Hello again! Finally, after a very long time, chapter two is here. It is kind of different from my first, but trust me, it will get better as the story goes on. I would like to thank all of you readers, followers and reviewers for your continued support, and I hope you keep enjoying this story as much as you did with the first chapter.
I don't own any of Dragon Ball characters, nor movies, nor series.
Chapter 2
If Only They Knew…
Nearly three months later Gohan was lying on his room's floor, staring motionless at the beige ceiling. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't study, and wouldn't drink any water. He wouldn't even talk about anything to anybody. He would just stay there until death came by to pick him up. He just decided that.
But that would happen only if assuming that Death itself would come by to claim him, of course. He was half sayian after all, so death would take a long time to come by, and since he already had breakfast he could probably remain on the floor for the next three days without dying.
Painful. It was extremely painful.
He might as well try stop breathing. That might work.
"Gohan" he heard his father shouting while knocking at the door "Gohan?"
When Goku got no answer, he decided to step in. He had felt the sudden changes on his son's ki for the past months, but he merely thought it was because of the excitement he felt for his new and first girlfriend. Now he wasn't so sure; Gohan wasn't eating properly, he wouldn't chat with him as he used to, and worst of all, he didn't even focus on his homework, which was something he had learned to enjoy over the years. All of it was absolutely unlike him.
This day was no exception for such a weird behavior. He ate very little at breakfast, excused himself, he went to wash his teeth, and then, all he could sense of his son was his failing attempts to turn off his ki. When he opened the door, he found Gohan at the floor, staring to nothing, and his ki lowering to a dramatic zero percent.
"Gohan?" asked Goku, not really understanding what his elder son was doing "Gohan, what are you doing?"
Gohan sighed. Of course that would happen! He lived with his parents and little brother. Sooner or later his not-very-suicidal attempts would be frustrated.
"Nothing really" he said almost whispering "meditating"
"Ok…" answered Goku, not really convinced of his son's affirmations "but, why don't you just sit in that… how does Piccolo call it? Lotus position I guess"
Gohan shivered slightly, reacting to Piccolo's name. Goku didn't notice this, but he did notice the slight rising of his ki, only for a second, and then faded away as Gohan regained composure.
"Son, did anything happen between Piccolo and you?" Gohan froze.
"Em… no, nothing at all… why do you ask?" answered nervously, sitting on the floor.
"Well, why didn't you invite him to Goten's birthday party? You always go and invite him first before anybody else"
"Well… I assumed he might not want to come" Gohan was flustered. Goku sat next to him, tracing his son's movements as if to expecting something.
"He always does, whenever you invite him"
"Well…" he was trapped and he knew it.
"You haven't visit him since you started dating Videl"
Damn Goku! How did he notice?
"If anything happened between you two, you should talk about it, because it is troubling you, and I don't like to see you so depress son, it is so unlike you"
"De… depressed? Who said I'm depressed I'm not…"
"Gohan, you haven't eaten like you usually do" his father interrupted him "you barely sleep, and you don't focus on training. I thought it was because of the girl, but…"
Goku stopped. He saw Gohan burying his face in his knees, and didn't know what to think about that.
"Gohan, what happened?"
"Nothing…" he barely whispered.
Goku sighed. He had never seen his son in such distress; should it be better to go and talk to Piccolo? But what if Gohan found out? Would he forgive him for sneaking into his problems?
"Gohan, do you want me to go and talk to him?"
"What no! don't do that!"
Gohan raised his head without thinking. When he realized what he had done, it was too late. Goku was staring at his red face, and the small tears that were falling down his soft cheeks. He knew now, for sure, that whatever happened between those two wasn't just a small argument.
"Gohan… son if you don't talk to me I can't help you"
"I… I can't talk about it…" replied Gohan, burying his face between his knees again.
"Why? Son, is this because of the feelings you have for him?"
'WHAT!' sounded the alarm in Gohan's head. 'No, no he doesn't know, no one knows…' Gohan raised his redden face to his father. Goku had that sort of hard expression that he only showed when he was serious about something.
"What… I don't know what you mean…"
Goku sighed. Of course he would deny it, he has being doing so for years.
"Son, I've noticed the way you look at him the way you talk to him…"
"No… no it's not…" Gohan gulped. If his father had notice, and we are talking about Goku here so, did anybody else noticed? Was he that obvious? Was this a good moment to confess his father he had kissed his namekian mentor and that he loved him beyond reason? Could he trust that Goku wouldn't say anything to anybody?
"Son, you can trust me" Goku smiled to his child, for he looked like a child now. Gohan doubted for a few seconds about telling him what happened, but finally decided to tell the truth against his better judgment.
"Dad… dad I… the reason I've been so sad is… is that I am confused. I love Videl, but I love…"
"GOKU! GET DOWNSTAIRS I NEED YOU TO HELP ME WITH SOMETHING!" yelled Chichi downstairs.
"Just a moment!" yelled Goku back.
"You should go dad" Goku stared at his son and knew the moment had gone away. He sighed and stood up.
"We can talk later" he said to Gohan "but son, you should go talk to Piccolo. I'll tell your mother you would be out. Be back in time for the party" and with that, Goku left, leaving Gohan with a hard choice to take.
It took him a few minutes to digest what just happened: his father, Goku, knew about his feelings for Piccolo. How crazy was that! And he gave him permission to go and visit him! Was that really happening? Was that a dream?
Either way he decided to move and check on his former mentor. He knew he shouldn't go; he knew Piccolo wouldn't like it, but he couldn't care less. As he left his house and flew towards the Kami tower, tears began to fall down his cheeks. He was afraid that Piccolo would reject him.
As he put a step on the floating land he could feel Piccolo's ki rising nervously. He knew he had arrived, and if he had not come outside to greet him, that meant he had chosen not to. Gohan began walking towards the building when he heard a familiar voice.
"He is hiding from you, you know" whispered Dende behind him "I don't think he's ready to receive any visits, he's locked up himself in the meditation chamber for a few days now, that way" continued, pointing out to a small hallway that Gohan had never paid attention to before.
"What do you mean, 'hiding from me'?" he inquired.
"Well, I think you know what I mean" Dende answered, holding his staff with both his hands "I'll be around if you need me". He smiled at Gohan and then moved to the edge of the floating temple, staring down into the world. Gohan felt confused for a few seconds, but then recovered and began walking towards the pointed direction.
He walked through that hallway until he reached a large wooden door. It was decorated with lotuses images, and some other flowers he didn't recognize. He wondered for a few seconds whether to knock or not, but then thought it meaningless, since Piccolo probably knew he was there already.
When Gohan opened the door, he was amazed. There was a waterfall falling from the center of the roof to the floor, which was like a large pool, with four white stone roads, all leading to the center, where the waterfall was falling. Then Gohan realized that the waterfall was actually falling in a perfect circle, surrounding the center of the room, which was a round rock with a pink pillow on it that remanded dry. Next thing he noticed was that there was a wall missing in front of him; the room was round, but the front part was merely a few columns, so a fresh wind came in, and there was a nice view of the clouds around the Kami tower. He looked better to the waterfall. Inside this curtain of water, and above the pillow, Piccolo was floating. He was in a lotus position, and his back was facing the door.
Gohan's heart stopped for what seemed an eternity. He wasn't sure if it would be better to call him or merely clear his throat to catch his attention. He decided to go on the second.
But Piccolo didn't answer. He didn't even move.
Gohan began walking towards him.
"Don't" said Piccolo's hard voice "Don't get closer kid" he said without moving.
"Piccolo" Gohan said, holding his tears back "Piccolo, we need to talk. I can't live like this anymore, I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't even… I can't even enjoy the time I spend with Videl. You have to understand, I like her a lot, but nothing more, I… I don't love her Piccolo, I love you!"
Piccolo didn't turn to face him. He remained with his back facing Gohan, and didn't even answer. Gohan felt his heart falling apart in small pieces, and this didn't escape Piccolo's ki's perception. Piccolo was suffering too, but what could he do? They were not meant to love each other like that, they were not meant to do that!
"Piccolo please answer me" Gohan begged, falling to his knees and fully crying now "I can't live like this, I just can't"
The kid's sobbing finally made him turn. Piccolo stood up on the pillow at the center of the waterfall, and faced the kid through the water. He was struggling with his feelings, but couldn't manage the sudden impulse to get close to Gohan, to hug him, to ask for forgiveness.
Using his ki, he moved the curtain of water apart so he wouldn't get wet, and began walking towards Gohan. He leaned towards him, and Gohan couldn't handle it anymore. He threw himself to Piccolo's arms, forcing a long waited embrace. Piccolo didn't refuse at first, but then made an effort to push Gohan away. Placing his green hands on Gohan's shoulders, he forced the kid to look at him in the eye.
"Gohan, listen, you have to understand, we can't be together" Piccolo's voice was braking as he spoke. His heart was breaking at every word, but he felt that he had to do it, he had to tell him "Gohan I… I think I have a solution"
"A solution?" asked Gohan "You can't solve love, Piccolo, love is not a decease" he said with a tone that showed indignation.
"No, I didn't mean that… not like that" he whispered to him "Gohan I've been collecting the Dragon Balls" he stopped for air "I'm missing only the four stars', the one your father has…"
"And what do you plan to do with them?" Gohan asked. He secretly was expecting to hear that Piccolo would turn himself into a woman, or into a sayian and turn him into a female sayian, or something like that. He wouldn't have minded to be a woman, as long as he could be with him, but he knew Piccolo wasn't going to suggest such a thing.
"I'm going to ask Shen Long…" Piccolo took a deep breath "to stop this pain, to… erase these feelings from our hearts"
Gohan went speechless. For a moment the only sound that could be heard was the one the falling water produced. He stared at Piccolo with a sudden disbelief face, and stood up to get apart from him.
"I… I can't believe you!" Gohan yelled "I mean… why? Why would you do such a thing? Instead of being with me… are you really so ashamed of us? Of our feelings for each other?" rage tears began to fall down his cheeks. He was now staring at Piccolo with such fury in his eyes that Piccolo felt pain on his heart. Gohan had never stared at him like that.
"This is not meant to be, Gohan, you must understand…"
"No! I won't hear it!" Gohan began walking to the door. Piccolo felt panic.
"Where are you going?" he asked standing up.
"To do something I should have done long ago!" He yelled again.
"Gohan!"
The kid opened the door and flew to the sky. Piccolo wasn't sure of how to proceed. What was Gohan going to do? Go and hide the last dragon ball? Or perhaps…
"Gohan!" he screamed as he went off flying, trying to reach the kid.
At the look out, another namekian stood next to the edge, staring into the distance.
"It was time already" he murmured to himself, smiling "Let's see how this turns out".
I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter, next will come as soon as possible with new and really uncomfortable situations! Please leave a review to let me know what you think!
