Chapter 9

Piccolo stood quietly while Chichi vented her formidable temper at him. Maybe being around some strong emotions would help wake Gohan up. Piccolo himself wished he had someone or something to punish for hurting his young friend.

"HEY!" Master Roshi rushed into the bedroom. "Who let Goten leave with our broken Saijin?"

Chichi paused in her tirade to look at the empty bed behind her. "Goten probably just took him home," she said.

"I'll go after them. Gohan is very dangerous in his current state." Piccolo strode toward the front door.

Chichi frowned and followed Piccolo. "What do you mean he's dangerous? I thought you said he didn't have any will. You think he'll hurt Goten?"

Piccolo paused with his back to the room. "He is very suggestable; he might do anything. No remorse, no regrets, no inhibitions, but nothing to drive him to act either. It's suggestions that will cause trouble. Whatever Goten says to him could have dire consequences."

Videl stood quietly, unnoticed, in the bathroom doorway. She heard what Piccolo told Chichi, and she wanted to scream. No will of his own, that inhuman monster had crippled the thing that really made Gohan special, his mind and soul. "I have to see him." It couldn't be as bad as Piccolo seemed to think. They said he might shake it all off. He had to shake it off. She'd make him okay. She thought she'd come to grips with the fact that she would probably loose Gohan eventually, but he wasn't leaving her yet, not like this.

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Goten and Gohan touched down in their front yard almost simultaneously. Goten kept looking at Gohan searchingly. His brother wasn't ever this quiet. "So let's go in and eat dinner," Goten said. Gohan nodded and followed him. Goten rubbed the back of his neck where the hairs were bristling. Nobody should be so quiet.

The kitchen table was loaded with bowls of food. Chichi was used to feeding young growing Saijins. Everything had happened so quickly, the food was still warm and steamy. Goten took his seat and Gohan emulated him. Every move Goten made, scooping out some potatoes, slurping his soup, Gohan would copy him. Goten started stirring his rice methodically, over and over, just because he was getting annoyed, but Gohan, unfazed, continued to imitate him. "Stop it," Goten shouted. "Just act normal. Eat like you normally do."

Gohan immediately stopped copying his brother. He could remember exactly how he normally would eat, even if he couldn't remember why.

After most of the food had been devoured, Goten pushed his seat away. "Wait here, okay. I want to get something." Goten ran out of the kitchen and upstairs. He had already made Gohan's birthday present. Sure he wasn't supposed to give it away quiet yet, but these were special circumstances. Presents always made people feel better.

Goten was back downstairs in a few moments with a purple and orange rumpled package behind his back. "Hey Gohan, come here." Gohan left the kitchen table and stood silently motionless in front of his brother. Goten presented the package with a flourish. "Open it, open it."

In one efficient motion the wrapping was removed and Gohan was left holding a lopsided orange picture frame. "Mom, gave me the picture for it. She made it at the last World Martial Arts Tournament. Do you like it?"

Gohan examined the present carefully. It was structurally unsound and the picture had, himself, Krillin, Vegeta, Bulma, Trunks, Master Roshi, Piccolo, Goku, Chichi, Goten, and Videl. It didn't occur to him to associate relationships like mother and father with the people in the picture. He still needed to answer Goten's question, 'did he like it?' Why would he like it? Why wouldn't he? "I don't know."

Goten frowned. "What do you mean you don't know? Either you do or you don't. You can't NOT know if you like something."

Gohan frowned down at the item. "I don't know." The binds of power which were sealing his emotions shifted and struggled to keep his will bound. The binding had lost its master, and Gohan's will was still fresh and strong beneath it. Goten's simple demand was pushing the spell to its limit.

"Goten, come here." Piccolo had finally arrived and was watching Gohan carefully.

Goten left his brother staring at his present. "What? I'm trying to help Gohan feel better. I gave him his birthday present early and we had dinner, but he's still acting real weird."

"You left your mother at Master Roshi's, and you were supposed to wait for her. She wants you to go back right now," Piccolo said. He steered Goten out the door.

"But Piccolo, what about Gohan?"

"I'll take care of him. Go." Piccolo returned to Gohan. "What are you doing?"

Gohan offered Piccolo the picture. "I'm examining my present."

Piccolo took the picture and almost-smiled. "It is a good picture." But it was an ugly thing that being had done to Gohan. Now they needed time to figure out what to do with him until he got better, assuming he did. "You should be in bed. Go to sleep and stay there until I come and wake you tomorrow." Gohan obeyed Piccolo without question. Piccolo shuddered at the blind compliance, an ugly thing. He left the picture on the entry-hall table and headed back to Master Roshi's. There was a lot to discuss.

Gohan lay on his bed and closed his eyes. He was supposed to sleep, but he couldn't. He needed to know if he liked the picture. Goten asked him if he liked it and he had to know one way or the other. He couldn't not know. Like a taunt rope unraveling, the spell binding his emotions let one desire escape. He wanted the picture. He needed to see it and figure it out. And another bit of his will broke free, he wasn't going to sleep until he understood it. Gohan pounded down the stairs and searched through the house methodically.

"There," he whispered. He slid his picture off the table and headed back to his room. On his bed, he sat and stared at the photo by moonlight, reciting the names of the people who were staring back at him. Do I like it? The spell began to unwind more rapidly and tears sprang to his eyes. He remembered, Mom and Dad, and his brother, and Videl… He remembered happiness and love, and sadness and fear. He remembered losing his father and seeing him again before they fought Buu. It was all so overwhelming, like living his whole life again in a matter of seconds. He'd been empty and now he was full.

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Videl stared up at Gohan's window. She could just see his profile. "I can rile him up, get his emotions pumping." She jumped into the air and hovered for a moment outside his window. He turned to look at her and she gasped. He was crying. God, he was okay. Videl pulled the window open and crawled inside. Like she was afraid they weren't real she wiped the tears on Gohan's cheeks. "You're really crying. You're okay?"

Gohan wanted to shout he was so full of energy. Videl touching him sent him through a hundred degrees of love and lust that felt so good. He hadn't been cut off from his emotions for very long but it might as well have been forever. Now he just wanted... He kissed her and tried to share some of the sweet emotions burning at his brain with her, to show her what he was feeling.

Videl pulled back, a little shocked by the kiss that took her breath away. He was definitely feeling something.

"I'm sorry. Everything just feels so much better, sweeter, than it did. It was like I was dead inside, but not anymore." He touched her face. "I wanted to know what it would feel like to kiss you. Really kiss you. So I did."

Videl felt tears slip over her lashes. "Why don't you check again, just to be sure we both know what it feels like?" It all seemed so ludicrous now, the fear that had made her try to distance herself from Gohan, and the emotions she had for him. Every second they were apart was a waste.

The second kiss was longer, slow and sweet. Videl pulled back one last time. "I love you."

Gohan ran his hands along her shoulders and kissed all the bruises and cuts he could see. "I know. I loved you first."