Afraid of telling me that she didn't love me? That she thought I was a monster? And you said I was leading her on. I loved her Phobos, I loved her so much I'd die for her. And this is what I get in return. In return of forcing myself to open up to her. I guess I was right about mankind after all, they're nothing but people befriending you in order to get something from you!" he said vehemently and turned to leave. He felt a hand on his shoulder "Piccolo…she wasn't talking about you." Phobos said softly. Piccolo turned around, confused. "Then who was she talking about?" Phobos sighed, "She was talking about herself. Piccolo, Deimos and I aren't human." Piccolo turned to Trunks who nodded in agreement. Piccolo waited for her to say more, "We're crows. Or basically crows that can taken on human shape." Piccolo stood there frozen, this was NOT what he'd expected. Phobos continued, "We were sent from the past to guard our princess of fire. She was the princess of the planet Mars and when she was reincarnated onto this Earth, we followed. Here, I'll show you." With that Phobos closed her eyes and slowly she began changing. Her body began shrinking and her skin became feathers, and before he knew what had happened she was a crow. Piccolo felt the pain he'd felt on his heart fade away as he thought over the information he'd just received. So Deimos did love him. Phobos changed again, this time she was wearing a red leotard-like garment that had a dark red star over her chest. In her right hand she carried a black raven's feather. What was odd was the fact that she was about a foot tall and she had wings on her back. No wonder Deimos wasn't afraid of flying, thought Piccolo as slowly everything began piecing itself together. "Where is she now?" asked Piccolo suddenly as Phobos was changing back to 'normal'. Phobos and Trunks' face turned grim and he glimpsed the glitter of tears in Phobos' eyes, "That's what we came to see you for. Remember the virus that you came down with, well recently it has been going around this city. Deimos got it from one of the patients she was healing. Normally she would have been immune to it, but because she was in grief she'd caught it. That was 3 days ago, and right now she's at the border between life and death. We thought if we found you, she might have a will to live…" "Where is she right now?!" he said cutting of Trunks, urgency filling his voice. "We put her in the care of Chi-Chi before we…"Before he could finish Piccolo took of flying towards the house.
He didn't care that returning to the Son household would bring back too many painful memories, he wouldn't lose Deimos again. He mentally kicked himself over and over again, because of his rage at the moment of hearing Deimos and Phobos' conversation that he hadn't considered talking to Deimos. He put on an extra spurt of speed and arrived at Gohan's house in a matter of minutes. The door had luckily been left open and he burst in, surprising Chi-Chi and Gohan who was in the sitting in the front room. He saw Gohan's lit up slightly at the sight of him. "What are you doing here?" asked Chi-Chi in a hostile tone, standing in his way. He pushed her roughly aside (which managed to slam her into the ground.) and went to the interior rooms looking for Deimos. After a few moments of searching he finally found her lying on a bed, her face pale and her breathing shallow. He picked her up in his arms and shook her, trying to awaken her, "Please Deimos, don't leave me." He begged desperately. Deimos didn't respond and Piccolo felt his soul tighten, "Please don't leave me!" he cried angrily. He pressed his lips against hers and kissed her fiercely attempting to bring life to her limp form, he closed his eyes and images of the beautiful girl flashed across his eyes. It just wasn't fair, he'd finally loved someone and the moment he did, she'd been taken from him. And it'd been entirely fault. He felt moist tears run down his face as he hugged her even more tightly to him. He couldn't lose her, he just couldn't. Suddenly he felt what felt like angels' wings brush against his face and a soft light shine down at him. He felt Deimos' body fill with warmth and her warm lips returning his kiss. He pulled away from her and opened his eyes and found that she was staring back at him. "They decided to give us another chance." She said as she smiled at him. Piccolo felt more tears streaming down his face as he felt her embrace him tightly, as if afraid to let go. He remembered faintly the thoughts that'd gone through his mind the day he'd woke up in a strange bed, the thoughts of helplessness of the inability to be in control of his physical body. So helpless that he'd needed to depend on her. He felt the same thoughts running through his mind; but this time instead of his body, it was his soul. His soul felt so helpless, so helplessly in love with her that he felt that he couldn't live without her. He smiled, she hadn't only healed his body but also his heart. And strangely, he liked this feeling of helplessness, for it opened him up to more emotions and feeling than he thought existed. He felt the weight of her body against his and sighed, and this was the girl who'd caused it.*
Hi! How'd you all like it? Sorry if it was a bit sappy or poorly written, this took me about 2 days to write (unlike my other ones.) Also it was my first attempt at a DBZ fanfic. ::grins:: hope you all liked it and please R&R ^.~
~Lady Setsuna