___Chapter 57___
~~~NOTE- musical inspiration, LIVE's 'Secret Samadhi', particularly the songs "Graze" (track 3) and "Insomnia and the hole in the universe" (track 7) ~~~
The shape floated across the ground like a spirit, wavering and uncertain. Everything just brought back the memories... Her heart ached sharply, and her face stung with unshed tears, but she just wandered aimlessly, trying to find something that wasn't so damn familiar....
Oboe didn't know where to go.
She just stumbled on, one hand clutched tightly around her ring, quiet eyes speaking more than her words could ever, mirroring right down to her shaken soul.
---
A pout creased the simian's features, and he 'ooh'ed pathetically, letting his unhappiness be well known to the ancient being that stood watch in the small room. Bubbles wanted to play, and he wanted his new friend to come with him. But Kami would hear none of it.
"I'm sorry little one" he said in a gentle tone, patting his furry head and saying "I can't come out right now...."
Bubbles, being on the level of a child, didn't understand why, and let his indignance be known loudly, in the form of a series of shrieks and yells with the most indignantly hurt intonation, ending the fit in crawling over to the door, tail dragging on the ground.
Something in the little ape's behavior truly touched the old god, the sadness in the thing's eyes pushing too many buttons in his gentle heart then he could ignore comfortably. Still, there was the matter of Piccolo...
Kami glanced back over to the one in question, and pondered to himself for a moment. He was doing much better, a calmness to his features and demeanor that had lasted for a few hours already. {{My standing here isn't helping, and I shouldn't just let the little one feel hurt...}} he thought quietly to himself, and a small smile lit his lips as he tapped Bubbles on the head, and nodded.
"Alright, I'll go with you."
---
The landscape was silent, but it's peace was broken by a flare of brilliance and sound, and a ball of light shot straight across the sky, frightening a flock of birds into flight, but the man ignored them, merely gritting his teeth and watching his surroundings for any sign of the woman.
"Goddamnit!" he cursed aloud, clenching a gloved fist and glaring out at all of the 'nothing', "Where the hell ARE you, woman?? GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!!!"
No response met Vegeta's ears, only aggravating him further. Under his breath he murmured in a softer, sadder tone "How the hell am I suppose to watch out for her if she keeps disappearing like this? You just HAD to find a difficult one, didn't you namek?"
The sayian sighed, burying his head in his fist for an exasperated second before bursting off again.
---
As the ball of light disappeared on the horizon, misted sapphire eyes glanced up in a daze, but their owner wasn't in the right state to identify it for what it was. Mind muddled once again with the silence in the air, the coldness in that one part of her soul, and a childhood long dead revisited, she didn't notice where her feet were landing, and was caught completely by surprise when a root hooked her foot, dragging her body down into a crash on the ground.
A quick squeal of pain escaped her lips, but it was cut short when her face was jarred into the dirt, muffling the sound. Oboe's eyes snapped shut, but for a few seconds she just lay there, not wanting to ever have to pull herself back up again, but a thread of pain in her ankle forced her to adjust her position, freeing her foot and clutching it gingerly.
It hurt badly, she'd probably gotten it sprained, broken at worst. "Great..... shakira..." she cursed softly in her own language, "I don't think I even know HOW to mend bone... *sighs* WHY does it take THOUGHT to heal myself, it just gets sucked out of me once I open myself to heal someone else..."
{{Of course, that means you get to keep breathing}} a little voice came in the back of her head, but she just rolled her eyes and ignored it, rolling up her pant leg to get a better look at the injury.
---
She grimaced slightly at the sight of it- not quite broken, but one hell of a sprain, possibly some chipped/cracked bone inside by the look of it. The namekisan-jin woman wrapped her hands around the ankle, and closed her eyes, falling into a concentration trance.
She didn't notice the disturbance in the air, or hear soft-soled footsteps behind her.
---
It took a full seven minutes to properly fix the wound, and when she finally snapped out of the trance, sweat beads dotted her brow. It's been much easier when she was poisoned, then she'd just had to use her chi to burn it out, but actually getting something this delicate right after nothing like it in a few years was draining.
A smile lit her lips as she flexed the joint, checking to make sure she hadn't screwed up and accidentally crippled herself for life. Plopping onto her back, eyes closed briefly, she opened them again to get up, but stopped. There was something in her field of vision that hadn't been there before.....
Tilting her head back further, her eyes met another's, and went wide, heart skipping a beat.
The other just smiled gently, but she squealed aloud and jerked up, clutching her arms in a stranglehold almost about his neck and crying out his name frantically.
Oboe's words stopped, though, when he touched a finger to her lips, and whispered in his own rasped tone "Shh. Don't cry, it's ok."
"I'm not seeing things, am I?" came a quivering voice, but all the answer it got was a shake of a head.
His smile was reflected against the shimmers in her eyes, and she just clutched him tighter, all her past sadness forgotten.
He laughed slightly, prying her off a bit and saying "Hey, let me breathe, Oboe-chan!"
The reply came in the form of a bright smile, and there was a moment of silence in the air, a soft, sweet silence, a beautiful silence, a gentle silence. In that moment, something washed over her, and she pulled her face a little closer, watching his eyes slide close, as did her own, and she hesitated for merely a second before closing the gap.
BUT.
In that second, something happened, and instead of meeting soft lips, she collapsed against the ground, face jarred so hard from the unexpected impact that it broke her nose. She didn't even notice it, though, but stared out, searching around desperately, trying to tell herself she hadn't just been dreaming, he'd felt so real....
But to no avail- Piccolo was gone.
---
When Neru'd found what he'd been searching for, he was a bit confused. But nothing compared to the confusion and terror pumping through his mind now.
He'd found his fellow sitting cross-legged on the 'ground', totally immobile and oblivious to his presence. Fearing something was wrong, Neru has shaken him out of it, and was about to ask what'd happened when Piccolo had whirled on him, clutching his throat, eyes furious beyond belief.
Neru's face drained pale at the sight of such unfeigned rage thrown directly into his face, the dark onyx eyes seeming to burrow straight through his skull as Piccolo screamed "GODDAMNIT, YOU BASTARD!!!!!! How DARE you!!!!!"
No reply came from the yellow-pale figure, quivering at the end of his grasp. He'd NEVER seen Pic this angry..... let alone directed at him. Piccolo continued, eyes narrowing as his voice fell dangerously low "Give me one good reason I shouldn't pop your head off right now."
"B-but what did I-I-I do???" he stuttered, trying to gasp for breath he didn't need just out of impulse.
The hands tightened around his throat, claws on the verge of puncturing his jugular, before they let loose suddenly and hurled him to the ground, voice still following with the same malice- "I was there, goddamnit, it took so long, but I was there, all I wanted to do was tell her it was alright, but then YOU-" at this point Neru felt a sharp pain in his ribs at a foot jabbed into them- "RUINED IT!!! You broke my concentration, asshole!"
Piccolo's answer came in a hoarse whisper, it's speaker stopping halfway through to cough up a bit of blood from the treatment he'd been given- "You'd screamed earlier, I thought you were in trouble....... Wanted to help... how was I suppose to know what you were doing?"
::silence::
"I've told you before to leave me the hell alone. You, the old man, Son, everyone, but do you ever listen? NO! *kicks him again, hard, turns his back + crosses arms* Go, now. And don't speak to me. Next time, I snap your neck."
Staring up in shock at the hunched shoulders and narrowed eyes of his counterpart told him this was not the time to joke, and he pulled himself to his feet, limping away without a word. Changed or not, Piccolo was not above murdering someone on a whim if it seemed him fit.
---
The decision had been made, and Vegeta had taken one direction. Son Gohan, on the other hand, went another way, while Lute took the third.
Their 'mission' was simple- find out where Oboe'd gone, contact the others through mind speech, and go on their way. But noone had found her yet. Gohan didn't let that get him down, though.
He stopped by a stream briefly, sitting down on the soft grass. It'd been about an hour or so ago she'd left to go think, promising to be back in half that time.
The cool greenish liquid was comforting, and a quick drink identified it to have a sweet taste that made him smile. Too bad Earth's water wasn't like that... The young man plopped down by the bank, submerging his hands for a few seconds before running them through his hair, washing out a layer of dirt and sweat that'd settled there in the last few days. The halfling peered at his reflection, checked his teeth briefly out of habit enforced by his mother, and grinned upon noticing how he'd grown up looking a bit like his 'tousan. The smile faded down when he thought of the only other person he'd called that, in heart anyways- he'd never said it to his sensei's face.
Another emotion arose at that thought, though, and as he leant back on the soft grass with arms folded behind his head and eyes closed, he imagined Videl's sweet, beautiful smiling face..... and as that image became more predominant in his thoughts, Piccolo's silent form faded away, until Gohan realized it and grasped for it, trying to call him back... which only narrowed Videl's eyes into a scowl. His mind tried to reason with her, but she just crossed her arms and kept her back to him. One part of his heart fell at that, but another rose, and a bright smile lit his face when he glanced his sensei behind him, stance the same as usual, with that half-smile he always gave the kid. But Piccolo's eyes narrowed in scorn, and the look on his face went bitter at the sight of the raven-haired girl. The halfling found himself torn again, between the man who'd been almost everything to him, and the woman who'd been the one thing Piccolo could never be....
Gohan jerked up, in a cold sweat. A quick pinch of his cheek old him he was awake again, and he moaned softly in aggravation as he buried his head in his hands. Not that dream again..... Ever since he'd heard Piccolo had almost killed himself, the same dream kept reappearing in his mind, over and over. It'd been his fault..... if only he hadn't ignored him so much.... Even though the suicide had never come to be, (stopped short by a certain namekisan-jin woman tripping where she'd been hiking on a cliff face above and coming plopping down 20 feet away), the guilt of 'what if-' didn't ever fade...
{{Who cares about that right now, just go look for Oboe.}} stated his logic, and the child of Goku pulled himself back up, pushed it out of his mind (like always), and continued on his way. There were things to be done.
---
Limping.
He hadn't been in such a state since he almost died at the hands of Freezer. And then his aecha's husband nearly kills him for a reason he still couldn't quite understand.
Neru was in real pain. It didn't matter that he was dead, getting your ribs kicked in still hurt like hell. As did being held so tightly by the throat that his head would have popped like a cork if Piccolo'd put much more pressure on his grip.
Black eye, bruised legs, broken ribs, he'd really gotten it this time....
He yelped in shock when his knee gave out, sending him collapsing down with quite a 'thud'. Biting back a scream at this point, he clutched the leg fiercely to his chest, trying to get the thudding sensation that set the dull ache on fire to quit, but no such luck, and he cried out.
In an instant, he heard another limb crack, his arm, and jerked his head around in disbelief to see Piccolo's narrowed eyes staring him down.
"I told you to leave me alone." was all Neru heard, and before he could object, the other had set upon him, not even giving him the chance to scream.
---
Kami had been sitting in the kitchen with Bubbles, getting something off the top shelf for the little one when he heard it, a rustling sound, coming from the other room. It didn't really catch his attention, though, and he finished searching for the fruit jar the simian wanted, handing it to Bubbles.
The old god just smiled, leaning on his staff as he watched Bubbles try to pry the top off with his little hands, a great look of triumph coming over the little furry features at reaching success. With a chuckle, he strolled back into the other room, looking back over to the corner the mat was in. Then he went quiet.
The younger man was far worse then he'd been when he had left. Kami cursed himself aloud for the selfishness of his actions, and looked over him-
The paleness had returned to his skin threefold, and his features had gone ridged, hands grasping at the cloth desperately, a wavering, pained moan escaping from his throat occasionally as he tossed and turned, sweat beading down his elegant green form, which almost looked piteous now, the usual strength contrasted by the twisted look of pain on his face, closed eyes twitching.
Something was deathly wrong with him, and, if the guardian didn't act now, he'd loose him. Kami became a bit desperate, cursing himself again for never learning any healer's methods in all his years, and just clutched one of the man's shoulders, feeling the shudders running up the young form. He was fading, but not from the outside....
Falling back on desperate chance, the god laid a hand on Piccolo's head and the other over his heart, forcing as powerfully as he could the mental message of 'get up child!' into the fading soul.
Piccolo's eyes twitched again, fluttering almost open before slipping shut again. Kami just repeated his message, and did so three more times before another thought popped into his mind, and he sent it into the younger-
'Listen, you can't die child, what about Gohan, Lute, Oboe? You're not going to leave them behind, are you?'
Kami felt the shudders stop, and pulled away, watching his struggles cease as soon as the words touched his internal 'ears'. And waited.
---
The first thing that met his eyes was a swirling darkness, and a pounding headache that hurt almost as much as when Nappa had practically smashed in his skull when he'd grabbed his tail. Without opening his eyes, Piccolo groaned, clutched a hand to his head, and pulled himself into a sitting position, mind blurry. Only after a few seconds adjusting to the throbbing feeling did he slide his eyes open haphazardly, the world around him spinning for a second before straightening out.
First, he was confused by his location- last he'd remembered, he was outside in the rain, sneezing and complaining in a soaked gi. Now he was in a bed in a small room, naked except for a sheet that'd gathered low around his hips when he sat up, it was bright outside (the view from the window across from him said that), and Kami-sama was in the far corner, watching him gravely.
Piccolo cocked an eye over in his direction, but his head hurt too much to really care, and he shaded his eyes from the brightness with the back of a hand while he slumped back onto the mat, other arm sprawled haphazardly on the ground and muttered half-heartedly "I'll kick your ass later old man, right now just tell me what the hell is going on, and give me my pants back."
~~~NOTE- Oh, and I'd like to greatly thank the writer of my 18th review *nods* . It's the first I've gotten in months, I'd begun to think noone cared anymore, and I'm glad to know that's not true //.^ Until later then. ~~~
~~~NOTE- musical inspiration, LIVE's 'Secret Samadhi', particularly the songs "Graze" (track 3) and "Insomnia and the hole in the universe" (track 7) ~~~
The shape floated across the ground like a spirit, wavering and uncertain. Everything just brought back the memories... Her heart ached sharply, and her face stung with unshed tears, but she just wandered aimlessly, trying to find something that wasn't so damn familiar....
Oboe didn't know where to go.
She just stumbled on, one hand clutched tightly around her ring, quiet eyes speaking more than her words could ever, mirroring right down to her shaken soul.
---
A pout creased the simian's features, and he 'ooh'ed pathetically, letting his unhappiness be well known to the ancient being that stood watch in the small room. Bubbles wanted to play, and he wanted his new friend to come with him. But Kami would hear none of it.
"I'm sorry little one" he said in a gentle tone, patting his furry head and saying "I can't come out right now...."
Bubbles, being on the level of a child, didn't understand why, and let his indignance be known loudly, in the form of a series of shrieks and yells with the most indignantly hurt intonation, ending the fit in crawling over to the door, tail dragging on the ground.
Something in the little ape's behavior truly touched the old god, the sadness in the thing's eyes pushing too many buttons in his gentle heart then he could ignore comfortably. Still, there was the matter of Piccolo...
Kami glanced back over to the one in question, and pondered to himself for a moment. He was doing much better, a calmness to his features and demeanor that had lasted for a few hours already. {{My standing here isn't helping, and I shouldn't just let the little one feel hurt...}} he thought quietly to himself, and a small smile lit his lips as he tapped Bubbles on the head, and nodded.
"Alright, I'll go with you."
---
The landscape was silent, but it's peace was broken by a flare of brilliance and sound, and a ball of light shot straight across the sky, frightening a flock of birds into flight, but the man ignored them, merely gritting his teeth and watching his surroundings for any sign of the woman.
"Goddamnit!" he cursed aloud, clenching a gloved fist and glaring out at all of the 'nothing', "Where the hell ARE you, woman?? GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!!!"
No response met Vegeta's ears, only aggravating him further. Under his breath he murmured in a softer, sadder tone "How the hell am I suppose to watch out for her if she keeps disappearing like this? You just HAD to find a difficult one, didn't you namek?"
The sayian sighed, burying his head in his fist for an exasperated second before bursting off again.
---
As the ball of light disappeared on the horizon, misted sapphire eyes glanced up in a daze, but their owner wasn't in the right state to identify it for what it was. Mind muddled once again with the silence in the air, the coldness in that one part of her soul, and a childhood long dead revisited, she didn't notice where her feet were landing, and was caught completely by surprise when a root hooked her foot, dragging her body down into a crash on the ground.
A quick squeal of pain escaped her lips, but it was cut short when her face was jarred into the dirt, muffling the sound. Oboe's eyes snapped shut, but for a few seconds she just lay there, not wanting to ever have to pull herself back up again, but a thread of pain in her ankle forced her to adjust her position, freeing her foot and clutching it gingerly.
It hurt badly, she'd probably gotten it sprained, broken at worst. "Great..... shakira..." she cursed softly in her own language, "I don't think I even know HOW to mend bone... *sighs* WHY does it take THOUGHT to heal myself, it just gets sucked out of me once I open myself to heal someone else..."
{{Of course, that means you get to keep breathing}} a little voice came in the back of her head, but she just rolled her eyes and ignored it, rolling up her pant leg to get a better look at the injury.
---
She grimaced slightly at the sight of it- not quite broken, but one hell of a sprain, possibly some chipped/cracked bone inside by the look of it. The namekisan-jin woman wrapped her hands around the ankle, and closed her eyes, falling into a concentration trance.
She didn't notice the disturbance in the air, or hear soft-soled footsteps behind her.
---
It took a full seven minutes to properly fix the wound, and when she finally snapped out of the trance, sweat beads dotted her brow. It's been much easier when she was poisoned, then she'd just had to use her chi to burn it out, but actually getting something this delicate right after nothing like it in a few years was draining.
A smile lit her lips as she flexed the joint, checking to make sure she hadn't screwed up and accidentally crippled herself for life. Plopping onto her back, eyes closed briefly, she opened them again to get up, but stopped. There was something in her field of vision that hadn't been there before.....
Tilting her head back further, her eyes met another's, and went wide, heart skipping a beat.
The other just smiled gently, but she squealed aloud and jerked up, clutching her arms in a stranglehold almost about his neck and crying out his name frantically.
Oboe's words stopped, though, when he touched a finger to her lips, and whispered in his own rasped tone "Shh. Don't cry, it's ok."
"I'm not seeing things, am I?" came a quivering voice, but all the answer it got was a shake of a head.
His smile was reflected against the shimmers in her eyes, and she just clutched him tighter, all her past sadness forgotten.
He laughed slightly, prying her off a bit and saying "Hey, let me breathe, Oboe-chan!"
The reply came in the form of a bright smile, and there was a moment of silence in the air, a soft, sweet silence, a beautiful silence, a gentle silence. In that moment, something washed over her, and she pulled her face a little closer, watching his eyes slide close, as did her own, and she hesitated for merely a second before closing the gap.
BUT.
In that second, something happened, and instead of meeting soft lips, she collapsed against the ground, face jarred so hard from the unexpected impact that it broke her nose. She didn't even notice it, though, but stared out, searching around desperately, trying to tell herself she hadn't just been dreaming, he'd felt so real....
But to no avail- Piccolo was gone.
---
When Neru'd found what he'd been searching for, he was a bit confused. But nothing compared to the confusion and terror pumping through his mind now.
He'd found his fellow sitting cross-legged on the 'ground', totally immobile and oblivious to his presence. Fearing something was wrong, Neru has shaken him out of it, and was about to ask what'd happened when Piccolo had whirled on him, clutching his throat, eyes furious beyond belief.
Neru's face drained pale at the sight of such unfeigned rage thrown directly into his face, the dark onyx eyes seeming to burrow straight through his skull as Piccolo screamed "GODDAMNIT, YOU BASTARD!!!!!! How DARE you!!!!!"
No reply came from the yellow-pale figure, quivering at the end of his grasp. He'd NEVER seen Pic this angry..... let alone directed at him. Piccolo continued, eyes narrowing as his voice fell dangerously low "Give me one good reason I shouldn't pop your head off right now."
"B-but what did I-I-I do???" he stuttered, trying to gasp for breath he didn't need just out of impulse.
The hands tightened around his throat, claws on the verge of puncturing his jugular, before they let loose suddenly and hurled him to the ground, voice still following with the same malice- "I was there, goddamnit, it took so long, but I was there, all I wanted to do was tell her it was alright, but then YOU-" at this point Neru felt a sharp pain in his ribs at a foot jabbed into them- "RUINED IT!!! You broke my concentration, asshole!"
Piccolo's answer came in a hoarse whisper, it's speaker stopping halfway through to cough up a bit of blood from the treatment he'd been given- "You'd screamed earlier, I thought you were in trouble....... Wanted to help... how was I suppose to know what you were doing?"
::silence::
"I've told you before to leave me the hell alone. You, the old man, Son, everyone, but do you ever listen? NO! *kicks him again, hard, turns his back + crosses arms* Go, now. And don't speak to me. Next time, I snap your neck."
Staring up in shock at the hunched shoulders and narrowed eyes of his counterpart told him this was not the time to joke, and he pulled himself to his feet, limping away without a word. Changed or not, Piccolo was not above murdering someone on a whim if it seemed him fit.
---
The decision had been made, and Vegeta had taken one direction. Son Gohan, on the other hand, went another way, while Lute took the third.
Their 'mission' was simple- find out where Oboe'd gone, contact the others through mind speech, and go on their way. But noone had found her yet. Gohan didn't let that get him down, though.
He stopped by a stream briefly, sitting down on the soft grass. It'd been about an hour or so ago she'd left to go think, promising to be back in half that time.
The cool greenish liquid was comforting, and a quick drink identified it to have a sweet taste that made him smile. Too bad Earth's water wasn't like that... The young man plopped down by the bank, submerging his hands for a few seconds before running them through his hair, washing out a layer of dirt and sweat that'd settled there in the last few days. The halfling peered at his reflection, checked his teeth briefly out of habit enforced by his mother, and grinned upon noticing how he'd grown up looking a bit like his 'tousan. The smile faded down when he thought of the only other person he'd called that, in heart anyways- he'd never said it to his sensei's face.
Another emotion arose at that thought, though, and as he leant back on the soft grass with arms folded behind his head and eyes closed, he imagined Videl's sweet, beautiful smiling face..... and as that image became more predominant in his thoughts, Piccolo's silent form faded away, until Gohan realized it and grasped for it, trying to call him back... which only narrowed Videl's eyes into a scowl. His mind tried to reason with her, but she just crossed her arms and kept her back to him. One part of his heart fell at that, but another rose, and a bright smile lit his face when he glanced his sensei behind him, stance the same as usual, with that half-smile he always gave the kid. But Piccolo's eyes narrowed in scorn, and the look on his face went bitter at the sight of the raven-haired girl. The halfling found himself torn again, between the man who'd been almost everything to him, and the woman who'd been the one thing Piccolo could never be....
Gohan jerked up, in a cold sweat. A quick pinch of his cheek old him he was awake again, and he moaned softly in aggravation as he buried his head in his hands. Not that dream again..... Ever since he'd heard Piccolo had almost killed himself, the same dream kept reappearing in his mind, over and over. It'd been his fault..... if only he hadn't ignored him so much.... Even though the suicide had never come to be, (stopped short by a certain namekisan-jin woman tripping where she'd been hiking on a cliff face above and coming plopping down 20 feet away), the guilt of 'what if-' didn't ever fade...
{{Who cares about that right now, just go look for Oboe.}} stated his logic, and the child of Goku pulled himself back up, pushed it out of his mind (like always), and continued on his way. There were things to be done.
---
Limping.
He hadn't been in such a state since he almost died at the hands of Freezer. And then his aecha's husband nearly kills him for a reason he still couldn't quite understand.
Neru was in real pain. It didn't matter that he was dead, getting your ribs kicked in still hurt like hell. As did being held so tightly by the throat that his head would have popped like a cork if Piccolo'd put much more pressure on his grip.
Black eye, bruised legs, broken ribs, he'd really gotten it this time....
He yelped in shock when his knee gave out, sending him collapsing down with quite a 'thud'. Biting back a scream at this point, he clutched the leg fiercely to his chest, trying to get the thudding sensation that set the dull ache on fire to quit, but no such luck, and he cried out.
In an instant, he heard another limb crack, his arm, and jerked his head around in disbelief to see Piccolo's narrowed eyes staring him down.
"I told you to leave me alone." was all Neru heard, and before he could object, the other had set upon him, not even giving him the chance to scream.
---
Kami had been sitting in the kitchen with Bubbles, getting something off the top shelf for the little one when he heard it, a rustling sound, coming from the other room. It didn't really catch his attention, though, and he finished searching for the fruit jar the simian wanted, handing it to Bubbles.
The old god just smiled, leaning on his staff as he watched Bubbles try to pry the top off with his little hands, a great look of triumph coming over the little furry features at reaching success. With a chuckle, he strolled back into the other room, looking back over to the corner the mat was in. Then he went quiet.
The younger man was far worse then he'd been when he had left. Kami cursed himself aloud for the selfishness of his actions, and looked over him-
The paleness had returned to his skin threefold, and his features had gone ridged, hands grasping at the cloth desperately, a wavering, pained moan escaping from his throat occasionally as he tossed and turned, sweat beading down his elegant green form, which almost looked piteous now, the usual strength contrasted by the twisted look of pain on his face, closed eyes twitching.
Something was deathly wrong with him, and, if the guardian didn't act now, he'd loose him. Kami became a bit desperate, cursing himself again for never learning any healer's methods in all his years, and just clutched one of the man's shoulders, feeling the shudders running up the young form. He was fading, but not from the outside....
Falling back on desperate chance, the god laid a hand on Piccolo's head and the other over his heart, forcing as powerfully as he could the mental message of 'get up child!' into the fading soul.
Piccolo's eyes twitched again, fluttering almost open before slipping shut again. Kami just repeated his message, and did so three more times before another thought popped into his mind, and he sent it into the younger-
'Listen, you can't die child, what about Gohan, Lute, Oboe? You're not going to leave them behind, are you?'
Kami felt the shudders stop, and pulled away, watching his struggles cease as soon as the words touched his internal 'ears'. And waited.
---
The first thing that met his eyes was a swirling darkness, and a pounding headache that hurt almost as much as when Nappa had practically smashed in his skull when he'd grabbed his tail. Without opening his eyes, Piccolo groaned, clutched a hand to his head, and pulled himself into a sitting position, mind blurry. Only after a few seconds adjusting to the throbbing feeling did he slide his eyes open haphazardly, the world around him spinning for a second before straightening out.
First, he was confused by his location- last he'd remembered, he was outside in the rain, sneezing and complaining in a soaked gi. Now he was in a bed in a small room, naked except for a sheet that'd gathered low around his hips when he sat up, it was bright outside (the view from the window across from him said that), and Kami-sama was in the far corner, watching him gravely.
Piccolo cocked an eye over in his direction, but his head hurt too much to really care, and he shaded his eyes from the brightness with the back of a hand while he slumped back onto the mat, other arm sprawled haphazardly on the ground and muttered half-heartedly "I'll kick your ass later old man, right now just tell me what the hell is going on, and give me my pants back."
~~~NOTE- Oh, and I'd like to greatly thank the writer of my 18th review *nods* . It's the first I've gotten in months, I'd begun to think noone cared anymore, and I'm glad to know that's not true //.^ Until later then. ~~~