Author's Notes: Yippee! Another chapter! And it's heating up, the end is near! Fingers tired…can't type…REVIEW!
Last time on It's a Start:
His hair was as brilliantly gold as ever, his eyes that same pale blue, his face ever expressionless. As he neared, she felt her legs get weak and slid into the chair situated behind her. He stopped a few feet from her and looked down, muscles tense.
*****
"Answer me a question first." Hesitantly, she nodded, feeling suddenly very small and weak.
"Do I scare you?" he whispered softly, then leaned back to let her mull the question over.
*****
Swinging her legs back inside the jet copter, she announced calmly and clearly, "Please…please don't follow me, and don't try to see me again." Reaching up to pull the hatch shut, she added, "I won't be taking lessons from you anymore."
*****
Gohan swiftly planted himself on the Gold Fighter's chest, hands at the alien's throat. "You would have destroyed me," he snarled.
*****
His aura faded in brilliance, and the human despaired as the Saiyan's energy level plummeted. Then, as if a bright candle had been snuffed out, another Gohan stood where the Gold Fighter had been a split-second before.
*****
"Because, I can't do anything, not without killing Gohan. If he does not want to rejoin, if both of his halves do not agree, then the process of fusing them together will destroy him."
*****
"Then…leave my boy to me…"
Chapter Nine: The Pact
Videl blinked once. Twice. Three times she tried to make sense of the scene before her, forcing her gaze from one Gohan to the other, and then back again. She wanted to say something, anything, but any words were blocked by a large lump which had lodged itself in her throat. This was real, right? She wasn't dreaming was she?
Though her mouth would form no words, her brain was hard at work trying to sort out the mess the fight had become, searching for some logical explanation as to just why there were two Gohans before her.
Choking out, "Twins?" she awaited a response from one of the fighters.
The human dropped his gaze, ashamed. "No…" Videl whipped her head around to focus on him.
"Then…what?" He did not speak again, and she turned back to the new figure who was standing in the exact spot the Gold Fighter had been. "…Gold Fighter?"
The alien narrowed his eyes, giving a short, "Hn," of affirmation. It was so strange—his hair and eyes had gone black, but she knew it was the same being; she could still detect that cold aura that always surrounded him.
"But—you look so much like…Gohan."
"Because," the human began, speaking up again, "Because he is Gohan."
"He—Gohan? But…" Words failed her, spilling from her mind like sand from an hourglass. "But…then, who are you?"
"He's Gohan as well," the Saiyan revealed.
"Oh…of course," she stated matter-of-factly; the sarcasm was not lost on either boy. "I can't believe I didn't come to that conclusion."
The two Gohans looked at each other. "Videl," the Saiyan began, but she interrupted him.
"One of you is obviously lying." They blinked and she continued, "Either that or I'm seeing double…"
"Videl, we're not lying, you're not dreaming or seeing double and, much as I hate to admit it now, we are both Gohan."
"Or were," the human added.
"I'm gonna sit, I think…" She gently lowered herself onto the grass and looked back up at the two fighters. "How…how can you both be Gohan? You—" She gestured to the Saiyan, "if you're the Gold Fighter like you said, then you're an alien, he told me so—"
"Actually," he cut in, "I told you that. You were talking to me then."
Him? She hesitated, faltering for words. How could it have been him? She'd been so sure it was her friend! Tricked… she'd been tricked then, how many other times had she been duped? "You… told me the truth about the Gol—you?" She pointed to the human. "But I was supposed to be doing my lesson with Gohan yesterday, not the Gold Fighter."
"You did train with Gohan," the human explained quickly. "Just not with his human half."
"Human? Half?" Confusion flooded her voice. "Wha—what's going on here?" It was time to clear up this whole mess.
Both Gohans sighed and turned to one another, lowering their voices, each feeling strangely as if he were looking into a mirror. "I knew this would happen," the human began in a whisper. "If you had merely kept your part—"
"She would have found out eventually. This way, she can decide who she wants."
"What makes you think she 'wants' either of us?" The Saiyan narrowed his eyes at the human's presumption.
"She's waiting for an explanation." They were quite aware of their audience.
"Fine." Turning back to Videl, who looked up at them expectantly, they sat down.
"Videl… we're going to tell you about Gohan. The Gohan you knew, the one you met with underneath the tree at school… the one you haven't seen for nearly a week."
"Why are you talking about yourself as if you're another person, though?"
"Because the Gohan I'm going to talk about is not me. Nor is he him."
Now the human took over the explanation. "Gohan is…not normal, as you may have noticed. Part of this comes from his extensive background training in martial arts; the other part comes from his genes."
The Saiyan picked back up. "When I told you about Saiyans, it was for a reason. Gohan is not human, but he's not really an alien either. He's a half-breed, an impure being torn between his heritages. We are the manifestations of the lines that flow through the Gohan you knew. I represent his Saiyan ancestry."
"And I am the human half of him."
Videl didn't respond to this revelation immediately; in fact, she couldn't with the words so fresh in her mind, numbing her. But after a moment, "…Where? Where is Gohan, then?"
"He's gone…split into us."
"Then…bring him back." Her words took on a sense of urgency as she began to understand what was going on. It wasn't all clear, but she understood enough to know that something was very wrong. "Bring him back!" Her voice crescendoed in pitch, taking on a tone almost of pleading. It began to dawn on her that, for some time, she had been tricked into thinking the Gohan she was with was the boy… well, the boy whose company she normally enjoyed.
The Saiyan alone stood. "No." His voice, the voice which back in the meadow had been almost warm, was now devoid of any gentleness it might have had before. Once again a malevolence ran through it, separating him from the world. "I can't anyway, but even if I could bring him back, I would never rejoin with such a weakling human as that." Without another word he shot off, silent, into the sky, leaving the two to their devices.
The human Gohan now stood also, glancing awkwardly at Videl, who returned the gaze.
"It's true?" He nodded, averting his gaze, unable to look her in they eye from guilt. "How long?"
He sighed. "I guess it's been… the Gohan you've been with hasn't been the Gohan you first met for… three days now."
The revelation hit her like a ton of bricks. "…Three days?" she repeated, shocked that this could have gone on for so long without her noticing.
"Yes. When we first met the Gold Fighter on the highway after the chase three days ago. That's when it started."
"I…" she began, head swimming with confusion. "I need to go home. Now."
*****
4:00
Goten and Trunks would be tucked away in the bowels of Capsule Corp, gearing up for another spar in the Gravity Room if Vegeta wasn't using it. His mother would be standing over a crock-pot of simmering vegetables, one eye on a roast in the oven and another on a rising loaf of bread. Somewhere out there was Videl.
And here he was, truly alone. Without even his reviled Saiyan side to converse with.
He'd tried to make her listen to reason, to let him see her safely home, but she'd snapped at him to leave her alone, muttering something about lies and betrayal. What could he do but obey?
He sat back down onto the soft grass and let the wind ruffle his spiky hair, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply. Still it would not come. Peace—that's what he was seeking. He couldn't remember what it felt like, when he wasn't plagued with problems on all sides, but he knew it was good. No warring personalities, just a simple life.
Lying down, he knit his brow, eyes still closed. What was he going to do now?
He could never go back to the way things were, never—that stupid Saiyan had ruined everything! His secrets exposed, Videl hated him now, and would undoubtedly refuse to see him again. She might even tell…
A shadow fell across his face. "There is a problem, Gohan."
He opened his eyes a bit, squinting, his mentor dark, backlit by the sun. "There's always a problem…"
"Gohan—your separation is apparently more serious than we thought; it has merited the attentions of the Supreme Kai."
The human opened his eyes fully, propping himself up on his elbows. "…Supreme?"
"Yes." The Namek turned his back on the boy and made as if to leave. "You should go home. Now." Piccolo was gone.
*****
"I know you're here…" she called out from her position sprawled out on her bed. Someone had been there, watching her as she slipped in and out of consciousness, exhausted by the day's happenings. "You're the one who always followed me… and you never told me why."
From his post outside her window, straddling a branch at the top of the tree across from her balcony, the Saiyan slipped quietly into her bedroom proper. "What gave me away?"
She shifted so that she was leaning on her elbows, and instead of answering she fired back a question of her own. "Why are you here?" The alien stopped advancing. "You told me earlier that we shouldn't have been in that meadow, alone…that you shouldn't have been feeling something. Tell me, Gohan," she spit out the name, "Here to pawn off a few more lies?"
He winced a bit. "No, I never lied to you."
She laughed, shocked. "Never?"
"Not about what I am. What Gohan was. Never."
She glowered. "There are no loopholes in this argument; you can't get around it. No, you never lied to me directly, but you never told me the whole truth. Not even when I trusted you enough to tell you my deepest fears, confided in you."
"Your deepest fears… if I remember, Gohan handled that quite well, didn't he? Even gave a little confession of his own." He paused as she bore her eyes into his figure, her countenance taking on a slightly more confused than angry appearance. His voice became softer, "Do you know what he risked in offering to teach you? More than just his secrets, he risked being hurt. By you."
"But—me? How could I…" A light bulb began to flicker in her mind as the truth became slightly clearer.
"I know what he feared from you, but that's because I was a part of him." He turned away from her, and at this lull, she took the chance to ask a question.
"Was? This whole time… you've spoken as if you and Gohan were totally separate, and yet I look at you and see… him."
"I think….this is the truth you wanted?"
She nodded. "What happened? Where is Gohan, and who are you?"
*****
When Gohan got home, the first feeling that hit him was one of déjà vu. There was his mother, sitting alone in her chair, no little brother around, knitting, and waiting. "Home already, Gohan? How was training?" Her unusually cheery tone betrayed the fact that she didn't care a wit about how the lesson had gone.
Hesitating, he replied, "It was ok, Videl's coming along really well." With her
future grand-children at stake, he hoped whatever wrath his mother was about to
bring down upon him would be bated slightly.
"And Goten?"
"Staying at Trunks' house."
She nodded and turned her attentions back to her needlework. Gohan, thinking himself saved, turned and was headed up to his room, one hand already on the banister.
"Oh, Gohan, Piccolo came by today. He was looking for you."
He gulped. "Oh." His voice cracked a bit. "He found me; I was out training with Videl, but she left before he arrived."
"Hm," was her only response. As he turned again, she called him back.
"Gohan, come here a minute." He did so, and she continued. "I need you to do something for me."
"…Sure, what?"
"I know I've said before that I don't like you doing what I'm going to ask, but just this once, it'll be alright."
"What, Mom?"
Looking up, she smiled sweetly. "Honey, would you turn into a Super Saiyan for me?"
*****
"The day Gohan introduced you to Bulma. The day you were going to start lessons again, and had to postpone them because Gohan had to go home suddenly. Do you remember it?"
She nodded definitively, sitting up attentively to hear the story. "Of course."
The alien continued. "When I left, I went straight home, then to bed because I wasn't feeling good. Nothing serious, I had a headache and felt exhausted. Just a simple series of events. The next morning there were two Gohans."
"One human…" she began to understand.
"And one Saiyan," he finished for her. "Me."
"This is too weird for fiction," she sighed, and lay back onto the bed.
"It's a lot to grasp."
"So," she continued, "Didn't it strike you as odd that there were two Gohans walking around?"
"Neither one of us knew there was another at first; we woke up at different times. The human went to school, I took a detour to Capsule Corp. We met that afternoon on the highway during the car chase and then went back to Bulma's to try to find out what was wrong."
"That must have been what she was working on this morning…" she muttered sitting up again. Now the rest of the events of the past few days fell into place: her lesson with the Gold Fighter, the truth about him, her lesson with "Gohan"… the puzzle was beginning to take shape. "So, for the past three days, I've spent the majority of my time…with you?"
He nodded. "Do you object to it?" he asked, a bit too slyly for Videl.
She crossed her arms and glared. "Well, I would have liked knowing it was you—hey!"
"What?"
"We can finish now!"
"Finish?" He blanked, her outburst had caught him off-guard. "Finish what?"
"Our Cell Games talk."
"Oh…" That was not the line of talk he'd had in mind. Without his transformed state to hide behind, he felt very vulnerable before the girl. But then…would it hurt to be vulnerable, open, just once? It wasn't like he cared about Gohan's secrets. "Fine… go ahead."
She set her mind to work, furiously sorting through all the new information she'd received. Leaning forward, she began, "You said the man in the tape was your father… you were both at the Games?"
He nodded. "The little boy was Gohan, the man his—my father, Son Goku."
"His hair…was he—?"
Another unasked question, answered. "My father was not human, as you suspect, though from a strange series of circumstances he grew up here on earth thinking he was one." She moved to press more out of him on this subject, but he stopped her before she could open her mouth. "It's a long story, maybe I'll tell you later."
She frowned slightly but acquiesced. "You said…he died. I'm sorry…"
He waved her off. "Don't, it was seven years ago."
"Oh, so then it was with Cell?"
Gohan's eyes widened—he'd slipped up. She suspected; from her line of questions, she might already know…Should he tell—could he tell her? Well yes, technically he could. It was possible.
But not proper! He was a Saiyan male, a great warrior, and here he was considering bearing his heart to this…this human!
No, he corrected himself, she wasn't just a human, Videl was more. More to him than merely human. She had to be, instincts didn't lie. Love… if that was a weakness…would he mind it? Would it be so bad to be vulnerable…for her?
"…Gohan?" She hesitated to call him by that name, but it was practically impossible for her to separate this alien from that boy, that Saiyaman, from school. In appearance at least. The Gohan she knew was quiet, gentle, yet naïve, and more than a little goofy. This Gohan… well, like she said, they were alike in appearance at least. They looked exactly the same—they were the same. And yet she wondered how Gohan had kept a side like this a secret.
"It was my fault," he finally muttered. "It was because of me…"
She had to strain to catch the whispered words; he was doing it again, she realized. Relapsing into some long suppressed memory of which she was totally unaware. He'd done it before during their lesson at Capsule Corp, and here it was again.
"Gohan, you know that can't be true," she tried to comfort. "Whatever happened couldn't have been y—"
"But it was!" He erupted, eyes shooting up to meet hers, quivering with rage. "It was! Not Gohan's fault, not the human's, but mine! 'Kill him!' he told me, 'Make him pay for all the lives he's ruined, the people he's killed!' But I…I said no. I was having fun. Fun! I wanted to take my time, let my revenge run its sweet course." He couldn't stand to look at her for long, though, and once again turned aside his gaze.
Something clicked in Videl's brain as she watched him, and a sea of realization washed over her. He hadn't just been at the Games, Gohan had fought Cell! And probably more than just fought the android…
"I didn't listen to him, because I knew I was more powerful, and I would play with him until he begged….he would beg for me to end it. I wanted him to feel fear…and I liked having that power."
He could feel her eyes on him, witnessing his breakdown. "Pride. For the blood in my veins, my father died. For my selfish Saiyan pride, for not doing as he said; he sacrificed his life." Pausing a moment, he spat out, "For nothing."
Videl let a respectful silence pervade the room, but couldn't keep quiet for long. Humoring him, she spoke. "Gohan told me, when I said what I was afraid of, that he understood, because he had been in the same situation before, felt the same way: like he wished he could help, do something and not just stand by and watch." Had he been by her, she might have laid a hand on him as a comfort, but he was standing a few feet away still. "He couldn't change what had happened in the past, but he offered to help me change my future."
The Saiyan laughed. "Sentimental crap. Probably the human in him talking."
"I don't think so," she countered confidently, and he had to look up at the tone shift. "He understood the limits of his power; no one can change the past, they can only learn from it and prepare for the future."
He shrugged, not wanting to admit she was right, and Videl gave a small smile. He was still standing by the open window, and a gentle night breeze ruffled his hair and blew to tattered gi he wore to and fro. Moonlight from a crescent hook of a moon streamed in.
She swung her legs over to the side of the bed and hopped up; immediately his attentions were drawn to her actions, and his eyes followed her, confused. With her face blank, he couldn't discern her emotions; she approached slowly, not stopping until she was right in front of him. "I want to ask one more thing."
He hesitantly agreed. "Alright…"
She placed one hand on his chest, observing her own pale flesh, lit by moonlight, against the dark material of his gi, and felt a heartbeat—but hers or his? "Why did you say you wouldn't become one again? Why won't you rejoin?"
So that's what she was after, was it? "Because he's weak!"
"No, I think there's more…"
He hardened. "It's impossible for a human to understand."
"Then enlighten me," she pressed.
He yielded eventually. "Fine, you want to know why? I'll tell you. Because all Gohan's life his Saiyan side has been a burden on him, but it was the only legacy his father left, the only real piece of his heritage. Without me, Gohan would have died long ago, but outside of battle, what am I? Nothing to him, just a bundle of base instincts waiting to be suppressed. You want me to go back to that life, now that I'm finally free? Never."
She nodded slowly. "I see. It's your choice, your body. I can't make you do anything. But from someone outside looking in, I'll say it's not right. Even if your life was like that…it was a life. This…you belong together." She pulled back her hand. "Goodnight, whoever you are now."
*****
"Do it, Gohan."
"But—Mom!" He tried to reason with her. "Why sh—"
A held up hand halted any pleas. "Transform now, Son Gohan." He moved to object, but she hardened her glare, and he dropped his gaze. "Well?"
What could he do? Sighing, he softly confessed, "I can't…"
"And why is that?" she questioned back, not sounding very surprised at the revelation.
"Because…humans can't." He looked up at her, expecting a flood of reprobation that did not come. Instead she now stood up, arms crossed, disappointment evident on her face.
"Well, when were you going to bring this little problem to my attention?"
"W—who told?"
"Piccolo."
He slid down onto a step and, to his surprise, Chichi sat down beside him, laying one hand on her son's shoulder. "I want to know the truth. From you, Gohan."
He nodded stiffly, refraining from looking directly into her face. "A few days ago it started. The day Piccolo came here, I wasn't feeling well, remember?" A nod of affirmation from his mother and he continued. "I don't know what happened… but I went to sleep as one person and woke up as two. I didn't feel any different at first, really, and I didn't even know this had happened until the next afternoon when I met the other me on a highway call with Videl."
Chichi closed her eyes. "Piccolo… knows how and why it happened, Gohan."
He blinked, turning quickly to look at her. "He…he does? When did he find out?"
She didn't answer, but rather turned her face forward, leaving him to look on. "Gohan, you have to get back together. In one body."
"Wha—that didn't answer either question!"
"It wasn't supposed to. Piccolo said you'll be needed for something soon, but whatever it is doesn't matter to me right now. All I know is that something very bad has happened to my son and I want it fixed."
"Well I don't!" He stood up, and though she wouldn't look at him, he drilled his eyes into her. "You think it's some terrible tragedy, everyone does—but it's not! You don't realize how…freeing it's been, not having to battle my instincts. I can be normal, no worrying about Saiyan pride triggering outbursts, no keeping it in check. I can't go back. I won't go back."
There was a profound silence, an empty one. She spoke eventually, voice very soft. "Go to Piccolo. To the lookout. Go away, I want my son back."
*****
"They're coming," Piccolo observed. "There—" he turned his head to the East, three others following his gaze to an inbound figure. "And there." He now turned to the West, and backlit by a setting sun came Gohan.
As soon as the human touched down, he began upbraiding his mentor. "You told her? Without asking me? And what's this about you knowing how we were separated?" The Saiyan was by his double in an instant.
Backing away, the Namek extended a hand to introduce the beings behind him. "Gohans, the Supreme Kai and his servant, Kibito."
The boys' attentions snapped to the small god, who now stepped forward while the servant maintained a respectful distance behind his master. Smiling mysteriously, he greeted, "Welcome."
Ignoring the salutation, the human looked at Piccolo, questioning, "What's this about?"
"Your separation, of course," the Kai filled in, refocusing all attentions on him. He began to pace the lookout, with the Gohans following, waiting for answers. "Boys," he began, "I'm going to tell you something that may or may not come as a surprise." Stopping, he turned around to face them. "Son Gohan is currently the most powerful mortal in your universe."
The two boys looked at each other questioningly. "…Which one?"
The god smiled that strange smile again. "Oh, neither one of you. Both together." The Gohans' eyebrows knit in confusion, and the Supreme Kai explained. "I'm going to tell you a story." He took up his pacing again. "Once upon a time, long ago, there was a wizard—a very powerful one. His sole purpose in life, his single intention, was to conquer the universe and bring it under his power. To have all planets and peoples regard him as their abject ruler, his one desire."
"Not very original, was he?" the Saiyan laughed gruffly. The Kai ignored him and continued.
"To accomplish this he created a monster, Majin Buu, a slave who would carry out his will and dominate the galaxies far and wide in the name of his master. And he was nearly successful; however, the monster Buu was sealed away, trapped inside a ball, and the wizard's plans came to naught.
"Bibidi, for that was the wizard's name, had a son though, and named him Babidi. The son was no better than the father, with the same goals and aspirations, and upon Bibidi's death, he sought to continue his father's work. Only now, there was an obstacle, a very powerful obstacle, in his way."
"…What?"
"You." They dared a glance at one another. "The son could not remove this obstacle on his own, so he commissioned a Kai to help: the South Kai, in fact. With the Kai's power, the problem was… taken care of." He paused. "Would you like to know how? I think you already do…" No answer was returned. "The South Kai split Son Gohan in two, one representing his human half, the other his Saiyan half."
Piccolo now entered the conversation. "This was no accident, Gohan. He targeted you, this wizard Babidi. Targeted you and did this to you. They knew you were the only force that could stop them."
"Yes," the Kai affirmed. "And now he has but to gather the energy to break the seal on Majin Buu's prison, and a tidal wave of destruction will engulf your planet and then spread throughout the universe."
"Well—what are we waiting for? Let's take care of him," the Saiyan interjected, sensing a fight was near.
"Excellent, we'll leave as soon as you rejoin."
Wait, now the fight didn't seem so tempting to the alien; the smile fled from Gohan's face. "Do what?"
"Eager as you are, Gohan, to go out and battle now," Piccolo interposed, "you're not strong enough separated like this. You have to recombine before we can try to defeat Majin Buu."
"Wha—what do you mean?"
"It's the reason you are so powerful. Your mixed background. Saiyan power and potential coupled with human passion and complexity—the possibilities were boundless."
"Without one another, you," the god directed his attentions to the human, "are just another human fighter who's reached the limit of his power, while you," he now turned to the other Gohan, "are weaker than you were seven years ago. You're hardly a match for Cell now, much less Buu. Neither of you are strong enough to stand even the slightest chance, not like this."
"I get it…" the Saiyan began. "I get it. You're trying to trick us into rejoining. You're all trying to!"
"Absurd!" the Kai retorted. "What motivation could I possibly have in doing that?"
"Look, I know my limits, my abilities, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that combining with someone weaker than me can't possibly make me stronger."
"You misunderstand. It is not the human Gohan's ki which will make you stronger—it is his will. You need him to draw on your reserves; you cannot reach them in this form."
"Watch me."
"Gohan!" Piccolo could watch him disrespect the Supreme Kai no longer, and lashed out at his former student. "This is the Supreme Kai! Listen to him—he knows more about this war and all its participants than you could ever understand."
"Oh?" He was still irreverent.
"Yes," the god informed him, disregarding the tone in the Saiyan's voice. "For I was engaged in the fight myself. I know the monster Buu's power because I fought him. I know Gohan's power because I have been watching him for some time now. And I know that you don't have it—can't have it without him."
Gohan's eyes narrowed into thin slits. Supreme Kai or not, how could this being presume to know more about his body than himself? He—but he stopped himself. He felt it: the god was probing his mind! He was delving into Gohan's innermost thoughts searching for—
The kai stopped. He'd found the information he'd been seeking, and his eyes widened.
"She will die," he spoke aloud.
Both Gohans' faces washed over with fear, growing pale, but it was the Saiyan, once again, who spoke. "No, she won't." He was defiant in tone, trying to convince himself as well as the audience. "I will protect her."
Piccolo and Kibito looked on in confusion, neither one realizing who "she" was, but the Supreme Kai continued. "You will try, yes, no doubt quite valiantly. But without your human side, you will ultimately fail, and she, along with all life on this planet and throughout the universe, will perish."
"No—"
"Yes!" The god was growing impatient and he launched into a tirade. "You are now a full blooded Saiyan, and as such the pride which once brought your race to such greatness flows unbridled through your veins. But just because you were born with it does not mean you cannot die by it! Along with this pride comes a certain arrogance, a disregard for order, and a tendency to consider yourself invincible, when nothing could be further from the truth. Listen to reason! I have battled Majin Buu, I know the power he holds; do not gamble all these lives, her life, on a futile battle just so your pride won't be spoiled!"
All parties present were taken aback by the outburst, but it was the alien Gohan who reflected on it most, was most affected by it. Was it possible? Was there a chance that…he might not be able to protect her? What would happen if he failed? Would she…he flashed on his father—would Videl wind up another sacrifice?
"Just a minute…" A new voice entered the dispute now, and all eyes turned to the human. "He's not the only one who doesn't want to rejoin."
"My argument applies to you as well, Gohan."
"I don't have any issues about pride, though. I just don't want to rejoin with him."
"Then what," the Kai questioned, "will you do about Buu? Send your Saiyan half off to do battle alone? Will you place your own happiness above the lives of all the people of this planet? Above her life?" His words struck the same chord in the human as they had with his double.
He had to do it, this he knew; he'd hear the Kai's words to his counterpart, and knew if his Saiyan half couldn't do it, then a human didn't stand a chance. But that didn't mean he wanted to rejoin…it didn't make the thought any easier to embrace.
He'd gotten used to being human, reacting like a human to situations…he didn't want to go back to that life!
Sensing the human's inner turmoil and reluctance, the Saiyan spoke up again. "One day. Give us one day. We'll answer you then."
The Supreme Kai nodded. "Fine, tomorrow, here at sunset."
The alien turned to leave, glancing over his shoulder at his double; the human hadn't moved, staring at the floor.
"Guess I'll go home…Mom knows now, anyway." The human nodded. "We'll talk later. About this," he added.
*****
Chichi didn't say anything when they walked in, just filled their plates and went into the laundry room to put a load of clothes on to wash. With Goten gone, the house stayed relatively quiet until the two went up to Gohan's room to turn in for the night.
"G'night, Mom," they said to the woman knitting on the couch, and leaned down to give her a quick kiss on either cheek. Hurrying upstairs, they missed the whispered words that fell from their mother's mouth as they left her. "Gohan…my little boy…come back…"
"Well?" the Saiyan began, the door soundly shutting the two off from the rest of the house. "What now?"
The human slumped onto the bed. "I don't know…you're sure you can't beat this thing alone?"
"No, I'm not sure," he shook his head. "And I can't be positive unless I fight him like this. But…I believe the Supreme Kai. If he says I can't win, then I probably can't. Besides, I won't risk losing if there's another way that will guarantee victory."
"But how do you know rejoining will guarantee a win?"
"For this wizard to go out of his way to do this, don't you think Gohan must have been a pretty big threat?"
"Still, it's not—"
"Then what will you do?" he snapped. Simpering human; he couldn't believe he was even considering getting back into one body with this, but it had to be done. "Give up on the only way we might be able to beat this monster? If I fight him now, and I die, then who'll protect her? You?"
The human narrowed his eyes. "Don't act like you're the only one who feels anything for her."
"Then help me! If for no other reason than to make sure she lives." He still wavered, hesitant. "She'll die if we don't!"
"Don't you think I know that?"
"Then why do you still wait?"
"Because! Because—she's not the only thing I'm scared of losing. I don't want to lose…myself." He lowered his eyes.
"…what?"
"My human consciousness. I've become more aware of it since we split…and I'm afraid if we rejoin, then it'll be lost."
The Saiyan paused before delivering his reply. "It seems… we both have fears about rejoining." The human's eyes shot up to look at the alien. "I'm afraid of being suppressed, of being shoved into a tiny corner of Gohan's mind and abandoned."
A few moments passed, each reflecting on the decision before him. The human stood and extended a hand. "Agree with me."
"What?"
"Make a promise with me. If we rejoin, we won't lose each other. Gohan is half-human and half-Saiyan. Agree with me to…try something like taking turns. Let the Saiyan side out some, then the human."
"No more battles," the alien realized. "Cooperation."
"Deal?"
The Saiyan looked down at the hand before him, and smiled, taking it in a firm grip. "Deal."
—END CHAPTER NINE—
Post-chapter notes: Aah, another chapter, finally finished. Oh, and look! I've already got some of the next one written…hmm, I wonder what would make me write faster…I know! REVIEWS! The currency of the future. Let me know what's going through your minds about this chap—it was fun to write, but the next one's going to be even better…MWAHAHAHA—*hack**cough**sputter* I'm done.