I know, I know. Life happens, short chapter but hey, still an update!
Disclaimer: DBZ is not mine
-x-
Chapter 9
Sharpener couldn't mutter a word as they walked inside the large castle corridors. Gohan had meet them right at the front door – which was giant – with a weak smile. The blonde didn't blame him though; he knew that his friend was feeling guilty about keeping this secret and at the same time he was happy to be trusted with it.
That didn't change the fact that he was in a freaking castle at a well-known country. Every employee bowed to them as they walked by, and he could see Gohan shaking his head in disbelief. Sharpener wasn't sure what to think of that act.
"I bet my mother told them to show respect. Am I right?" Gohan asked to no one in particular, but it was John who answered.
"Yes, your Highness. We know that you hate it but for the sake of your guest's well-being, we should follow the protocol." He said with a hand over his chest and bowing slightly. Gohan pinched the bridge of his nose before stopping their walk.
"Stop that right now. You know I'm not into the mood to follow her orders, and if I see anyone else bowing, I will take the matter on my own hands." The prince's gaze was serious, and John nodded before walking ahead and notifying every member of the castle. The act itself showed sharpener a side of his friend that he never saw; what made he not want to get to his bad side ever.
No one wanted to deal with an angry half-saiyan, again.
"Sorry about that, Sharp." He smiled towards his friend who answered with one of his own.
"I really don't mind calling you, Your Highness, Gohan." He then bowed a little, and the halfling chuckled. "It's like I'm entering a whole new world, what's left to know that would blow away my mind?"
"Well…" Gohan pondered; there was still a few things that could make his friend doubt his whole life, but maybe he should let that for later. "We can start with your room. My mother asked that the VIP bedroom was prepared just for you."
"The… VIP room?" Sharpener asked weakly. Never in his whole life he would think to be in such a place and situation! Gohan chuckled again and restarted walking.
They were both alone, as Anna had to go and meet ChiChi as protocol asked her to do; Gohan could hate those, but a few of them should still be followed. In her case, she was still learning their costumes because in the future she'd be the queen of the Ox Kingdom, and that demanded a deep understanding of how their kingdom worked, because it was surely different from Indoctus Kingdom.
"So, when will Anna be free to join us?" Sharpener asked as they turned right into another corridor. Gohan pondered.
"Maybe in an hour or two. Since she arrived from school maybe, I mean, maybe my mother will let her out to get a little bit of rest. No promises here though." His friend nodded and they walked for a few more meters until they stopped.
This corridor had only a few doors and was a dead end with a big window adorned with symbols of the Ox Kingdom. Sharpener could recognize a few of them, one being the usual Viking hat and axes, but there were also a few ones he didn't know, as for example a circle with a red one inside of it. At the noise of a door opening, the blonde turned around and saw that Gohan had entered one of the rooms, and he followed as fast as he could.
He was, once more, speechless; but this time his bag was dropped on the ground with a loud 'thud'. Gohan raised one eyebrow but as soon as his eyes went to his friend, he held back a laugh. The boy's eyes were widened, his mouth gapping, his legs opened as of to try to maintain his equilibrium as he was visibly shaken.
Right in front of him was a king-sized bed (read as big as the Ox King himself), pure silk adorning every inch of the bedroom, not to mention the gold… Everything had gold. The windows, the bed, the door frames, Kami, he'd say that even the floor was made of the precious mineral.
"For Kami's sake Gohan… who the hell can use this VIP room? I mean… Isn't this a little bit too much for someone like me?" Sharpener said while looking towards his friend, who just titled his head to the side.
"These rooms are for honorable guests, Sharp. Kings, princes, princesses, and close friends. You are my close friend so there's no mistake here. You deserve this much, and I'd say that you could have even more." He finished with a characteristically Son' smile. Sharpener was shocked after hearing that; he did consider Gohan a close friend of course, but he'd never imagine that only for being his friend he could have such a nice stay in a castle. After the blonde let his friend's words sink in, he let out a big smile and run to hug him.
"Man! You should've told me about this secret of yours sooner!" Grabbing the prince by his shoulders, an evil smile crossed the blonde's face. "What do you say about jumping on that bed? It seems like we could fly in that thing!" Gohan smirked and chuckled at his friend's antics, not to mention that he could actually fly but that sounded like fun so, why not?
"Let's find out!" He answered and both run to the big bed, and it sure made them both jump as high as Sharpener had imagined.
And for the first time in days, Gohan was having a fun time. Maybe telling Sharpener the truth wasn't a bad idea at all.
He should thank Anna later.
Her hair was a mess so while she walked around the corridors the princess decided to tame it by quieting it down in a high ponytail. It was still voluptuous, but at least now it wasn't in the way of her green eyes. She also couldn't believe that ChiChi had let her go with just twenty minutes of lecture; she had said something about enjoying their friend's presence, and the princess didn't have the need to say it twice. As she approached Gohan's ki the girl could hear laughs and sounds of something about to break; that made she pray that they don't break anything inside the VIP room – for their own safety. Chichi would freak out. As soon as she turned into the corridor the sound stopped, but the laugh was still there – it made her smile as she recognized Gohan's voice, he was finally having a good time.
"Thanks bro! I love this room already!" It was Sharpener's voice, and Anna's smile grew wider.
"You can come whenever you want to, Sharp. You will always be welcome to stay here." Was Gohan's answer; at that she knocked on the still open door, leaning her body on it, with a soft look to the boys at the huge bed.
"I guess you guys had a good time." She crossed her arms as they put their heads up to look at her. "Someone here had to actually do some work after having school all day long."
Gohan smiled at her teasing manner; this side of her always made him enjoy their time together. Probably fault of his saiyan heritage.
"Someone has to bring money for this family." He smirked as she laughed, Sharpener joined them in that.
"Well, now you can come play too. Want to jump at this huge bed with us? I can assure you that this is awesome." The blonde said while sitting with his legs crossed at the bed, but Anna just shrugged and laughed a little bit more.
"I would love to, but we need to get prepared for dinner. I know someone here must be starving." The princess said while looking at Gohan with a raised brow, and sure enough his stomach growled and that made the trio laugh.
"Yeah, I need to eat soon." Gohan said while scratching the back of his head. "So, Sharp, you should take a shower and prepare. I will come to get you as soon as I finish my bath." He said while getting up from the bed, Sharpener following his friend.
"Ok then! I wonder what kind of bathroom awaits me!" Sharpener said while clapping his hands in excitement; the royals shocked their heads with a muffled laugh, and they parted ways.
The duo walked side to side for a while, without even exchanging a word; Gohan was still a little bit uncomfortable with the kiss that had happened, and he still wanted to talk with her about that and Anna wanted to give him space… after all she was the one who took the initiative, not that he rejected her but still…
"Thanks for coming up with the idea of bringing Sharp here." Gohan broke the silence with a shy voice. "It is helping me not to think about stuff already." He finished while stopping in the end of a corridor that they were going to go in separate ways.
She looked at him with a soft smile.
"I never really understood why'd you still chose to hide the truth from them, even after all this time that you've known them." He frowned at her words. "At least they are good friends, they never cared if you are a royal or a nobody." Anna then patted his shoulder for support. "I hope that by bringing him here makes you feel more comfortable in telling the girls the truth too. They would like it."
Gohan would like to tell her that he was going to do it, hell how he wanted to, but he was too afraid of the consequences now. After all he crossed a line with Videl and they could never go back to normal.
"That's… complicated. I've crossed many lines there so, for now, Sharp knowing is enough for me." He finished with a smile, while looking at her green eyes. "And about what happened before…" He trailed a off a little, trying to find the words that he should say to her, but she beat him on the speech.
"Don't worry about it. I took the initiative, you just seemed so different in that form that I felt… a pull towards you. We can, I mean, we should forget about it." She finished with a smile.
Gohan was speechless, he didn't know that she somehow felt a pull to him while he was in his Super Saiyan form, why would that happen though? Maybe Piccolo was right, and it was better to talk to Vegeta, this wasn't normal for sure. Not that his life had anything he could call normal…
"If you say so, I will try my best to forget about it." He said with a smile, that was accompanied by a blush as soon as he realized that the way he spoke made it seems like it was something difficult to do; and he found it to be truth since he was indeed struggling with it since it happened.
Anna blushed as well as she also noticed what he implied on his answer, being it a slip up or not, it still made her heart beat a little bit faster. She cleaned her throat while putting a free strand of her hair (that had somehow loosened itself from her ponytail) behind her right ear, her engagement earrings clear to the vision now. The movement made Gohan look at the motion of her fingers, what made him follow them until they stopped on her mouth, which demonstrated her shyness; as she was looking away to recompose herself, the princess didn't take notice of his action.
But he did notice how beautiful she was in fact (not that he didn't know before). Her hair tied up in a loose ponytail made her facial features to be free to the world to see, the green on her eyes even seemed to shine more with the smooth red on her cheeks. For some reason he did a quick ki check on their surroundings, making sure that no one was near them. It was when she looked up to him, and all he could see was her. The princess, a beautiful woman on the hallway of his castle; he felt a pull.
A strong one.
Not like the one he had while sitting with her around with the wristbands. Not like the one when he reciprocated her kiss, this time he just wanted to embrace her. And so, he did it. She was caught by surprise, as Gohan's right hand went to the back of her head, tilting it so she could look up to his eyes. She could swear they were in a different color, but it didn't matter as he was closing the gap between them. Her heartbeat started to rise, the same essence she felt when they first hugged and kissed came to her, and she just went forward with it. She was intoxicated.
This time the kiss wasn't a fight for dominance – at first –, but rather a slow and soft kiss. It wasn't like the one he had with Videl either, it felt and tasted different, he liked both flavors of both girls. Sweet, sour and adrenaline. That was Anna's flavor. And hell, he liked it.
With his left hand he pulled her waist to him, bringing her closer. She let out a soft moan; he felt a shiver down his spine, that ended right where his tail should be. She then proceeded to grab his hair, and somehow drag him to the wall, he was now pinned to it, the kiss started to intensify. He smiled on the kiss; how he liked this aggressiveness, his saiyan side was very pleaded with it and he would dare to say that his human side was kinda interested into it too. The sound they made as he bumped into the wall caused the guards around to be alert, and Gohan noticed it as he felt a few ki's gathering so he acted fast. Twisting their positions, he was now on the lead, dragged her along inside one of the guests' rooms, closing the door and pinning her on the wall near it. He didn't know how or when, but he had put both of her hands on top of her head, holding it there. Anna didn't mind at all.
She was surprised by his acts, as they parted the kiss for a brief moment to look at each other. The princess could see that his eyes were now in a dark gray, a side smirk on his face, and desire on his features. 'Oh boy… this is insane… and this adventurous and foreign smell is making everything so enchanting…' she tried to go for another kiss, but Gohan used enough strength to hold her on the wall, it was like he was on control of the situation. May it be her own nature of being born in a barbarian kingdom, her love for fights or even her own taste in strong man that made the girl more into him than she was before. For some time now she was wondering if she was starting to like him, and maybe this was her answer. She smirked in desire. Of him.
Gohan was seeing everything in a blur. Her essence was intoxicating, her green eyes, her strength, her smirk as he pinned her to the wall. It was making the prince have feelings that he never knew or heard of before. As she bites her lower lip he used his free hand to softly tilt her head by her chin, exposing her neck. His eyes traveled from the base of it to her full lips. He could say the girl was anticipating his touch.
The exchange was intense. They could hear the guards walking on the hallway forwards and backwards, until they left, not having a clue of what was happening inside one of the rooms. Gohan started to loosen the grip that was holding back her arms but was surprised by what she said next.
"Don't you dare." Anna murmured. "Now you have at least to kiss me as we are, or else I will fight you until you do so." She knew she was being too straightforward. They were just starting to ease the shyness that was around them after she kissed him, and out of the blue something so intense was happening, but she couldn't deny what she wanted at that moment. She wasn't a Saint either, she had her fun with boys back at her kingdom, it was completely normal anyway, but this was different. How come he turned her on that easily? As an answer to her speech, he hardened the grasp, and she moaned at the sudden light pain that went down her arms.
"Are you sure about this?" His voice was deeper than usual, his personality more assertive, but she could see his eyes coming back to the darkness it used to be. "I already think we went too far." He said while making the gap between their lips smaller, he was touching her own while he spoke in a whisper. "We will need to discuss this later…" Gohan then looked at her eyes.
God, she wanted him to just kiss her already! He was acting so sexy out of the blue, so out of character but she was liking it! She softly sighed, their lips touching, he wanted it too it was clear! So, she did what she was best at: act like herself. In a fast movement both her legs where on his hips, hugging him. That was possible because she was a ki martial artist and using her legs she pulled him to the kiss. Gohan didn't complain, for his own surprise, and didn't think of anything or anyone else this time. He just enjoyed the girl on his arms. The kiss continued until they had enough of each other, what took a considerable time.
"I'm sorry." Gohan said while hugging her, she was still with her legs around him. "I don't know what happened to me… I just…"
"Wanted it." Anna finished for him. "I felt the same thing." She hugged him strongly. "I've never kissed someone like this. But if I had to say," she then forced him to look at her while breaking the hug "you don't need to be sorry. I'm not asking you to like me, but if you want to kiss me or hold me, just do it. We can figure how this will work out together." The princess finished while holding his face with her hands. There was his normal gently face, dark onyx eyes, and a small smile to her. "You're special, Gohan. At least to me. You got a spot in my heart in such a small amount of time… I will not regret this engagement at all."
Gohan's eyes widened a bit; he never expected her to say something like that, and he found that deep inside he thought the same thing. She was strong, beautiful, and liked his friends as much as he did. But he knew that what happened this time was just a pull. 'Yeah, just a pull.'
"We should go. My mom is waiting for the three of us." He decided not to say anything about what she said before, he didn't know what to say after all. Anna nodded and let go of him, opening the door after a quickly ki check.
"I will be on my way then. See you at the dinner table." The princess didn't seem to mind that he didn't say anything like she did, but when she left the room, he put his hand on his forehead.
"I should talk to Vegeta." He knew that deep down what happened, no, the way it happened wasn't normal.
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That's it! I am working on The Wanted too, but it may take a little longer as I must figure out a few things of the plot. I am sorry for the long wait; I will try to be faster now since I changed jobs and I'm done with my studies. See you!
