Gaszha levitated several feet in the air, trying desperately to tune out the occasional wildlife sounds of the Mediterranean mesa. It was difficult for her to focus her ki and stay grounded, but Piccolo said it didn't matter where she was. Multi-form could be done anywhere.
She repeated her thoughts in a mantra. I'm in two places, I'm in two places… Two places… A hawk screeched in the distance, breaking her concentration, and she fell. "Dammit!" she screamed as she slammed her fists into the dried ground, causing a slight quake. "It's been three months, and I STILL can't get it right!"
Piccolo softly landed and crouched down beside her. She turned to him and saw a look of amusement lighting up his handsome face.
"Don't you dare make a joke of my frustration, you pompous, over-grown elf," she growled.
He didn't outright laugh, but a stunning smile lifted the corners of his mouth. "How did you ever reach the level of Super Saiyan with that kind of patience, Gaszha?"
"I got in a lot of fights, that's how."
"Fights can't compare to meticulous and tedious training."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
"Get up and try again."
"No."
Without warning, he scooped her up in his arms and flung her into the air. She was almost forty feet high before she could stop herself. She glared down at him incredulously, and then couldn't hold her anger anymore. She started laughing.
They'd spent a great deal of time together the past few months; training, meditating, fighting…doing nothing at all. In such a short time, she felt that he'd become a better friend than any she'd ever had in all her life. And it seemed the same with him, though they never really talked about it. And if a platonic friendship was all she could have from him, then so be it. Just as long as she had that…
Occasionally, she'd catch him looking at her in such a way that made her wonder if the Namek was attracted to her after all, despite the fact that it was impossible. But then she'd shake herself. Her mind was creating venues where there weren't any. Ultimately, to continue spending time with him, as she loved to do, she pursued relationships elsewhere as a distraction-to lessen her longing for this wonderful, amazing, sexless being. Gaszha sighed.
Piccolo floated up to her. "What is it?"
"Nothing," she said. "I'm ready."
"All right. Just remember. See yourself in two places… Believe it. Then concentrate all your ki into that one idea."
"Blah blah, yeah I know…"
Gaszha closed her eyes and let her mind relax. Relax, she told herself. Relax? That's it! This whole time she'd been approaching it with all the aggression of a warrior, not giving her thoughts break enough to create a new technique.
So, she relaxed. It took several minutes, and just as she felt herself nodding off she imagined herself in two places. She believed it. And then…
Her ki circled around her and re-absorbed into her body. She felt the magic work as it tugged on her, pulling half of her away until, to her surprise, she stood there looking at herself.
"Oo..oh!" Both Gaszhas screamed in unison. "I did it!" she said in dual tones. They did identical back flips in the air when Gaszha realized that it wasn't quite right, yet. "Hey, Piccolo!" they both cried out. "Why am I copying myself?"
Piccolo looked immensely pleased, the hard edge totally gone from his face. "You've yet to multi-form your mind. But that comes next. For now, get accustomed to being in two places."
It was incredibly fun. Piccolo went down and leaned against a rock as she did somersaults and flips in the air for several minutes. Finally she got bored and descended…both of her.
"Hey, how do you-" Suddenly her second self snapped back into her original body, and it knocked her off her feet.
"Like that," Piccolo chuckled.
She smiled triumphantly at her friend. Gaszha had avoided being affectionate with him for his sake, but this demanded celebration. She sprung up and tackled him, caging him against the rock wall. He grunted, but didn't push her away.
"Three long months, and I finally did it!" she proclaimed as she smiled up at his stunned face. "NOW will you tell me how long it took you? You said you would when I multi-formed… Piccolo?"
His stare seemed transfixed on her, as if he hadn't heard a word she'd said. She pinched his waist, and his eyes widened dramatically.
"How long, big guy?"
"Almost a year."
"What?"
"It's true. I just didn't want you to use that time frame as an excuse for slacking off."
"So I did it faster than you?"
"Don't rub it in."
She smiled and laid her head against his chest. She should have let go of him then. She knew she should have, but how often did she have an opportunity to be affectionate like this under the cover of accomplishment? Besides, the texture of his skin was so…different. She found her left hand tracing the integrated stretches across his waist, and then onto the cord-like lining of his heavily muscled stomach. And entirely different from either of those textures was the skin on his chesttotally smooth against her cheek.
His body tensed, and she heard a distinct pitter-patter coming from within. Pressing her ear against him, her brows lifted in surprise.
"Why Piccolo," she said in awe. "You have a heart…or at least an organ that pumps blood through your body like everyone else. Only it's faster." She listened again. "A LOT faster."
She felt his torso expand with a deep breath, and his hands touched her shoulders lightly. The gesture was most likely to politely push her out of his personal space, but nonetheless it threw her into a wave of spontaneous sensuality, and when she looked up, his head was bowed and the intensity with which he looked at her only added to her confusion.
For a moment, she actually thought he might kiss her. Whoa… In my head... It's all in my head. She pushed back, breathless.
"Sorry," she said hurriedly. "Sorry. I just-"
"Gaszha-"
Scatter-brained, she began to babble. "I know you can't feel the same, and I have no right to pretend, and shouldn't tantalize myself with something that can't be-"
"Gaszha-"
"Just don't rescind our friendship. Please! I'll get over it somehow, I promise. I'm life-committing to Zobo Friday night-"
Piccolo's expression transformed from supplication to…panic? She shook her head. Can't be.
"Life-committing?" he stammered.
"It's demon-term for marriage-"
"M-marriage? You can't!" he yelled.
How sweet, she thought sadly. He's protective of me, just like a freakin' older brother. "He's good to me Piccolo. He even said he'd tarry on the surface occasionally. The pairing makes sense, and I think it'll take the underlying tension out of my friendship with you."
"But you…" his face wrinkled in search of a reason. "You don't love him!"
"Do I need to? Honestly, Piccolo, I'm flattered you care and all, but it's for the best. I have to do something, and by Friday night-" it hit her. It WAS Friday night. She slapped her hand to her forehead. "I'm late! I can't believe I got the days mixed up! He's going to have a fit! I have to go…" She turned to leave.
"GASZHA!"
She looked back over her shoulder to the frantic Namek. His mouth hung open and his face looked strained, as if whatever words he'd planned on saying couldn't make it past his throat. She filled the gap. "You know, Piccolo," she said softly. "It's a pity you're incapable of feeling the same way about me that I feel about you." With one last, lingering look, she hopped into the air-
…only to be yanked down by his grip on her ankle. She landed in his clutches. Before she could utter a word, he grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her.
…and kissed her, and kissed her, and kissed her… Thoughts of what-the-hell were pushed aside as her knees quickly weakened, and the rest of her body went slack. Even her mind seemed to turn to mush. He finally pulled back, exhilarated, as if equally surprised at his boldness.
"If that was all for my benefit," she finally breathed after the passionate stupor slightly subsided . "Then you're being awfully, AWFULLY generous."
His hands fell and curled around her body, hugging her against him. "It wasn't."
She slid her arms up over his broad shoulders. "You have some explaining…to …do, Piccolo."
He kissed her again. "Later."
Chapter 8
Two years later…
"Gohan! Will you sweep the patio?"
"Coming, Videl," Gohan hopped to the closet and whipped out the broom. He found himself practically skipping past his pregnant wife while she was vacuuming.
"Hurry," she coaxed. "They'll be here any minute."
Gohan went outside and looked to the sky. He dropped the broom, ecstatic. "Too late! They're already here!" He waved his arms vigorously to the couple in the sky. "Hey guys!"
Videl came out to join him, and they watched eagerly as Piccolo and Gaszha descended onto the patio with their new baby girl. Gohan went up and gave a hearty hug to both of them. "Wow, Gaszha, you look great."
"She does," Piccolo agreed, looking at his wife with more than a little appreciation.
"Well, it's been two months," Gaszha said good-naturedly.
"All right already," Videl said anxiously. "Let me see this baby that Gohan keeps talking about." She reached up and took the bundle from Piccolo's cradled arms. Gohan watched as his wife unwrapped the blanket and held up a chubby, squiggly infant. "She's beautiful… Just wait until she gets older. I imagine Goten or Trunks will want to date her. There's no relation, right, Gohan?"
Gohan laughed. "No, though I don't think Piccolo appreciates you playing matchmaker with his daughter so soon."
Piccolo grunted the affirmative. It had turned out by Gaszha's parentage chip in her old capsule that she was neither related to Vegeta nor Goku. Those Saiyan features, however, were pretty dominant. They paired strong with strong, Vegeta had said, and seeing how powerful Gaszha was, Gohan didn't doubt it.
"Wow," Videl said as he looked at the baby and then comparatively to the child's parents. "She looks like a green, pointy-eared Gaszha."
"I'm just relieved she has hair," Gaszha said as she twirled her finger in the black tresses. "So when are you due, Videl?"
"Three weeks," she said, and with her expression, added, I'm so sick of being pregnant. Gohan recognized it well. He'd been seeing it since morning sickness hit his wife six months ago.
"Well, let's eat," Gohan said. "I'm starving."
"Ah, me too." Gaszha said, and Gohan caught a brief look between Videl and Piccolo that said in exasperation, Those Saiyans and their appetites…
Later that evening, Gohan stretched out on a lawn chair as Piccolo played in the grass with little his cooing baby girl. Gaszha was inside explaining the birthing process in no uncertain terms to Videl, and neither of the males had any interest in hearing that story again.
Gohan looked at the Namek, whose once hard-edged face reflected more smiles than frowns lately. "I've never seen you this happy, Piccolo," he said.
Piccolo gently tickled his daughter's ribcage. She squealed in delight. "Life has more meaning when you can share it with someone," he said quietly without looking up.
"And to create a life with that someone makes it all the more special," Gohan finished.
Piccolo nodded.
"And to think this all started with," Gohan did his best impression of a stress-ridden Piccolo voice, "That woman over there has been staring at me since we arrived! Grrr!"
Piccolo's eyes flared, and he looked at Gohan and laughed. "Yes, I guess you could say that I've changed," the Namek conceded.
"I never thought I'd see the day," Gohan said. "Actually, with as many times as our lives were on the line, I never thought I'd see the day I'd grow to be a man, let alone see you fall in love. I'm just grateful for the chance to enjoy the life I fought so hard to preserve."
Me too," Piccolo said quietly as he looked through the window to a certain Saiyan woman chatting inside. "Me too."