"Gohan?"
The bloodied figure hunched below drew in a shuddering breath. Glancing from his son to the front door, Goku released a sigh. Slowly, he descended the stairs, making his way to the broken soul on the floor. As he reached him, he saw the extent of Gohans injuries.
"Gohan...what happened?"
His son shook his head, turning his face away, "Vegeta..."
"Here, let me help you-" Goku knelt beside his oldest son, reaching out to grip his shoulders, in an attempt to help him to his feet.
"Don't touch me! I don't need your help!" Gohan's voice boomed through the empty house. He swatted his fathers hands away. In his haste, his balance was broken and he fell, pitched forward onto the cold, unforgiving floor. Laying, shivering, in a puddle of his own blood and murky rain water.
"Gohan, your hurt. You need-"
"You are the last person I need!"
Cringing, Goku shrunk away, a pained look of shame crossing his features. As he watched, Gohan used the one good arm that had remained intact to push himself up, bringing his knees beneath himself until he could stand. Though he stood on shaking legs, Gohan seemed firm in his decision.
"If you care about that girl at all...you'll leave her alone."
The words struck Gohan deep in his chest, stabbing him in the heart until he doubled over and found he couldn't breathe. He couldn't think, could barely even move, and now his emotions rained down on him like a ton of cinder blocks. Regardless of his emotions, and anything he may feel, he would never let his father see it hurt him. Not now, not ever.
"Who?"
"We both know who, Gohan"
"What about the baby?"
Goku let out a deep sigh, "its Goten's baby-"
Gohan let out a roar, stopping his father mid sentence, "No!"
Gohan turned to stare at his father, his face a shadowed mask of pure malice and hatred.
"You don't know what you're talking about..."
Goku stood then, never taking his eyes off of his son. "Gohan...I know what happened. I know what Videl said. It was a long time ago. I understand why you-"
"Stop!" Pressing forward, Gohan used all of his bodily force to shove him, driving him back and away from him. His anger drove him, pushed him, possessed him like a demon, shifting his very being to a blood thirsty predator. "You don't know what you're talking about!"
Goku shook his head, his eyes shimmering with sadness, "Bulla told me what happened...that first time. She feels really bad about it."
"You don't understand...I never meant for it to go that far. I just needed-" Gohan forced himself to stop, his words screeching to a dead stop before he could say more than needed to be said. Before he gave too much away. Exposed himself as weak.
The events of that week came roaring back, slamming him in the face with memories he would rather not relive.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
When he glanced up, his curiosity winning the fight, his surprise was evident on his face.
"Bulla?"
His voice was weak, choked in his throat, cloaked in a mask of puzzlement. The petite saiyan princess stood before him, her eyes hooded, watching him from across the room. Her hair was stuck, clinging to her sweaty forehead. With every hitching breath she took, her chest rose shakily. Clad only in a pair of shorts and a too small t shirt, Gohan felt the unmistakable jab of guilt just from glancing in her general direction.
"Bulla? Are you okay?"
She took a shaking step forward, her arms held stiffly at her sides. As she moved, her eyes darted around the room, as if she was caught in the painful grasp of paranoia. Anxiety strained her features, and with every movement, Gohan noticed that she seemed...pained, somehow.
"Gohan...I-I need help"
"What's wrong?"
Shutting his book with a snap, Gohan slowly rose to his feet, his brow knit in confusion. Though she seemed shaken, she didn't seem harmed, at least physically. He couldn't comprehend what could possibly be causing her so much distress. Then an oddly familiar scent met his nostrils, and he shivered. He knew right away what was happening. Every fiber of his being sent warning signals too his brain. This situation was dangerous. She was in heat.
"Gohan...I can't do this."
Snapped out of his haze of thoughts, he shook his head to steady himself. "Bulla, I know what must be happening. I know it must be really hard for you. I had to explain it to Pan and-"
"You don't get it!" Her voice was panicked, high pitched, practically shrieking from her inner turmoil.
"Bulla, calm down. It's perfectly normal and-"
"Oh really? It's normal?! I can't even be in the same room as my own brother! I can't sit down, I can't watch TV, I can't even sleep! I can...smell them. All of them! My brother, Goku, my DAD! I'm falling apart!"
Taken aback, Gohan blinked. He remembered when his own heat had started. He remembered the sick, demented thoughts that had crossed his brain. The furious attempts at masturbate to bring relief had done little to help. It was like an itch that couldn't be scratched.
"I'm sorry. I really am. I understand, really. "
"Gohan, it HURTS! It's like this ache, really deep inside and It won't stop, and it's driving me crazy!"
She was practically on top of him now, and coming closer. He recognized the crazed look in her eyes, the sharp intake of breath. He also couldn't help but realize how good that smell really was. Shaking himself, he stepped back, forcing himself away from her. Finally, his calves struck the edge of the couch and he found he had nowhere else to run. Stumbling, he lost his balance and flopped down onto the couch, Bulla towering over him. He forced his eyes away, trying as hard as he possibly could manage to just ignore her. Ignore her smell. The feeling of her eyes upon him. The way her words, her scent, and her actions caused his entire blood supply to rush to his groin.
"Gohan...I need you. Please...help me"
Gathering all of his willpower, slowly he shook his head, "Bulla, listen. I understand. Really. I do. Trust me. But this...can't happen."
He raised his hands, as if fending off an attack. The swift change in her expression told Gohan this wasn't over.
"Why not?!"
He tried his best to remain calm, cool, collected. Smiling reassuringly, he stepped around her, making his way to the door, "I'm sorry. Really...but I love Videl, and-"
The sound of a choked sob came from behind him and he stopped. The words she spoke then nearly cut him to the core.
"I just want someone...to love me, too. Why doesn't anyone love me, Gohan?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Gohan shivered, though from the cold or from his spiraling emotions he couldn't be sure. Everything was a blur. Bulla coming to him in her heat. Her eyes heavy with lust and the scent of it in the air and how hard he had tried-how terribly hard he had fought himself- to not do anything wrong. The whole time he had wanted to do the right thing.
He went home to his wife. Determined.
He would win.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
When he walked in the door Videl was standing in the kitchen with a suitcase at her feet.
"Gohan, stop! I'm sick of this!"
"Videl? What's wrong!? I can fix this! Please just talk to me!"
The look on her face was violent, brutal and unforgiving, and Gohan felt his heart implode in his chest. What had happened? It was all so sudden. He knew, in his heart of hearts, that she had grown distant. Possibly even pulled away...but this. This was a blow that blindsided him.
"I'm not happy, Gohan!"
"Why?! Tell me why!"
She turned towards him then, and in that moment, almost 2 years ago now, Videl threw a curve ball at him that would scare him down to his very soul.
"Because I don't love you anymore, Gohan! You don't make me happy anymore! I've found someone else. I'm sorry."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
As the memories flooded back, a landslide, Gohan drew in a quaking breath and turned towards his father. Everything had gotten so out of control. His world had been taken, shook up, flipped on its head and turned around. Nothing, at that time, had made sense to him, really.
"Dad...Videl said..."
Gohan could hear a break in his voice and he stopped himself. Through all of this, all that had happened, he still didn't want his father to look down on him. It seemed as though Goku was all he had left. With a gentle nudge, Goku urged him forward. The words needed to be spoken.
"Bulla was in heat. She was all over me...and she smelled so good" Gohan rambled, and he found that once he started talking, he couldn't stop himself, "I told her no. It was a bad idea. It was wrong, she was only 14!"
Goku nodded, silent.
"I went home, and Videl was waiting for me. She had a bag packed...and Pan was-" He stopped, paused, gulped before continuing. "Was crying... Videl said she was gonna leave. I kept asking her why..."
He broke then, his emotional damn spilling his heart. Tears raced down his face, cutting lines in the mask of blood and dirt smeared across his face.
"She said I didn't make her happy anymore...and that she...had found someone else..."
"Bulla feels really bad about what she did Gohan. She didn't know what had happened with Videl."
"I know..." His breath caught in his throat, "it's my fault. I just wanted to feel...like somebody loved me"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Shaking, Gohan pushed open the door to his parents house. His hand held firmly on the door, he looked inside. He didnt sense them. His dad...his mother. Not even Goten. He sensed a single, pulsing energy. One small flame in an empty forest.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw her there, laying on the couch curled in a ball.
"Gohan?"
He took a single step forward, not saying a single word. He pushed the door gently closed behind him, and it shut with a snap. Brutal and final.
Sealed, like his fate.
"Gohan? Are you-?"
He was suddenly on her. Around her, wrapping his arms around her and pushing her back. Driving her down and into the couch.
He shrugged off his coat, threw it to the side. She still smelled so amazing.
"Bulla...I..I don't-"
He choked on his words, unable to bring a voice to his emotions. Everything had happened so fast. Everything had changed so much. It hurt.
His brain and his heart were caught in a tailspin. His brain pushed him, drove him. Desperation.
His heart was on fire. Beating quickly, painful, throbbing. Hurt.
It just hurt so bad. He needed something, anything to cover his wounds. Stop the bleeding. Stop the pain. The betrayal was like white-hot barbed wire wrapped around ever fiber of him.
"Gohan...please. Please touch me. I'll do anything. Please?"
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up, sinking into her with his body and soul. Pulled her into him. Shaking. Still sobbing...though he would never let her see it. She couldn't see him break. Not now. Not ever.
His voice was strong, hiding his real emotions when he spoke.
"Just...I need you to tell me you love me. I need...you to love me"
