A REALLY big disaster waiting to happen
Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z belongs to Akira Toriyama, not me, and I make no money from this fic at all.
"What kind of party did he say it was again?" Larania asked, confused.
"Formal," Piccolo answered, as he watched the dragon start to eat the horse she had caught and killed. He didn't know if it was funny or not- that they were talking about a party while she was eating raw meat.
"Did you ask him when it was?" Larania continued, still daintily eating her kill. They were at the beach again, and Larania, while not sitting on the eggs, was still guarding them. They had left the Lookout when she had realized they had forgotten her glaive, and she cursed herself for her foolishness.
"There wasn't enough time. And, while we are on the subject, WHY wouldn't you let me say no to him?" Piccolo growled, sitting cross-legged in the air while she ate.
"I didn't force you to do anything. I just glared. As for why: he looked almost desperate for you to go. You are his friend, right? I don't think he wanted to actually go to the party either. Those things are boring as hell. He also looked like he wanted your support. So, what's worth more? Helping your friend, or avoiding some discomfort?"
Piccolo found himself glaring.
"Fine, now YOU bring logic into it!"
They had wound up heading towards the eggs after finding the weapon- which Piccolo found himself looking at with interest.
Of course, now he was watching Larania in gruesome fascination as she ate, so he was a little distracted from the pole arm.
The dragon snorted. "What goes around comes around."
Piccolo groaned. "Can't you say something other than clichés?"
Larania didn't dignify that with a comment, but continued eating.
The horse was rapidly reduced to nothing but bones, and even that was cracked and sucked for marrow.
"Can you ask him when it is?" she said, burying the remains of her meal, and going back to him. Piccolo frowned again, and nodded, closing his eyes, and he sent a thought at Gohan.
He nearly fell over with the strength of the answer.
"It's a week from now. Uh, he was wrong, semi-formal. I don't have to wear a tux. Uh…"
He clutched his head painfully. Gohan was still yelling out things jubilantly. It made his mental ears ring.
He was surprised when cool fingers pressed against his forehead, rubbing gently. Piccolo's eyes shot open, seeing a human face in front of him, and Larania jerked away.
"Sorry," she muttered, and went to find her bag, and pulled clothes on. Her face was red in the light of the setting sun.
Piccolo swallowed hard. She hadn't willingly touched him since that night- he'd either been the one touching, or there was no real choice.
"Why?" he asked, and she looked back at him.
She stifled a sigh. "You looked like you were in pain. I can't leave anyone in pain if I can help it. Too many people have walked by me when I needed help, and I found I couldn't do the same. Even if it annoys people," she ended with a smirk.
"You're a mother hen?" Piccolo couldn't help but say, and Larania winced, looking back to the eggs.
"What do you think he, she, or they will look like?" she whispered, and Piccolo shrugged.
"If it's a girl… maybe your hair, but my coloring? A boy… with your coloring, but looks like me?" Piccolo said softly, feeling that odd emotion he had earlier. His throat closed up and his eyes seemed to sting.
"I don't know… I hoped to keep from having kids- I don't want to drag anyone innocent into this stupid mess…"
Piccolo looked over at her- they had been watching the night fall. She looked like something was bothering her. Well, that was understandable; stuff had been bothering him too.
"Have you thought about names?" Larania asked, not looking at him.
Piccolo shook his head. "In my family… its tradition to name children after musical instruments."
"Mine, its to have an "ara" sound in the middle. My father was named Darath… though his brother tried to change that… "
"They deserve their own identity, not one that was given out of some tradition," Piccolo said softly, thinking of his own name.
Larania nodded.
"Can you think of anything?"
"Not yet."
~*~*~*~*~
Piccolo growled to himself as he pulled the long black duster over his white silk shirt. He hated wearing anything like that. His usual gi and cloak where elegant and comfortable. How DARE that girl make him do this.
Then he grimaced. She'd had a point, though. Gohan had needed him to be there...
A low whistle came from behind him, and he winced, turning around to see Larania standing behind him, staring plainly.
Piccolo looked down at himself. Black, loose pants, white shirt, with a white shirt tucked in, but the collar was unbuttoned, along with two others, showing the top of his pectorals and taut beater underneath. Black and white saddle shoes should have looked odd... but they didn't.
Larania had cocked her head to the side, and was giving him a once over, like she thought something was missing. She thumbed her nose thoughtfully, and her face brightened. Piccolo felt a sudden dread when she headed back to her room.
She exited a moment later, holding something. A silver necklace, forged in the image of a dragon, with a pair of ruby eyes. Jumping up, she placed it around his neck, and placed it around his throat just so.
Piccolo froze, and touched the textured metal around his neck...
"The outfit needed a finishing touch," she said, before heading back to her room. Piccolo frowned, noticing she hadn't been ready, when she came out again. It was Piccolo's turn to stare.
The dress was of a Chinese cut, but fit very closely in the bodice. He swallowed hard. Too closely, in his opinion. It was made out of green silk, and embroidered with gold dragons and shimmered when she moved. From the waist, it fell in graceful folds, almost to her ankles, but for a long slit to her right thigh. Her red hair, instead of tied back the way it usually was, was held in place by two ebony and emerald combs, and he realized it hung to mid thigh. At the base of her throat, an intricate knot of silver rested, with an opal in its center. Lace up sandals completed her outfit.
Piccolo wondered why his throat was dry, and why he seemed to have rooted himself to the Lookout.
"Are you two going to leave?" said a voice. Larania and Piccolo turned to look at Dende, who was watching them carefully.
"You've been standing there for fifteen minutes."
Piccolo and Larania looked at Dende in surprise, and then refused to look each other in the eye. Wordlessly, Piccolo picked the tall woman up, trying to ignore that he rather liked the feel of her skin and silk at the same time against his chest, and walked off the Lookout.
~*~*~*~*~
"I wonder when Mr. Piccolo is going to be here?" Gohan asked, walking around the entrance to the massive Satan mansion, running his fingers through his hair ever so often, making it stand on end even more than usual.
Videl smiled and gently squeezed his arm. "Don't worry about it. He's just being fashionably late."
"He said he would be here… he said he would…"
Gohan was so busy brooding and pacing that he didn't notice what looked at first to be a perfectly ordinary, tall man, escorting his petite girl friend.
Then they came closer… and it took them a longer time to make the walk then it should have…
"Is that Mr. Piccolo?" Videl asked, nudging Gohan to look. He raised his eyes; not expecting anything, then did a double take.
As the pair got in range, you saw how truly LARGE they were- one very tall woman, and a giant green man.
"PICCOLO?" Gohan gaped, while Larania covered her mouth to hide a smile. Piccolo just grumbled.
"You look GREAT!" Gohan shouted, looking him over. Piccolo grumbled and sighed.
"Let's get this over with," Piccolo muttered, and offered Larania his arm again. She lightly put a hand on it, and they walked in, Videl grinning great big at Gohan.
"You're right, Gohan, they make a great looking couple," she whispered, and Gohan nodded.
"I wanted it to be a surprise to everyone inside, so I didn't tell them about it, but I can't wait to get Piccolo to show Larania off." He smirked. "It's a good think she's there, or Piccolo would have to start beating off girls with a stick!"
~*~*~*~*~
Piccolo felt the eyes on him as soon as they entered. His mind had already registered the ki of the other Z warriors, but it was another thing entirely to see them looking back at him, and at the person he was escorting.
But the eyes of others hit him as well. Eyes that looked at him did not recognize what he was, and were either filled with curiosity or revulsion as they noticed his green skin. Since he hadn't taken his hat off yet, there was no one screaming about Daimou, but that was only a matter of time.
A hand clamped down on his tightly, nails cutting into his arm, and he nearly jumped, and turned to see Larania. Her face was about as pole axed as his was, he thought. Then her expression changed, so quickly that he thought he had imagined it, to one of false cheer.
What the hell about a party would scare her? Worse than it does me?
"Hey, Piccolo!" called a cheerful voice, and he turned to see Son heading towards them with a plate piled high with party foods, Chichi holding a glass of champagne and trailing behind him.
"DAD!" said Gohan, who had entered after Piccolo, and was waving him over. "Come and meet Piccolo's girlfriend!"
"I am NOT-" Larania started to yell, when Piccolo poked her ribs.
"Wow, Piccolo, you lucky dog, you!" he said, and slapped the green man on the shoulder. "She's a looker! Where did you find her?"
Piccolo and Larania both opened their mouths to answer, but didn't get the chance. Vegeta had heard Goku's chatter, and he headed over, and leered at Larania. She couldn't help but bristle at the look, like she had been judged and found wanting.
"Well, the Green Bean found a woman. I thought your kind were asexual," sneered the short man in front of her, and Larania seethed. "What's this female? Is she really a she?"
"Be nice, Vegeta," said someone else, and Larania turned to a blue haired woman, dressed elegantly and expensively.
"Hello, you must be Piccolo's girlfriend? I'm Bulma Briefs," the woman said, and Larania did her best to stop the instinctive curtsy. She did dip her head, and used the opportunity to calm her face.
Vegeta reminded her of one of her father's less pleasant advisors, one who had been very vocal about killing all the humans like the vermin they were. It turned out the old lizard had a sense of humor- but he was so old and stuck in his ways that he had nearly had a seizure when it was revealed that she was half human. Don't get mad; don't get mad…
"We aren't exactly dating, Vegeta," Larania said, keeping her face pleasant, even though it wanted to crack.
"Oh? Just keeping each other's beds warm?" he snickered, and Larania could sense Piccolo tensing beside her.
"Piccolo has been a perfect gentleman," she answered smoothly, while clamping a hand on the back of Piccolo's neck like a vice. He'd been on the verge of charging the other man.
In the last couple of days, she'd asked Dende some questions and gotten a few answers, as to whom these people were, and what they did.
Her first reaction had been," Oh, lady, more super powered martial artists…"
Then he'd thrown in aliens.
She growled then.
Then she realized she was growling in real life.
Bulma gave Vegeta a mischievous look. "Piccolo? Since you and the girl aren't dating, I'll show you around… I'm sure there are plenty of girls here who would be interested in a handsome devil such as yourself."
Both Piccolo's and Larania's jaws dropped, as Bulma grabbed Piccolo's arm and led him away.
"Oh, great," she muttered, watching them go. Her green security blanket was walking away, and she suddenly felt cold and abandoned, staring at his back forlornly.
Why was she thinking this? Looking around at the huge group of strangers, she knew why. They last time she had been to a formal party, it was for the council to announce they would kill her for being a half blood, with or without her father's consent.
At least it had been without… Her eyes stung at the thought, and she gritted her teeth. Gah, I don't know these people. Leave the past dead.
"Well, hello missy!" said a voice, and Larania turned to face an elderly man, who moved like a martial artist.
"Hello, sir," she said carefully. Why was he looking at her like that?
"I'm Master Roshi! They call me the god of martial arts around here…" he said, bowing slightly, and then up, smiling happily because he was eye level with her cleavage.
"A pretty girl like you must feel awfully out of place here," he said, still talking to her chest. Larania couldn't help it; she backed up two steps. The way he was leering at her was disgusting.
"I'll show you around! Pretty think like you, shouldn't be here all alone…"
Larania took another several steps backwards, looking around wildly for Piccolo. DAMMIT! She didn't know anything about the people here- could she kill this guy and get away with it? Or, maim him, at least a little?
"Oops!" he said, his head bumping into her chest while she was thinking, "old man like me… can't see a thing…" He put his hand out to 'catch' himself, and ended up groping her.
"I'll show you something," she hissed, and put her hand under his chin, and tilted his head up, morphing her eyes and baring her teeth.
"EESH!" he yelped, and stumbled backwards, while Larania reformed her face to human. He almost-but-not-quite started to run away.
"Old pervert," she muttered, and walked away… following her nose, she found the refreshment table, and raised an eyebrow. It looked delicious.
Then she looked up… and saw, what had to be Gohan's father, stuffing his face as rapidly as he could. Beside him, a black haired woman was telling him not to eat the table. Larania gaped, and strode over in time to snatch the last couple of chocolate covered strawberries before they were inhaled.
"Oh, hey again!" the man said, at least that was what she thought he said. His mouth was so full that he was spraying it all over the place, and the woman behind him was covering her face in embarrassment.
"Want some food?" again, she was pretty sure that was what he said… At least, when he thrust a couple of trays at her, she felt she had a good idea.
"Yes, thank you," she answered, and took, doing her damnedest not to cringe from his sticky hands.
He swallowed noisily, belched, and grinned hugely back, while the black haired lady started to fuss all over him with a napkin. "When did you start dating Piccolo?"
"Well, um, I'm not really dating him…" she stuttered, and there was a loud, raucous voice cutting through the crowd.
"YEAH! Honored guests, I would like to announce tonight, that my little girl is getting MARRIED! Come on up here you two!"
Together, Gohan and Videl went over to a man that looked like he had been swimming in hair grease…
"This is Son Gohan, and he is the ONLY person I have ever seen take care of my girl right! He's a scholar, and while he could never beat me in a fight, he loves my girl almost as much as I do! Now, all of you give him a hand! YEAH!"
The black haired man pumped his fist in the air, and the crowd gathered around the happy couple cheered. Looking over most people's heads, she spotted Piccolo, hunching in pain. Without thinking about it she started making her way to him.
Then Bulma was by his side, almost cooing, and Piccolo looked up at her in surprise. Neither he nor Larania saw the fuming Vegeta standing in a corner- but Bulma did.
She chuckled evilly.
Larania watched Bulma help him up, and give him a glass of champagne, and lead him to a seat. She couldn't explain the feeling that settled in the pit of her belly, watching them. Had she eaten some lead?
She absently swallowed the snacks she had gotten and turned to walk away. She could barely make herself look… and smacked bodily into the greasy haired man from earlier.
~*~*~*~*~
Piccolo was wondering how the hell he was going to shake Bulma loose. She had been dragging him around the whole evening, introducing him to various females, all of who had responded by looking at him like he was a side of beef.
This was disturbing. He had faced many enemies in the past, all of whom had looked at him like a barrier to be destroyed, or an insect to be squashed. Never had they looked at him with that cold, calculating…
He suppressed a shudder. No wonder males and females had trouble getting along…
Then he looked up. Noticed that Larania was talking to someone. Noted that that person was Mr. Satan…
Piccolo did NOT know where this sudden surge of anger came from, both at her and Mr. Satan. He didn't like it… it wasn't like him to suddenly loose control like that…
Shaking his head to clear it, he was about to go over to her to say something about her going after someone else, when there was an explosion from the door.
Turning, he and the other Z Senshi immediately went on guard, but Piccolo heard Larania gasp.
The intruders looked like reptiles that walked on two feet…
To be continued!
