A flare of light traveled across the landscape, the man's eyes closed in contemplation as he just let his ki sense guide him. The ground below passed in a familiar flash of green, blue, tan, and the unfamiliar addition of magenta.
"Just about the shade of her outfit," Gohan chuckled, thinking of the pants that usually went with Oboe's gi.
Then he opened his eyes again, smiling down. He liked the flowers. Dende's words came to mind again, like they had when they'd just landed on Namek, and a grin slipped over his face. Wait till the little guy heard this!
Laughter filled the sky as Gohan-chan burst by, his earlier confusion gone in the happiness of flying.
---
Dark eyes blinked, and the adolescent held a hand over them to shade them from the twin suns. He scanned the horizon, trying to locate something.
"Yo, Hiku, see him yet?" called out a voice from below.
"No Chui, seems anoco was pretty mad at him, he's making him go all the way to Oshta to get the water today."
"WHAT????? OSHTA??? That's MILES from here!!"
Hiku pushed off the roof, landing gracefully on one knee, followed by Chui's definite 'plop' as he messed up at the end again, toppling head over heels. The shorter boy glanced back, and after one look at the taller Nameksei-jin sprawled out on his stomach, cape twisted around him and eyes still spinning, couldn't help but crack up.
"HEY!" Chui shouted in indignance. "That's not funny, damnit!! Stop laughing!!"
---
Another pair of ears far distanced from those assaulted with Hiku's laughter merely listened nonchalantly to what he was being told.
Once Kami had said about 'something inside' being wrong, it'd all come back to him--the whiteness, the aggravation, Neru getting in his way, and the almost-kiss from Oboe-san...
Piccolo hadn't paid a bit of attention upon realizing that, but didn't bother to say this, so Kami kept speaking for five minutes further before being interrupted with a grumble of "Where's my canteen, anyway? I had it in my gi last time I saw it."
"It's in the fridge," the god answered, and he stood up to get it when Piccolo pushed himself up and walked straight out of the room without so much as a thought or a word.
Kami's antennae shot up in shock at this, and he stared into the kitchen, where the younger was leaning over the white shape in the wall, disdain clear in his eyes as he shuffled through the contents, murmuring "Crap, crap, crap, c-- ah, there!" and pulled out the skin he always kept with him. Brushing off anything that might have gotten on it, he sighed and leaned against the wall with one arm, taking a deep drink. The light coming in the open windows played off his emerald skin, giving it a luster that deeply contrasted the darkness in his eyes.
The old god was still shocked from speech for a few moments, but then he burst out with, "What are you DOING?"
Piccolo cocked an eyeridge in his direction, and stated flatly, "Getting a drink. What did you think I was doing?"
"I would have gotten it for you, idiot! You didn't need to get up, you need to rest!"
Then one of the younger man's eyes rolled over in his direction, and he said in the same tone "I noticed that," but with sarcasm biting in his voice this time. Adjusting his stance so the other arm was supporting him now, he added, "I don't need to rest unless I want to, and I don't want you touching my stuff anymore than you already have"
-
(there use to be more here, but not now. I usually leave the fic alone as-is. But this was absolutely the most insulting, morionic, shameful thing I have EVER thought would work in a fic. so it's gone. For story's sake I'll just tell you Pic was pissed at Kami and said dumb shit to upset him before leaving to go back outside. Now on with the silly chapter)
---
Vegeta was thinking to himself still when he glimpsed the shape sprawled out on the ground. At first he didn't even recognize it for what it was, but the glint of Oboe's earrings made him take a second look.
He landed easily on the blue grass, and treaded over slowly, squatting down to see her better. A light tap of his fingers on the back of her head didn't bring any reaction, so he tried a harder one, and ended up cuffing her soundly before drawling one--an empty-hearted "What?"
"What happened to you--got mowed over by a bus?" he remarked snidely, but not harshly.
Oboe didn't answer, in words at least, but turned her head slightly--teary, dirt and blood-smeared, nose crooked from a break that hadn't been treated, and downtrodden to an extreme. Veg didn't need any words to know she'd had a bad day.
But she still murmured, "I don't know, really...just had the strangest dream... I could have sworn I saw him..."
"Shh," the Sayian whispered, putting a finger to his lips. "No need to say anything. I can guess." And, reaching down, he hoisted her up and let her lean on his shoulders while she fixed her nose and got her bearings back.
---
By the time Gohan'd flown back to their meeting spot, the others were already there waiting. He wanted to ask what had happened, but a look in her eyes and a precautionary glare from Vegeta told him everything--and it wasn't something to be asked. They needed to go on.
---
Lute's big green eyes scanned the ground, looking for a village that the others might have missed. Nope.
Everyone was back in the air again, his anocha as his anoco, and on the way to the "Arushinchu"--the two-star ball. They'd been flying for about half an hour, but still nothing. Gohan-san had explained it to him--"You know, Namek is a big planet, and there aren't alot of Namekians. They like to keep the planet from being abused, so only certain spots where there's not much plant growth are used for villages. They don't want to hurt more than they have to."
"Who told 'ya that, Gohan-san?" he'd perked up, interested.
The halfling just chuckled at that point and said, "Your mother."
Reflecting on that, the little one just shrugged and sighed. He wanted to get there NOW, so they could get the dragonball, and the next, and the next, until they could summon the dragon and he could see his 'pops again.
Being six, though, didn't give him much patience to drawl from, and he started fidgeting again, occupying himself by counting in Namekian.
Vegeta's ears caught the strange sound, and upon locating the source, stared oddly at the kid.
"And what might you be doing?"
"Counting," he replied, matter-of-factly.
"Counting what?"
"The little hairs on your bald head."
'oO ...' was all Vegeta had to say at first, but then a stifled giggle to the left caught his attention, and he swerved around, shouting, "Oh, and like you've got such glorious locks yourself, green bean!"
Instead of who he thought it was, though, his eyes greeted Gohan's clueless face, and another voice burst out laughing.
"Shut up!" he demanded, but the two comments together had been too much for Oboe to bear.
Finally, he just crossed his arms indignantly, cursing under his breath about idiots to a chorus of chuckles.
NOTES- first, I'd like to address a name problem- as I just discovered, the 'sushinchu' is the FOUR star ball, not the two. I'll be updating chapter 48 with the correct information once I get the chance. 'arushinchu' is the real two-star ball.
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