Chapter Twenty-Three
Sabrina's first evening back at home was uneventful. Rhyne came by, strangely escorted by her father. He refused to come in, but stayed outside under a series of large trees in meditation.
Rhyne loved being back in her room, and both she and Sabrina sat down for two hours of their favorite Lucy episodes.
Even in his meditation, he could hear Rhyne's laughter. He smiled slightly, thankful beyond any measure that his daughter had been spared. He remembered, when she was a little girl, how she would always be right under him, crawling into his lap or on his leg. As if she needed him more. Or, Piccolo realized now, perhaps she needed more than he could give her.
Now, having a granddaughter with two parents, Piccolo wondered if indeed there had not been a significant element missing in the girls' lives. Possibly in his own life. But that was something he would admit no further. Instead, he concentrated on his meditations, ignoring the laughter from the house.
In the months since Rhyne had been found, Gohan's grades had gone up to his usual standard of perfection. It was nearing a new fall quarter, and he was anxious to test out of some courses and was prepared to stay inside and study for the next two days straight. If he was successful, he could skip the entire semester and devote his time to Rhyne. They could spend their first winter together in a long while, enjoying the snow and chilly weather.
After several hours, and well past dark, Gohan's eyes felt like concrete. He knew if he did not get out and reinvigorate his body, that he would end up sleeping for the next twelve hours.
Deciding to go see if Rhyne was still awake, he headed toward the Lookout. However, half way there, he felt an all too familiar presence and decided to go and have a look. The ki got stronger the closer he got to Sabrina's house. Hovering a few feet back, Gohan watched the dark figure ahead.
Under a group of tall trees stood Piccolo. Gohan wondered if something was wrong, but noticed that Piccolo seemed to be just standing there. Rhyne was at the Lookout, so maybe it had to do with Sabrina. Knowing that his best friend had already sensed his arrival, Gohan approached him.
"Piccolo, is everything alright?" Gohan asked as he landed beside him.
Piccolo nodded. "Yes." He elaborated no further.
Gohan stood there for a minute, but after nothing else was said, he knew it was time to leave. Whatever business Piccolo had out here, he wasn't going to share it with him now. "Well, I'm going to see Rhyne. I'll talk to ya later." Gohan backed away and left.
Piccolo continued to stand under the trees for the next few hours.
Quietly, Gohan walked across the Lookout, headed for Rhyne's room.
"Where do you think you're going, young man?" Kami demanded.
Gohan jumped, turning around. "Mr. Kami, sir….you scared me!"
"It's a little late for a social call, don't you think?" Kami said.
Gohan smiled. "I only wanted to see her for a minute. I promise I won't stay long."
Kami was a sucker for young love. "Go on….but I better see you leaving in less than an hour! The girl's got training tomorrow with her father, and you know she needs all the rest she can get!"
"Yes sir!" Gohan said. He hurried around the corner and down the hall to Rhyne's room. He knocked softly on the door, but heard no response. He knocked once more before he pushed the door open. "Rhyne?" He said softly.
The lights were out and only a few candles could be seen burning. "Rhyne?" He asked again, not wanting to scare her.
Without warning, she walked from the bathroom, wrapped only in a small towel. Rhyne let out a little squeal as she saw Gohan.
Gohan's face turned four shades of red and he quickly turned his back to her. "Gee, Rhyne…I'm sorry. I called out for you, but you didn't answer….."
"I didn't answer cause I was in the tub!" She said loudly.
"Well, I got worried…that's all…" Gohan said, hoping and praying that she was putting on clothes.
And she was. She grabbed her gi and threw it on as fast as she could. Her skin was still damp, causing her gi to cling. "I'm dressed now." She told him, tossing her wet towel back into the bath.
When Gohan turned around, he smiled. Seeing Rhyne in the candlelight made her appear even more beautifully exotic than he had ever dreamed.
Rhyne felt a little uncomfortable. She felt her gi clinging to her every curve and wished she knew how to make a new set of clothing like her father did. Perhaps at one time she had known, but now it was lost along with all of her other memories.
She tugged on her gi. "Would you like to sit down?" She asked Gohan.
But he didn't answer her. Instead, he swooped down on her lips like a mad man. His kiss was passionate, yet gentle. Rhyne felt her knees buckling from the intensity and flung her arms around Gohan's neck to hold herself up. In turn, he held onto her waist tightly. After several minutes of fervent kissing, Gohan maneuvered Rhyne to her bed and their bodies fell onto the soft mattress, legs and arms entwined.
Gohan felt almost blind with desire, and knew that Rhyne probably was equally as blinded, therefore unable to make a clear decision. Besides, this is not what he wanted….it's not what he had promised Piccolo.
He broke free, ripping his lips from hers and staring into her black eyes. "We need to stop….now." He told her.
Rhyne felt like she was going to cry, unable to understand any of this. "Why do I feel this way? Gohan, why do I want to be with you so badly?" She pulled him forward and kissed him, this time slipping her tongue past his lips.
Her gesture caused a surge of uncontrollable hormones to erupt inside Gohan's body. He pinned her to the bed, pressing his body as close to hers as possible, tasting her mouth.
Rhyne encouraged every move he made, and was ready to go as far as he would ask. But, yet again, Gohan backed away.
"No." He said, this time getting up and putting some distance between them. "I won't do something so disrespectful to you." He told her. "I didn't do it before, when you loved me…and I won't do it now."
Before Rhyne could stop him, he left, flying out her open window and into the darkness.
She called out his name softly, but knew he didn't hear her. Gohan was already out of sight.
"But….I do love you…." She whispered, tracing her lips with her finger. "I love you Gohan…."
The next morning, her father hurried Rhyne out of bed. "It's time for training…….get up." He growled at the foot of her bed.
He noticed that she was asleep on top of her bed covers with her gi on instead of her usual pajamas.
Groggily, Rhyne rose up, rubbing her bloodshot eyes. She had finally cried herself to sleep last night, unable to bear her inner turmoil.
Piccolo instantly picked up on her emotional state, and sat down on her bed. "What has happened?"
Immediately Rhyne started to shed tears again. "Gohan came by last night." She said, her lips quivering and her hands shaking.
Piccolo felt that familiar fatherly suspicion. "What happened?"
"We kissed…..really kissed." She said, embarrassed to be telling her father this. "Then, he ran away. He just left me here….all alone."
Piccolo smiled. "He is a man." Piccolo said. "It's not always easy to just….kiss and be done with it."
"That's just it. I didn't want to just kiss." She blurted out, and then buried her face in her pillow.
Piccolo was shocked and enormously uneasy. "How do you feel about Gohan?"
"I love him." She said. "Not the old me….but the me I am now." She said, afraid to face her father. "I don't remember him, loving him, or wanting him….or agreeing to marry him…..but all of it…I feel now…right this moment."
Putting a hand on her shoulder, Piccolo tried to comfort her. "Did you tell him how you feel?"
Rhyne shook her head. "He just left. He probably thinks I hate him or something."
"I doubt that. But, if it will make you feel better, I'll go find him." Piccolo told her.
Rhyne turned around and threw her arms around Piccolo's neck. "Thank you, father." She said.
Hearing her say the word father made Piccolo smiled even more. He put his arms around her and pulled Rhyne into his lap. For a few minutes, he held her like that, both content to simply be together. As her tears finally subsided, he sat her back down on the bed. "Perhaps I should bring Sabrina here for a while." Piccolo said. "You could discuss this with her."
"Would you?" Rhyne asked.
"Yes." Piccolo said. "I'll get her first, then find Gohan." He got up and left.
Sabrina was in the garden, planting flowers and new shrubbery around her walkway. She was surprised when Piccolo landed, but was quickly getting used to people falling from the sky.
"Well, hello Piccolo." Sabrina said smiling. "What brings you here? Is Rhyne alright?"
"She's fine." He said. "However, she needs a woman's shoulder right now. It seems she has fallen in love with Gohan all over again, and is having some difficulty dealing with it."
Sabrina smiled. "I knew that." She said. "I could see it in her eyes every time he was around. You can't hide love like that." She finished her last plant and got up. "Will you give me a few minutes to freshen up?"
Piccolo nodded, crossing his arms. "I'll wait."
"Great. It'll just take about five minutes to shower." She brushed the dirt off her jeans and hurried inside.
In his mind, Piccolo mentally counted five minutes. When he was on minute number seven, he grew agitated and decided to hurry her along.
He walked inside, not making a sound. He was about to call out her name, when he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. Piccolo turned and lost his breath. Sabrina's bedroom door was ajar, and there she stood…totally naked. He couldn't breath…just stood and watched as she slipped on her clothing, taking in her beauty.
When she was done, she turned around and screamed, seeing Piccolo watching her from the hallway. "What are you doing?" She yelled, her hair dripping wet. "How long have you been standing there!" Her face was in a frown, but her cheeks were flushed.
Piccolo walked forward and without saying a word grabbed Sabrina around the waist and pulled her body to his. He allowed her one breath before his lips met hers and locked on with such force, she couldn't have taken another breath even if she could remember how.
Sabrina felt such a sensation in her body, she was helpless. She placed her hands on his chest, not to push him away, but to give herself leverage as his kiss seemed to be pushing her backwards. When she felt the bed against the back of her legs, her eyes suddenly popped open and she tried to break free from his powerful embrace, but it was not possible.
Piccolo pushed her onto the bed, without breaking the kiss, trying to be careful not to crush her beneath his heavy body. With a free hand, he threw his turban and other weighted gear to the floor. Sabrina heard as it crashed against something, but at the moment she didn't care what he had broken. Just feeling him this close was all she could think of.
Suddenly, Piccolo's mind drifted to Rhyne and to Gohan. He felt a strange sense of deju-vu…not of his own experience, but perhaps of daughter.
He hadn't given Sabrina a chance to say yes or no. Possibly she was only responding out of fear….or some primal physical need. Perhaps it had nothing to do with him.
As abruptly as he had kissed her, he broke free, standing up at the foot of the bed. Sabrina's face was completely flushed and her eyes were saddened. "What' s wrong?" She asked him.
Piccolo didn't know how to explain himself and his first instinct was to leave. "Nothing." He said softly, and began picking up his training clothes.
"Don't go." Sabrina said. "Piccolo….please…"
He stopped, hearing the wanting in her voice. "I should not have acted that way." He said. "I never gave you a chance to say no….and I'm sorry."
Sabrina walked up behind him and put her arms around his waist. "I could have said no at anytime….I didn't want to…I don't want to.." She said softly. "Piccolo….let's finish this…"
He turned and looked at her. "I came here for my daughter….not for…not this…" He said, aggravated at the feelings he had.
"Whatever brought you here…us…to this moment …it doesn't matter." Sabrina said, slowly loosening his gi belt. "We've both felt it for a long time…and I've learned that life is much too short….Rhyne taught me that."
Piccolo clasped her hands. "Don't." He said. "We shouldn't."
"Why?" Sabrina said. "Don't you know that….that I care for you?"
This got Piccolo's attention more than anything she had said. "Care?"
Sabrina nodded. "At first, you were only this stranger who was taking Jade away from me…..then, I accepted you as Rhyne's father….and you became my friend, whether you'd admit it or not." She looked deeply into his eyes. "I can't tell you the exact moment that it changed…..but….it did." She reached up and caressed his face. "I love you, ya big green alien."
Piccolo couldn't believe his ears. "Love?"
"Love." Sabrina reassured. "I know you aren't big on that kind of stuff…but maybe I could teach you…." She slid her arms around his shoulders, standing on her tiptoes.
Piccolo growled. "Teach me." He said.
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