The Man in the White Suit
The whole world is fucking crazy. If someone told me anyone on this planet was actually sane, I wouldn't believe them one bit. Because the whole world is nuts, bordering on the line between reality and contradiction of their own beings, I'm the only sane one. At least, that's what I used to think, before I met him.
Before I met the man in the white suit, everything for me was pretty normal- as normal as it can get for someone like me. Oh, sure, being one of the most powerful beings in the universe did put a damper on your normal rating- but it wasn't too bad for me. Besides, I grew up being powerful. It's just my nature. But, for some reason, it just. . .changed. I don't really know how to explain it in reasonable terms without you thinking I'm completely nuts, but I'll try my best.
The man in the white suit, as I recall seeing him for the first time, would've caused me to shit my pants, had I been just a normal human being. He has this kind of creepy air about him- it's hard to explain, really- but I can tell you what he wore when I saw him. He was clothed in a totally white tuxedo, whiter than milk. His pants were very business like, and also white- he wore a white boulder hat, the kind you might see some English people wear. It always covered his eyes- I never saw his eyes for a good while. His sleeves were rolled up and bunched around his lanky, pale elbows. It exposed his pale, almost clammy skin, and his bony, yet unusually young looking, hands. One of the hands- the right, I think- held a white ivory cane, which he leaned on with his body weight.
Actually, the only thing that wasn't white on him was his black vest that was covered around his chest. In the middle of the chest, there was a small white button that outshined all the other white buttons on the man's suit.
The man spoke with a soft, growling tone, but it was kind, gentle- like a sweet grandfather's. I never knew my grandfather on my Dad's side, but that is totally beside the point.
I met him on a long, lonely stretch of sidewalk, late at night on the corner of 5th and 6th avenues. I was walking along the dark grey slabs, tall street lamps illuminating parts of the walkway to give it an orange glow every couple of yards. The lamps passed over my form, illuminating my otherwise dark and depressed figure against the cold night. I remember that on that cold night, I wore a long dark brown trench coat given to me as a present last Christmas. It waved in the wind I was creating, an otherwise windless night.
I happened to have a lot on my mind that night. I thought about many things- the anniversary of my Father's death, Videl, crime fighting, and my little brother. He was sick with the flu, and no one knew how he could have caught it. Sayains- even half sayains- almost never caught any diseases, especially not the flu. Bulma wanted to run some experiments on him, but he refused. I had to hold him down so that she could extract the shot from Goten's arm, and run the tests. He screamed bloody murder as Bulma took the shot, which to me I thought to be quite strange since it should barely even be hurting him. But whatever, I thought. He was probably just afraid of syringes and sharp objects, just like my father used to be.
Videl had had some very serious problems going on in her life lately that deeply concerned me. Apparently, since her father had won yet another tournament, he had started to bring home a lot of one-night-stands. It raked on Videl's nerves, what I had heard from her. She said that she couldn't study, or even go to sleep at night because of all the sick sounds her father would make in the room down the hall. It had gotten so bad that one night she even flew over to my house and slept in the guest bed room- not that I minded- but it just scared me that it could get that bad.
I might have to do something about it if it gets any worse. She had, at one point, needed a shoulder to cry on. Then I knew something had to be done, but I couldn't do anything about it right now. The crime rate was devastatingly high in the city right now; murderers ran rampant, robbers looted banks on a daily basis. . .It was tearing me and Videl to shreds, and by the end of the day we were too exhausted to do our homework. In fact, I'm pretty sure I had to stop a gang of thieves that had taken over a civilian bus just this morning by my self, because Videl had not gotten any sleep again from her father's loud "noises", and had flown home just to get some sleep.
I had offered to start tutoring her, because of all the class she was missing. After a few days of negotiating, we finally came to an agreement. I would come and tutor her on the weekends, but only late at night, because her father would start yelling up a storm if he ever found out a guy that was a "weakling" came into his house without his permission. I usually ended up staying the night, but it was okay with my mother, because she kept assuming that Videl and I were more than what she thought. But we weren't- we were just simply good friends, that's all.
So that's where I was headed, to Videl's house so I could help her with her studies. I think we were doing History tonight, studying World War II. Well, I brought my agenda and books with me-they were inside a small blue backpack that hung over my shoulder- so I'm sure I could figure it out when I got there, but I still didn't know why I was walking there. Maybe I was just accumulating a taste for walking since I had started to do it so much lately. But there I was, walking around in the cold in the middle of October, heading to a friend's house so I could help her with her studies. But, that cold night reminded me of how I felt 7 years ago.
The thoughts of my Father's death came into being. I missed him so much- he was like an angel to me, a kind of savior. He loved me and my mother so much- he was so selfless. But then, I guess it sickened me to some degree, because every time I thought of him I thought of Cell, also. That green grasshopper was the focal point of my hate- I spilled it out to him when I fought against his wrath. He was the single reason I had become something of a shell; a boy that had to become a man all too quickly. I grew up and had to learn the rules of war when I was merely 3 years old- Most boys in Africa don't even get stuck in their guerilla wars until they're at least 9 or 10.
But there I was, training myself how to kill a living creature at 3 years old. It was disgusting, as I now look down at it- but then, it also saved the human race, saved the universe, even. But it wasn't like I actually cared whether a few planets were blown up or totally incinerated- the thoughts just never really crossed my mind as being important. But now, they seemed almost like the most important thing in the world to me, besides Videl's problems.
And to top it all off, the anniversary was only three weeks away, which meant my mother would begin to grieve soon. I hated it when she grieved. She just loped around the house, whimpering and basically not giving a shit about anything. My little brother never understood why, exactly, she did this; he just knew his father died a long time ago.
As I walked down the street, I came to a stop at the corner, looking across to where Videl's mansion lay, and to my left, where a few blocks down I could see the dark yellow dome of the Capsule Corporation mansion, where rectangular lights lined across its walls in small curves. Above the mansions that lined 5th and 6th avenues was a blanket of stars, brilliantly lighted despite the fact that the lights were supposed to be blocking some of them out.
As I looked on, I could just barely make out a shooting star flying across the sky, a small white cosmic tail flailing behind the ball of light. I smiled and thought of happier times at its site- I even remembered an old wife's tale that if you wished for something when you saw a shooting star, that wish would be granted. What the hell, I thought. I could just give it a try. But of course, you have to say it out loud, so that everyone can hear you.
"I wish," I began, "That everything would get better." Then the shooting star disappeared from my view. I looked down, and there, standing in a pool of light from one of the street lamps, was a man in a white suit, leaning on a cane, chewing on a toothpick. I didn't know where he came from. I hadn't heard any foot steps, or any kind of energy signal that I would've picked up from him. He scared me slightly.
He spoke first. "Hello, there, stranger," He said in a sweetly polite tone, bowing slightly, his right arm still balanced on the cane. I looked on at him in awe, his figure totally lanky and bony in appearance.
"Hello," I answered, "How are you, sir?" I asked, eyeing the man in the white suit with a dreaded suspicion. Who was he? Where'd he come from? Arousing suspicions arose in my chest, as he pulled up from his bow and began to walk in an awkward gait towards me.
"You know, son, you shouldn't think so much," He recalled from my mind that I later found out, but at the moment it had scared me just a bit. Maybe, as I had thought that night, perhaps he could read minds like Master Roshi was able to do at one time?
"Why shouldn't I think so much?" I retorted, his sentence not making much sense.
"You might bust a nerve." He was about an arm's length from me now, his eyes still covered by the white hat. I laughed inwardly at his answer. You couldn't possibly bust a nerve by thinking too hard!
"You laugh now, but just wait until you actually do," The man said, cracking a smile that revealed white teeth. Now I knew I was getting a bit freaked out.
"Why do you insist on talking to me? I have to get somewhere," I said, and tried to sidestep around him, but he moved in front of me.
"Kind sir, please stay a moment and let me talk to you," He smiled, and his white teeth made a grinding noise, like to blocks being clapped against each other. I scrunched up my nose at the sound, and replied.
"No, I don't have the time to be talking to someone that I don't even know," I said, and made a motion of going around his right side. He lifted his cane swiftly in the air, and stopped it right at my chest. I was slightly taken aback by the speed of the action.
"Maybe you do know me?" He said quietly, too quietly. . .I reached in through my mind to try and think of a man in a totally white suit, but nothing came. I was positive I had never seen or known of this man before.
"I'm pretty damn sure I don't know you, sir, now please step aside so that I can get to where I need to go," I demanded with a forced nice tone. He made a movement, stepping aside from me, and to my right.
"I think you do, good sir. You'll know me, I promise." He said, and I think he tapped me on the shoulder, as a friendly gesture I think, with his cane. I turned around to say something to him, I forget what, but he wasn't there. I glanced around, and there was no sign of him in any direction. It was like he didn't exist. Odd, I thought. No one could just do that, not without knowing some kind of instant transmission. Maybe it was a ghost? Oh, of course not. I know there aren't any ACTUAL ghosts- those things are just silly fairy tales and horror stories.
As I turned around, back to facing the way I actually needed to go, the man in the white suit was in front of me again, just as if he had been standing there the entire time. He smiled, and a shadow took away the vision of seeing his eyes as he bent his head slightly downward.
"Do you know me now?" He asked, acting like he was totally unaware of anything. I thought to myself, of course not, I don't know anything about you. He laughed. His laugh had a nasty clicking sound to it, and was horribly hoarse.
"You know that I'm wearing a white suit, don't you?" And at that, I came to the conclusion that yes, he could read my mind. Now I was totally scared- this man was prying into my private thoughts, and he probably now knew so much more than he should.
"Don't pry into my mind, old man. Now leave me alone." I hissed, and walked by him onto the road. He made the clicking laugh again, and I turned around to see that he was gone again, without a single trace. I growled in annoyance at his disappearing act. I turned back around, and saw in a pool of orange light, a white ivory cane lying in the middle of the road. The man in the white suit must've dropped it.
"You'll know me, sir," The voice echoed in my brain, and at first he might be using telepathy as I looked at the cane, but decided against it. That was a fool-hardy notion; I only knew of a few people that could do that, my father and the Kais. So of course, it bothered me. But to no avail, I had this wanting build up in me to grab that cane. What could I have done? Maybe I should've just left the cane there, and this whole ordeal would've never happened, and he would've just came back, gotten it and I would forget in a few months this ever even happened.
But of course, I picked it up. It was very light weight, and very smooth. I held it in both of my hands, surveying it. It almost felt like a quarter staff, it was so light and swift to me. It kind of felt like a sword, even. That's a silly thought, thinking a cane is a sword; I'm sure I played with an old cane of my great grandfather's when I was little. Of course, that was only when I was actually relieved of my studies. I had become a master at Algebra by the time I was 10. Calculus was a simple task for me.
I took the cane in my left hand, and let it walk with me as I tread my way across the road. I had at last reached 6th street, the street on which my best friend, Videl, resided. You could clearly see her titanic mansion from even here, and her yard boundaries reached out to end at a large white marble wall, about 7 or 8 feet high. I walked beside the wall, my newly found cane clicking with me. A small wind picked up behind me, fluttering my coat. I looked up, and saw the three story tall mansion in its full glory, an eccentric statue that had to be at least thirty feet high mounting the top of the patio, its granite mouth agape in happiness and the victory sign strutted out for everyone to see on the statue's figure. Below it, a large, Victorian style home that had a look akin to the President of the United State's house look to it, only its front patio extended in a semi-circle with two sets of stairs twisting slightly on both sides to meet in a courtyard. The courtyard's grass was green and thick with life- even if it was astro-turf- and in the middle it had a long three foot deep man- made pool that stretched for about 100 feet. In the middle of the pond was a statue of four beautiful women sitting in a square formation, pouring from golden pots water that splashed slowly into the pond.
It was beautiful, especially at night when all the lights of the courtyard were lit up- it made for a very surreal, almost Greek-era feel. But all in all, I knew Videl hated it- it just further glorified her father's narcissistic behaviors, and his eccentricity often got the best of her temper. Well, I wouldn't have to worry much about that, I thought, as a plan was slowly forming in my mind to finally help Videl get rid of the idiotic man that she hated with every inch of her being, but in a legal way, of course.
I came to the black barred gate, which read out in the bars, "SATAN HOME" with golden iron. I swiftly jumped over it without even touching it, and did not feel to land on Mr.Satan's lawn, because it was laced with laser triggers that if set off, would almost definitely alert him to my presence. I silently floated over the lawn, and began to pass by the pond, whose maidens still poured the clear water into the pool. I put my hands into my trench coat pockets, feeling slightly cold. The cane hung on my left arm, smacking against my arm every once in a while. I reached the end of the pool, and looked up to see to the left on the top floor, a lighted window opening up to reveal Videl, dressed in her normal attire- a purple shirt under a white sporting tank top and some blue jeans- waving to me happily as she walked onto her own private patio.
I waved back nicely, happy as I ever could be. I do believe, although I think I deny it so much when I'm around my other friends- I feel just so much happier when I'm around Videl. That's why it bothered me so when I found out about her troubles. But so I came to her house, and gently floated myself up to her balcony, and she took a step back to give me room as I put my feet on the cement flooring. I smiled with happiness, and began to speak with her.
"Hello, Videl," I started, "How are ya feeling tonight?" I often lost my good grammar when I spoke to her. She sighed, and smiled at me with a sad glint in her eye.
"I really couldn't tell you, but if it had to be something, I would say. . . I feel like shit." She said in a dead pan voice, and I knew it was her father again, and I began to take my coat off even though it was cold. I set the cane down on a small cushioned bench on the edge of the balcony, and she immediately took notice to it.
"Where'd that cane come from?" She asked, "Did you bag an old man and steal his cane?" I laughed at her sarcastic joke, and thought to myself, she's half right. I slipped my coat fully off, and laid it by the cane.
"Well, sort of. This man in a white suit kept on bugging me on my way here, and when he left- and when I mean he left I mean he disappeared," She arched an eyebrow, "and this cane was laying in the middle of the road. So I picked it up." She looked at me with bewilderment, and went over to her window doors, and opened them.
"He disappeared? Why would you even be talking to this guy in the first place? I thought you flew," She said, walking into her large, almost apartment like room. I walked with her inside.
"I decided that I would fly three fourths of the way, then walk the rest. I hope you didn't mind that it took me longer," I apologized. She shrugged it off, and said it was okay.
I liked Videl's room. It was almost a mirror image of a high priced apartment in Manhatten, a ceiling that reached high into the air and curved into a white dome that had a very beautiful mural of space, which had been specifically designed to change according to the varying sunlight. Since it was about 9 o' clock, the stars had begun to twinkle brilliantly, and in the middle was a giant white circle, with a deathly beautiful glow. I, and basically the entire population of the Earth, knew it to be the moon.
The rest of the room was quite normal, with clothes randomly thrown about the bedroom, and a large double-king sized bed that had huge white comforters and white sheets on it. Well, of course living in the lap of luxury was nice, it was nice to a lot of people, but as I walked in I started to figure out that she really did hate it. On the opposite side of the bed was a large dresser with a vanity mirror- although Videl almost never used anything of the sort-so it was pretty clean around the dresser. About 15- 20 feet away from the bed was a television set, a large one, in fact. I know that Vegeta had a bigger one at Capsule Corp in his and Bulma's room, but this one was still about 42 inches wide, and had almost no dust on it, because the maids tended to clean everything until it wasn't even there.
The carpet, as it remained throughout most of the house, had a soft, feathery feel to it, and was a nice navy blue color. We exited the bedroom, and into a mini hallway that had a picture on each side of it. The hallway itself was only about 10 feet long. But the pictures really did strike a chord with me; they were pictures of a very pretty lady, holding a toddler with raven black hair, bouncing the child on her knee. The scene was very happy, and it laid to my right on the lighted hall.
But on the other side, lay a horridly depressing figure. There sat Videl, only 6 years younger than before, sitting on a bench in the park- now that I think about it, it was that same bench in the other picture- and her arms were draped around the sides of the bench, and her head hung low. She was wearing a funeral type dress, and if you looked oh so closely- I decided not to do that until later- you could see small streaks of dried tears on her face.
We exited the hallway, and into her computer room. The room mainly consisted of 4 things. A large desk with a very, very nice computer on it; an artist's table in the corner with some paper sitting on it and a lamp that overlooked it all, a big table with comfy looking chairs on each side, and a small couch in a far-off corner.
"Well, make yourself at home; my father isn't here tonight." Videl said with a great relief in her tone. Oh, she worried me so, that was for sure.
"Okay. Where is he, if you don't mind me asking?" I said, slipping the bag off of my shoulder and thumping it on the table. Videl slid a chair out and sat in it, and pulled herself into the table before telling me.
"He's on a 'business trip', although I bet he's probably just knocking up one of our maids." She said, looking over to a large bay window, that showed the backyard- but you couldn't really make it out because it was dark. I looked down at my bag, and opened it up as I sat down in my chair.
"You need to do something about that guy." I commented, pulling out a green book entitled "History of the World". Videl snorted, and looked away at the computer. A screen saver that had a picture of me and her goofing off painted a happier portrait than I'm sure she was feeling at the time.
"I can't, because he's the only family I have left. And I can't even get out of here because I haven't finished school yet, or anything," She sighed. I decided to skip the subject, and move on to academic matters.
"Well, let's just focus on our studies right now and we can deal with Mr. Narcissist later." That pulled a laugh out of her, so I knew I was beginning to get her on her good side. She suddenly perked up, and it made me jump just a bit.
"Oh, Gohan! We're doing Astronomy tonight, remember? Not History," She said, almost happy about it. Well, I can't believe I forgot that- but astronomy was my best subject, so she would really get good help there. I knew a lot about astronomy- I mean, your own father doesn't come from the stars, and you don't have a man that you see basically every day that's been all over the universe and not know a few things than normal people do.
"Oh, I forgot to bring my book! Do you have yours?" I asked her. She blushed just a bit.
"No, I left mine at the school. Now what are we going to do? I don't have any idea as how I'm going to learn those damned constellations and their histories before the Exam on Cell Day in three weeks!" She harrumphed, and placed her chin on her hand, looking at the picture of us goofing off again. An idea struck me, that I had never thought of before; of course, in due time I would've thought of it, but it's better to have it come to me now than later on.
"Why don't we use the computer and look it up on Vegeta's website?" I offered. Videl looked at me funny.
"Vegeta's got a website? Hah, now I've heard everything," She laughed, and got up from her seat. I got up as well, and followed her the short distance to the computer. She sat down in one of the leather rolling chairs- I did the same- and she wiggled the mouse to make the screensaver disappear to a desktop that had several first-person-shooter game icons on it, and a wallpaper of her favorite web comic, "8-bit theater", displayed in the background.
She double-clicked on the icon that said "Internet Explorer", and the window instantly appeared to the homepage of mine, which I updated frequently (whenever I had the time.) Videl clicked on the web URL and looked at me.
"What's the name?" She asked, and typed in "w w w." real quick. I thought for a moment, reaching in a bit on the back of my head to pry out the web URL. It was, ahh, something sayainpride/index.htm, or something. Oh, now I remembered, the site's name had come back to me in a good flash.
"It's w w w.f r e e w e b s.c om/ sayainpride/index.htm" I spelled it out to her, and she swiftly typed it in, and pressed the enter button. The site almost immediately popped up, and revealed a very dark looking scenario for a web site, with a picture that Vegeta had brought from one of Frieza's ships, a portrait of the planet Vegeta. It struck a chord in my heart, a kind of remembrance of my race. It was a beautiful planet, but I immediately saw that Videl was confused by the portrait, and the words above it, that said in fancy green cursive letters, "My Home Planet".
"What the hell?" She muttered, and I quickly intervened. I would let her know, sooner or later, but not now.
"Uhh, it's just a silly joke Vegeta came up with," I choked, rubbing my hand against the back of my neck, because Videl had shot me a suspicious look.
"What? More secrets, Mr. Sayaman?" She accentuated the last word, and caused more panic with me.
"No, no! It's just a prank that he and Bulma came up with, because they're studying that planet," I thought of a lie quickly, "and they thought they'd post up studies about it as they went along." She looked at me a bit more, as if prying information out of my eyes, and then shrugged and turned back to her work. I breathed an inward sigh of relief, and she went and clicked on a link that said "Star Charts" and within one second the page popped up, a series of star charts in chronological order arranged from left to right. In the project, I remember, you had to make your own star charts, and name the stars you saw then you had to find what they actually were on the internet, and if possible, use a telescope to find one of the planets.
"What's this?" Videl pointing at one of the pictures with a point of light encircled by a red triangle, and a line coming from it that said at its peak, "Blast Radius Zero".
"I heard Vegeta talking about that. He says that it's a star or planet that blew up, and its light is just now getting here. It's really quite interesting to look at with a telescope." I explained, knowing exactly what it was. But I wouldn't tell her, not yet. But I would, soon, because every day it seemed like she kept on finding out something new.
"Do you think we could use these and go into my observatory to look for them?" Videl asked, looking at me. I said of course, Bulma wouldn't mind.
"Wait, I forgot. My observatory is going under repairs, and I can't use it," She cursed, and sighed in sadness. This was going to get to her, I knew it, so I had to think of something fast.
"Well, I guess we could use Bulma's, she's just down the street," Videl almost immediately brightened up, her eyes sparkling their brilliant blue. I really liked her eyes- they just reminded me of happier times.
"That's a great idea, Gohan! But do you think she'd actually let us use her telescope? It's almost 10:00 o' clock," Videl glanced at her watch, and the digital clock ticked off at 9:57. I nodded a yes.
"Of course she would! She's a night owl anyways," I said, and I swear it was the practical truth. That woman could stay up until 5 o' clock without even blinking. One time, before father died, she stayed up until 7 o' clock in the morning fixing Android # 16.
"Well," Videl began as she clicked out of the internet and began to shut the computer down, "I guess me and you are going to go take a walk." She lifted herself from the chair, as I did the same from my chair, and followed her into her bedroom. She opened up a closet that was situated to the left of the television set, and reached in. Videl, from what I could see and knew at that moment, pulled out a navy blue nylon Adidas jacket, and pulled it on to her, one arm at a time. She zipped it up, and shifted it so it wouldn't be uncomfortable. I stood there, looking outside, and I mentioned that I'd be right back, and I was going to get my coat.
I went outside to the patio, and grabbed my trench coat, but the cane wasn't there when I got outside.
= = = = = A/N: That's the end of chapter one, and I must say it's the longest chapter I've ever written for any story, ever. And it's going to continue like that, but don't expect another chapter for about a week. It'll be a weekly thing, I'll try to do that.
Please give thoughtful comments and suggestions, and tell me how you like it.
The whole world is fucking crazy. If someone told me anyone on this planet was actually sane, I wouldn't believe them one bit. Because the whole world is nuts, bordering on the line between reality and contradiction of their own beings, I'm the only sane one. At least, that's what I used to think, before I met him.
Before I met the man in the white suit, everything for me was pretty normal- as normal as it can get for someone like me. Oh, sure, being one of the most powerful beings in the universe did put a damper on your normal rating- but it wasn't too bad for me. Besides, I grew up being powerful. It's just my nature. But, for some reason, it just. . .changed. I don't really know how to explain it in reasonable terms without you thinking I'm completely nuts, but I'll try my best.
The man in the white suit, as I recall seeing him for the first time, would've caused me to shit my pants, had I been just a normal human being. He has this kind of creepy air about him- it's hard to explain, really- but I can tell you what he wore when I saw him. He was clothed in a totally white tuxedo, whiter than milk. His pants were very business like, and also white- he wore a white boulder hat, the kind you might see some English people wear. It always covered his eyes- I never saw his eyes for a good while. His sleeves were rolled up and bunched around his lanky, pale elbows. It exposed his pale, almost clammy skin, and his bony, yet unusually young looking, hands. One of the hands- the right, I think- held a white ivory cane, which he leaned on with his body weight.
Actually, the only thing that wasn't white on him was his black vest that was covered around his chest. In the middle of the chest, there was a small white button that outshined all the other white buttons on the man's suit.
The man spoke with a soft, growling tone, but it was kind, gentle- like a sweet grandfather's. I never knew my grandfather on my Dad's side, but that is totally beside the point.
I met him on a long, lonely stretch of sidewalk, late at night on the corner of 5th and 6th avenues. I was walking along the dark grey slabs, tall street lamps illuminating parts of the walkway to give it an orange glow every couple of yards. The lamps passed over my form, illuminating my otherwise dark and depressed figure against the cold night. I remember that on that cold night, I wore a long dark brown trench coat given to me as a present last Christmas. It waved in the wind I was creating, an otherwise windless night.
I happened to have a lot on my mind that night. I thought about many things- the anniversary of my Father's death, Videl, crime fighting, and my little brother. He was sick with the flu, and no one knew how he could have caught it. Sayains- even half sayains- almost never caught any diseases, especially not the flu. Bulma wanted to run some experiments on him, but he refused. I had to hold him down so that she could extract the shot from Goten's arm, and run the tests. He screamed bloody murder as Bulma took the shot, which to me I thought to be quite strange since it should barely even be hurting him. But whatever, I thought. He was probably just afraid of syringes and sharp objects, just like my father used to be.
Videl had had some very serious problems going on in her life lately that deeply concerned me. Apparently, since her father had won yet another tournament, he had started to bring home a lot of one-night-stands. It raked on Videl's nerves, what I had heard from her. She said that she couldn't study, or even go to sleep at night because of all the sick sounds her father would make in the room down the hall. It had gotten so bad that one night she even flew over to my house and slept in the guest bed room- not that I minded- but it just scared me that it could get that bad.
I might have to do something about it if it gets any worse. She had, at one point, needed a shoulder to cry on. Then I knew something had to be done, but I couldn't do anything about it right now. The crime rate was devastatingly high in the city right now; murderers ran rampant, robbers looted banks on a daily basis. . .It was tearing me and Videl to shreds, and by the end of the day we were too exhausted to do our homework. In fact, I'm pretty sure I had to stop a gang of thieves that had taken over a civilian bus just this morning by my self, because Videl had not gotten any sleep again from her father's loud "noises", and had flown home just to get some sleep.
I had offered to start tutoring her, because of all the class she was missing. After a few days of negotiating, we finally came to an agreement. I would come and tutor her on the weekends, but only late at night, because her father would start yelling up a storm if he ever found out a guy that was a "weakling" came into his house without his permission. I usually ended up staying the night, but it was okay with my mother, because she kept assuming that Videl and I were more than what she thought. But we weren't- we were just simply good friends, that's all.
So that's where I was headed, to Videl's house so I could help her with her studies. I think we were doing History tonight, studying World War II. Well, I brought my agenda and books with me-they were inside a small blue backpack that hung over my shoulder- so I'm sure I could figure it out when I got there, but I still didn't know why I was walking there. Maybe I was just accumulating a taste for walking since I had started to do it so much lately. But there I was, walking around in the cold in the middle of October, heading to a friend's house so I could help her with her studies. But, that cold night reminded me of how I felt 7 years ago.
The thoughts of my Father's death came into being. I missed him so much- he was like an angel to me, a kind of savior. He loved me and my mother so much- he was so selfless. But then, I guess it sickened me to some degree, because every time I thought of him I thought of Cell, also. That green grasshopper was the focal point of my hate- I spilled it out to him when I fought against his wrath. He was the single reason I had become something of a shell; a boy that had to become a man all too quickly. I grew up and had to learn the rules of war when I was merely 3 years old- Most boys in Africa don't even get stuck in their guerilla wars until they're at least 9 or 10.
But there I was, training myself how to kill a living creature at 3 years old. It was disgusting, as I now look down at it- but then, it also saved the human race, saved the universe, even. But it wasn't like I actually cared whether a few planets were blown up or totally incinerated- the thoughts just never really crossed my mind as being important. But now, they seemed almost like the most important thing in the world to me, besides Videl's problems.
And to top it all off, the anniversary was only three weeks away, which meant my mother would begin to grieve soon. I hated it when she grieved. She just loped around the house, whimpering and basically not giving a shit about anything. My little brother never understood why, exactly, she did this; he just knew his father died a long time ago.
As I walked down the street, I came to a stop at the corner, looking across to where Videl's mansion lay, and to my left, where a few blocks down I could see the dark yellow dome of the Capsule Corporation mansion, where rectangular lights lined across its walls in small curves. Above the mansions that lined 5th and 6th avenues was a blanket of stars, brilliantly lighted despite the fact that the lights were supposed to be blocking some of them out.
As I looked on, I could just barely make out a shooting star flying across the sky, a small white cosmic tail flailing behind the ball of light. I smiled and thought of happier times at its site- I even remembered an old wife's tale that if you wished for something when you saw a shooting star, that wish would be granted. What the hell, I thought. I could just give it a try. But of course, you have to say it out loud, so that everyone can hear you.
"I wish," I began, "That everything would get better." Then the shooting star disappeared from my view. I looked down, and there, standing in a pool of light from one of the street lamps, was a man in a white suit, leaning on a cane, chewing on a toothpick. I didn't know where he came from. I hadn't heard any foot steps, or any kind of energy signal that I would've picked up from him. He scared me slightly.
He spoke first. "Hello, there, stranger," He said in a sweetly polite tone, bowing slightly, his right arm still balanced on the cane. I looked on at him in awe, his figure totally lanky and bony in appearance.
"Hello," I answered, "How are you, sir?" I asked, eyeing the man in the white suit with a dreaded suspicion. Who was he? Where'd he come from? Arousing suspicions arose in my chest, as he pulled up from his bow and began to walk in an awkward gait towards me.
"You know, son, you shouldn't think so much," He recalled from my mind that I later found out, but at the moment it had scared me just a bit. Maybe, as I had thought that night, perhaps he could read minds like Master Roshi was able to do at one time?
"Why shouldn't I think so much?" I retorted, his sentence not making much sense.
"You might bust a nerve." He was about an arm's length from me now, his eyes still covered by the white hat. I laughed inwardly at his answer. You couldn't possibly bust a nerve by thinking too hard!
"You laugh now, but just wait until you actually do," The man said, cracking a smile that revealed white teeth. Now I knew I was getting a bit freaked out.
"Why do you insist on talking to me? I have to get somewhere," I said, and tried to sidestep around him, but he moved in front of me.
"Kind sir, please stay a moment and let me talk to you," He smiled, and his white teeth made a grinding noise, like to blocks being clapped against each other. I scrunched up my nose at the sound, and replied.
"No, I don't have the time to be talking to someone that I don't even know," I said, and made a motion of going around his right side. He lifted his cane swiftly in the air, and stopped it right at my chest. I was slightly taken aback by the speed of the action.
"Maybe you do know me?" He said quietly, too quietly. . .I reached in through my mind to try and think of a man in a totally white suit, but nothing came. I was positive I had never seen or known of this man before.
"I'm pretty damn sure I don't know you, sir, now please step aside so that I can get to where I need to go," I demanded with a forced nice tone. He made a movement, stepping aside from me, and to my right.
"I think you do, good sir. You'll know me, I promise." He said, and I think he tapped me on the shoulder, as a friendly gesture I think, with his cane. I turned around to say something to him, I forget what, but he wasn't there. I glanced around, and there was no sign of him in any direction. It was like he didn't exist. Odd, I thought. No one could just do that, not without knowing some kind of instant transmission. Maybe it was a ghost? Oh, of course not. I know there aren't any ACTUAL ghosts- those things are just silly fairy tales and horror stories.
As I turned around, back to facing the way I actually needed to go, the man in the white suit was in front of me again, just as if he had been standing there the entire time. He smiled, and a shadow took away the vision of seeing his eyes as he bent his head slightly downward.
"Do you know me now?" He asked, acting like he was totally unaware of anything. I thought to myself, of course not, I don't know anything about you. He laughed. His laugh had a nasty clicking sound to it, and was horribly hoarse.
"You know that I'm wearing a white suit, don't you?" And at that, I came to the conclusion that yes, he could read my mind. Now I was totally scared- this man was prying into my private thoughts, and he probably now knew so much more than he should.
"Don't pry into my mind, old man. Now leave me alone." I hissed, and walked by him onto the road. He made the clicking laugh again, and I turned around to see that he was gone again, without a single trace. I growled in annoyance at his disappearing act. I turned back around, and saw in a pool of orange light, a white ivory cane lying in the middle of the road. The man in the white suit must've dropped it.
"You'll know me, sir," The voice echoed in my brain, and at first he might be using telepathy as I looked at the cane, but decided against it. That was a fool-hardy notion; I only knew of a few people that could do that, my father and the Kais. So of course, it bothered me. But to no avail, I had this wanting build up in me to grab that cane. What could I have done? Maybe I should've just left the cane there, and this whole ordeal would've never happened, and he would've just came back, gotten it and I would forget in a few months this ever even happened.
But of course, I picked it up. It was very light weight, and very smooth. I held it in both of my hands, surveying it. It almost felt like a quarter staff, it was so light and swift to me. It kind of felt like a sword, even. That's a silly thought, thinking a cane is a sword; I'm sure I played with an old cane of my great grandfather's when I was little. Of course, that was only when I was actually relieved of my studies. I had become a master at Algebra by the time I was 10. Calculus was a simple task for me.
I took the cane in my left hand, and let it walk with me as I tread my way across the road. I had at last reached 6th street, the street on which my best friend, Videl, resided. You could clearly see her titanic mansion from even here, and her yard boundaries reached out to end at a large white marble wall, about 7 or 8 feet high. I walked beside the wall, my newly found cane clicking with me. A small wind picked up behind me, fluttering my coat. I looked up, and saw the three story tall mansion in its full glory, an eccentric statue that had to be at least thirty feet high mounting the top of the patio, its granite mouth agape in happiness and the victory sign strutted out for everyone to see on the statue's figure. Below it, a large, Victorian style home that had a look akin to the President of the United State's house look to it, only its front patio extended in a semi-circle with two sets of stairs twisting slightly on both sides to meet in a courtyard. The courtyard's grass was green and thick with life- even if it was astro-turf- and in the middle it had a long three foot deep man- made pool that stretched for about 100 feet. In the middle of the pond was a statue of four beautiful women sitting in a square formation, pouring from golden pots water that splashed slowly into the pond.
It was beautiful, especially at night when all the lights of the courtyard were lit up- it made for a very surreal, almost Greek-era feel. But all in all, I knew Videl hated it- it just further glorified her father's narcissistic behaviors, and his eccentricity often got the best of her temper. Well, I wouldn't have to worry much about that, I thought, as a plan was slowly forming in my mind to finally help Videl get rid of the idiotic man that she hated with every inch of her being, but in a legal way, of course.
I came to the black barred gate, which read out in the bars, "SATAN HOME" with golden iron. I swiftly jumped over it without even touching it, and did not feel to land on Mr.Satan's lawn, because it was laced with laser triggers that if set off, would almost definitely alert him to my presence. I silently floated over the lawn, and began to pass by the pond, whose maidens still poured the clear water into the pool. I put my hands into my trench coat pockets, feeling slightly cold. The cane hung on my left arm, smacking against my arm every once in a while. I reached the end of the pool, and looked up to see to the left on the top floor, a lighted window opening up to reveal Videl, dressed in her normal attire- a purple shirt under a white sporting tank top and some blue jeans- waving to me happily as she walked onto her own private patio.
I waved back nicely, happy as I ever could be. I do believe, although I think I deny it so much when I'm around my other friends- I feel just so much happier when I'm around Videl. That's why it bothered me so when I found out about her troubles. But so I came to her house, and gently floated myself up to her balcony, and she took a step back to give me room as I put my feet on the cement flooring. I smiled with happiness, and began to speak with her.
"Hello, Videl," I started, "How are ya feeling tonight?" I often lost my good grammar when I spoke to her. She sighed, and smiled at me with a sad glint in her eye.
"I really couldn't tell you, but if it had to be something, I would say. . . I feel like shit." She said in a dead pan voice, and I knew it was her father again, and I began to take my coat off even though it was cold. I set the cane down on a small cushioned bench on the edge of the balcony, and she immediately took notice to it.
"Where'd that cane come from?" She asked, "Did you bag an old man and steal his cane?" I laughed at her sarcastic joke, and thought to myself, she's half right. I slipped my coat fully off, and laid it by the cane.
"Well, sort of. This man in a white suit kept on bugging me on my way here, and when he left- and when I mean he left I mean he disappeared," She arched an eyebrow, "and this cane was laying in the middle of the road. So I picked it up." She looked at me with bewilderment, and went over to her window doors, and opened them.
"He disappeared? Why would you even be talking to this guy in the first place? I thought you flew," She said, walking into her large, almost apartment like room. I walked with her inside.
"I decided that I would fly three fourths of the way, then walk the rest. I hope you didn't mind that it took me longer," I apologized. She shrugged it off, and said it was okay.
I liked Videl's room. It was almost a mirror image of a high priced apartment in Manhatten, a ceiling that reached high into the air and curved into a white dome that had a very beautiful mural of space, which had been specifically designed to change according to the varying sunlight. Since it was about 9 o' clock, the stars had begun to twinkle brilliantly, and in the middle was a giant white circle, with a deathly beautiful glow. I, and basically the entire population of the Earth, knew it to be the moon.
The rest of the room was quite normal, with clothes randomly thrown about the bedroom, and a large double-king sized bed that had huge white comforters and white sheets on it. Well, of course living in the lap of luxury was nice, it was nice to a lot of people, but as I walked in I started to figure out that she really did hate it. On the opposite side of the bed was a large dresser with a vanity mirror- although Videl almost never used anything of the sort-so it was pretty clean around the dresser. About 15- 20 feet away from the bed was a television set, a large one, in fact. I know that Vegeta had a bigger one at Capsule Corp in his and Bulma's room, but this one was still about 42 inches wide, and had almost no dust on it, because the maids tended to clean everything until it wasn't even there.
The carpet, as it remained throughout most of the house, had a soft, feathery feel to it, and was a nice navy blue color. We exited the bedroom, and into a mini hallway that had a picture on each side of it. The hallway itself was only about 10 feet long. But the pictures really did strike a chord with me; they were pictures of a very pretty lady, holding a toddler with raven black hair, bouncing the child on her knee. The scene was very happy, and it laid to my right on the lighted hall.
But on the other side, lay a horridly depressing figure. There sat Videl, only 6 years younger than before, sitting on a bench in the park- now that I think about it, it was that same bench in the other picture- and her arms were draped around the sides of the bench, and her head hung low. She was wearing a funeral type dress, and if you looked oh so closely- I decided not to do that until later- you could see small streaks of dried tears on her face.
We exited the hallway, and into her computer room. The room mainly consisted of 4 things. A large desk with a very, very nice computer on it; an artist's table in the corner with some paper sitting on it and a lamp that overlooked it all, a big table with comfy looking chairs on each side, and a small couch in a far-off corner.
"Well, make yourself at home; my father isn't here tonight." Videl said with a great relief in her tone. Oh, she worried me so, that was for sure.
"Okay. Where is he, if you don't mind me asking?" I said, slipping the bag off of my shoulder and thumping it on the table. Videl slid a chair out and sat in it, and pulled herself into the table before telling me.
"He's on a 'business trip', although I bet he's probably just knocking up one of our maids." She said, looking over to a large bay window, that showed the backyard- but you couldn't really make it out because it was dark. I looked down at my bag, and opened it up as I sat down in my chair.
"You need to do something about that guy." I commented, pulling out a green book entitled "History of the World". Videl snorted, and looked away at the computer. A screen saver that had a picture of me and her goofing off painted a happier portrait than I'm sure she was feeling at the time.
"I can't, because he's the only family I have left. And I can't even get out of here because I haven't finished school yet, or anything," She sighed. I decided to skip the subject, and move on to academic matters.
"Well, let's just focus on our studies right now and we can deal with Mr. Narcissist later." That pulled a laugh out of her, so I knew I was beginning to get her on her good side. She suddenly perked up, and it made me jump just a bit.
"Oh, Gohan! We're doing Astronomy tonight, remember? Not History," She said, almost happy about it. Well, I can't believe I forgot that- but astronomy was my best subject, so she would really get good help there. I knew a lot about astronomy- I mean, your own father doesn't come from the stars, and you don't have a man that you see basically every day that's been all over the universe and not know a few things than normal people do.
"Oh, I forgot to bring my book! Do you have yours?" I asked her. She blushed just a bit.
"No, I left mine at the school. Now what are we going to do? I don't have any idea as how I'm going to learn those damned constellations and their histories before the Exam on Cell Day in three weeks!" She harrumphed, and placed her chin on her hand, looking at the picture of us goofing off again. An idea struck me, that I had never thought of before; of course, in due time I would've thought of it, but it's better to have it come to me now than later on.
"Why don't we use the computer and look it up on Vegeta's website?" I offered. Videl looked at me funny.
"Vegeta's got a website? Hah, now I've heard everything," She laughed, and got up from her seat. I got up as well, and followed her the short distance to the computer. She sat down in one of the leather rolling chairs- I did the same- and she wiggled the mouse to make the screensaver disappear to a desktop that had several first-person-shooter game icons on it, and a wallpaper of her favorite web comic, "8-bit theater", displayed in the background.
She double-clicked on the icon that said "Internet Explorer", and the window instantly appeared to the homepage of mine, which I updated frequently (whenever I had the time.) Videl clicked on the web URL and looked at me.
"What's the name?" She asked, and typed in "w w w." real quick. I thought for a moment, reaching in a bit on the back of my head to pry out the web URL. It was, ahh, something sayainpride/index.htm, or something. Oh, now I remembered, the site's name had come back to me in a good flash.
"It's w w w.f r e e w e b s.c om/ sayainpride/index.htm" I spelled it out to her, and she swiftly typed it in, and pressed the enter button. The site almost immediately popped up, and revealed a very dark looking scenario for a web site, with a picture that Vegeta had brought from one of Frieza's ships, a portrait of the planet Vegeta. It struck a chord in my heart, a kind of remembrance of my race. It was a beautiful planet, but I immediately saw that Videl was confused by the portrait, and the words above it, that said in fancy green cursive letters, "My Home Planet".
"What the hell?" She muttered, and I quickly intervened. I would let her know, sooner or later, but not now.
"Uhh, it's just a silly joke Vegeta came up with," I choked, rubbing my hand against the back of my neck, because Videl had shot me a suspicious look.
"What? More secrets, Mr. Sayaman?" She accentuated the last word, and caused more panic with me.
"No, no! It's just a prank that he and Bulma came up with, because they're studying that planet," I thought of a lie quickly, "and they thought they'd post up studies about it as they went along." She looked at me a bit more, as if prying information out of my eyes, and then shrugged and turned back to her work. I breathed an inward sigh of relief, and she went and clicked on a link that said "Star Charts" and within one second the page popped up, a series of star charts in chronological order arranged from left to right. In the project, I remember, you had to make your own star charts, and name the stars you saw then you had to find what they actually were on the internet, and if possible, use a telescope to find one of the planets.
"What's this?" Videl pointing at one of the pictures with a point of light encircled by a red triangle, and a line coming from it that said at its peak, "Blast Radius Zero".
"I heard Vegeta talking about that. He says that it's a star or planet that blew up, and its light is just now getting here. It's really quite interesting to look at with a telescope." I explained, knowing exactly what it was. But I wouldn't tell her, not yet. But I would, soon, because every day it seemed like she kept on finding out something new.
"Do you think we could use these and go into my observatory to look for them?" Videl asked, looking at me. I said of course, Bulma wouldn't mind.
"Wait, I forgot. My observatory is going under repairs, and I can't use it," She cursed, and sighed in sadness. This was going to get to her, I knew it, so I had to think of something fast.
"Well, I guess we could use Bulma's, she's just down the street," Videl almost immediately brightened up, her eyes sparkling their brilliant blue. I really liked her eyes- they just reminded me of happier times.
"That's a great idea, Gohan! But do you think she'd actually let us use her telescope? It's almost 10:00 o' clock," Videl glanced at her watch, and the digital clock ticked off at 9:57. I nodded a yes.
"Of course she would! She's a night owl anyways," I said, and I swear it was the practical truth. That woman could stay up until 5 o' clock without even blinking. One time, before father died, she stayed up until 7 o' clock in the morning fixing Android # 16.
"Well," Videl began as she clicked out of the internet and began to shut the computer down, "I guess me and you are going to go take a walk." She lifted herself from the chair, as I did the same from my chair, and followed her into her bedroom. She opened up a closet that was situated to the left of the television set, and reached in. Videl, from what I could see and knew at that moment, pulled out a navy blue nylon Adidas jacket, and pulled it on to her, one arm at a time. She zipped it up, and shifted it so it wouldn't be uncomfortable. I stood there, looking outside, and I mentioned that I'd be right back, and I was going to get my coat.
I went outside to the patio, and grabbed my trench coat, but the cane wasn't there when I got outside.
= = = = = A/N: That's the end of chapter one, and I must say it's the longest chapter I've ever written for any story, ever. And it's going to continue like that, but don't expect another chapter for about a week. It'll be a weekly thing, I'll try to do that.
Please give thoughtful comments and suggestions, and tell me how you like it.