A/N: LET THE DARKNESS COME. Thanks for ze reviews, everyone!

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

DEEP - SIX

10 - How To Reunite

An entire month passed before I spoke to Goku again. I did my best to avoid him and even requested to be reassigned to a different student for tutoring, terrified of confronting him about what happened during the party. He would knock on my door for the first week or two and call my name softly to encourage me to come out and face him but I couldn't do it. Even Bulma helped me hide from him, shoving me into lockers when he walked by or taking me to my classes in roundabout ways.

It was too weird thinking of seeing him after the morning we had woken up together. Every time I thought about it my heart hammered in a really uncomfortable way and I felt so nervous I thought I'd puke. It was better for us to never speak of it again and cut off our friendship before things got too weird. Plus, Owen seemed much happier now that Goku was out of the picture.

Still, my brother was making me increasingly nervous. He spoke with Bulma quite a bit now in hushed tones and always seemed urgent about something while she was constantly reassuring him. She'd been pretty intent on getting Goku and I together but now she wanted us as far apart as possible. Both of them were freaking me out and I tried to drop in on their conversations unexpectedly but it never worked out. They were both on edge.

One night, toward the middle of October, Bulma came knocking on my door. I slid off my bed and lazily shuffled to the door to yank it open, wearing my grungy relaxation pjs with my hair up in a ponytail. I opened it expecting to see her smiling back at me but was instead greeted by Goku's dark eyes.

I tightened my jaw and immediately tried to slam the door shut. How dare Bulma trick me with a friendly text! But Goku pressed his palm to the door and forced it back open, leaving me angrily crossing my arms as he invited himself in. He was wearing his gym shorts and a black wife-beater and smelled like cologne. Probably on his way back from the gym as usual.

"What?" I asked, standing firm beside my bed. "I thought I made it pretty clear that I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"C'mon, Ellie. I told you I was sorry." He rubbed the back of his head, eyeing my pajamas. "I was still kinda groggy from just waking up and… well, you know how it is when you have a girl in your bed."

"No I don't!" I spluttered.

Goku stood by the door, leaning on it casually. "Yeah, I guess you don't. You'd understand if you were like me. Anyway, I came here to apologize again and ask you to tutor me. The guy they gave me is kind of mean and he doesn't explain things the way you do. Please help me out?"

What was I supposed to do? He'd scared the shit out of me. I thought I was overreacting but even Bulma seemed shaken by how Goku was behaving. But he'd been nice to me otherwise, and he hadn't actually hurt me or tried anything. Even when we were dancing he kept a respectful space between us. A whole month had passed, too… maybe it was time for me to let sleeping dogs lie and move on.

Or maybe I just have a crush on him.

Flustered, I nodded quickly and turned back to my bed to fix the sheets. "Whatever, fine."

"Can we do some math now?" he asked, brightening immediately. "It's only seven or so and my dorm is right upstairs. Want to come up? I'm on… radicals, I think."

"Radicals? Already?"

"Yeah, I've been practicing a lot."

"But you hate math," I said stupidly.

Radicals frustrated a lot of people. For a guy who barely understood what a variable was, Goku was progressing very quickly with the tutor who was supposedly bad.

Goku smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, but you don't. C'mon, let's go."

Then we left and I was staring at him with a dumbstruck expression. Of course I didn't hate math. It was intrinsic to chemistry, which was in turn intrinsic to pharmacy studies. Why would he—

And I began to blink like a crazy person, heart pounding. Was Goku trying to impress me? The thought of it was insane. He was tall, attractive, and charming while I was sort of… plain. I was pretty intelligent and everything and not half bad looking but I didn't think I would ever be the sort of female that attracted guys like Goku. He was the jocky type. Chi-Chi was better suited for him than I was.

But Chi-Chi frightened him for some reason. I could still remember how he trembled behind me while she screamed and pounded on the door, demanding he come out of hiding. Poor guy. She was probably half his size but ten times as intimidating. Hell, I hadn't even seen her in calculus since that night.

We stopped in front of Goku's door and people began to stare, pulling me from my ruminations. Once inside I looked around his slightly larger room to see his décor was just as plain as it was at his apartment, if not more so. There was a black bedspread and a desk lamp. It felt like a prison cell.

Goku changed into orange sweatpants and a blue t-shirt while my back was turned. They were my favorite colors, but I didn't think I'd ever tell him that. He locked the door and I hopped up on his bed with a pencil to see what I could help him with. He climbed up beside me and soon we were poring over his textbook with scarcely an inch between us.

"Don't worry too much about the number outside the radical," I said as I circled a 64 inside the sign. "This is what you're worried about, and 64 happens to be a perfect square."

"And I can make the 8 smaller, too?"

"Yup, because four is yet another perfect square. See? This isn't very hard. You just have to take your time and make sure everything is laid out neatly."

Goku leaned closer. One of his hands was behind me to keep him balanced at my side. I tried to ignore him and keep explaining the problem but he was really close and whatever scent he was wearing smelled good enough to eat. Soon the pencil was trembling in my grasp and I started pointing with my index finger instead to hide my nervousness. Was I afraid?

He rested his chin on my shoulder. "Why'd you start shaking all of a sudden?"

"Low blood sugar, maybe." Or you breathing down my neck.

"I hope you're not afraid of me, Ellie. I really didn't mean to scare you."

Well, shit. I picked my words carefully, trying to decide if I would forgive him or not. It wasn't a big deal. We'd both recently woken up from drinking and he was a guy, so things happened.

"It's alright," I said. "I'm over it now."

Warm fingers touched the small of my back, light as a feather. I stared at the paper in front of me.

"Did you like it?" he murmured.

I paled. Did I like it on some primal level? My fear of returning to it had kept me from seeing Goku but the more I thought about it… maybe I had enjoyed it. It could've been my guilt or shame for enjoying it that was making me so scared to relive the situation again.

Swallowing, I shook my head. "No, I didn't."

Goku nuzzled his face into my neck and slid his hand over mine. He smiled into my skin. "Awww, it's okay to like it. I won't ever hurt you or anything like that, but I really like it when you try to get away from me."

Once again, Goku had rendered me speechless. My eyes widened, burning as they latched on to the scribbled math problems before me that had both Goku's messy handwriting and my own. He liked when I tried to get away from him? Was that the only reason I had woken up unscathed? I'd gone to bed willingly with him, although very drunk, but he was only interested if I was trying to get away.

"Are you…" I paused and closed my eyes, terrified to say it. "…Are you saying you're going to…?"

He laughed. "'Course not. I only will if I get permission first."

Oh, thank goodness. I'd been worried for a second that—

"But sometimes I get really impatient and then I just kind of hope you'll learn to like it."

"…Oh," I faltered.

"Mmm… you smell good."

The binder was suddenly shoved out of my lap and onto the floor, falling with a loud clatter and making me jump. The papers scattered and Goku took my pencil away to throw it on the floor as well, now leaning the full brunt of his weight against me. I nearly collapsed to my side, startled by his sudden aggression. What the hell was wrong with him?! I never would've pegged Goku as that type of guy but he'd made me seriously doubt his friendly demeanor.

Then Goku's cell phone vibrated and he stopped dead in the midst of pushing me over. He irately pulled it out of his pocket and clicked past the lock screen to read a text that I could plainly see. It was from Bulma, which didn't particularly surprise me, but the short message in caps lock did.

TAKE YOUR MEDICINE, GOKU SON.

He hesitated, reading it a few times before stuffing his phone back in his pocket. I wondered what kind of medicine Bulma was pestering him about taking. It could've been for joint pain, since he was an athlete and trained in martial arts. Or maybe he had some kind of heart condition that needed to be treated, lest he drop dead in the middle of some game.

"S-so you only invited me here to do this?" I stammered when Goku's heady dark eyes turned back to me.

"Do what?" he asked innocently.

"You know what I mean! Cut it out, you're not being funny!"

"Oh, I'm not gonna have sex with you." He brightened, but it was somehow sinister. "I'm gonna kiss you and you can decide what you wanna do!"

Goku grasped the back of my head and pushed me forward so our lips connected in a savage kiss that made me squeal in shock. He was still hovering over me, trying to push me down on the bed, but I wouldn't relent. His lips moved in a frenzied way and then his tongue was in my mouth and I was eagerly kissing him back, praying to god that I wasn't as bad as I felt. He knew what he was doing—my arms began to tremble after only a few minutes and I really wasn't opposed to his sex proposition.

My elbows buckled and Goku was on top of me in the next instant, pinning my wrists even though I was entirely willing. He was between my legs and I could feel him; I wanted to let him do whatever he wanted. His mouth left mine and traveled along my jawline to my neck, where he started kissing and biting at my skin, undoubtedly leaving marks. I strained against his hands to free my own clawing fingers but he held me firmly to the bed with no signs of relenting.

Inevitably, someone knocked on his door. Hard.

"Goku?!" Bulma called shrilly. "Open the door NOW!"

Goku paused and rolled his eyes before idly clapping a hand over my mouth. I glared up at him. His chest was rising and falling in sharp, uneven breaths. Had I done that to him? Huh.

"What's up, Bulma?" he drawled.

"I have your medicine. Get out here and take it. If you keep skipping, you know what happens."

He sighed dramatically and leaned back to kneel between my legs, pressing his index finger forcefully to my lips before doing so as a sign I should stay quiet. I seethed when I saw his hands casually hook on the hem of my pajamas like he was going to pull them down. What the hell?! I… I wasn't ready for that!

"I don't wanna take it," he said. "It dumbs me down too much."

"Goku Son, you get out here right now and take your pill."

"No I told you I don't want to."

"This is not a good way to impress her," Bulma hissed. "You know what's going to happen if you don't start the regimen again. We can't afford to lose her and I know you especially don't want to, so be a good boy and come take your goddamn medicine!"

That seemed to irritate Goku. He scowled at the door and unwillingly got out of bed to answer Bulma's demands. I lay perfectly still, gazing up at the ceiling. What kind of medicine was Goku taking? Who did he want to impress? It couldn't have been me. If it was, why couldn't they afford to lose me? Why in the hell wouldn't anyone tell me what the fuck was going on in West University?

Bulma's bangles clinked on her wrist. "I hate when you're like this. We kind of dodged a bullet at that party and now you're pulling shit like this under my nose. You know why you have to be on this strict regimen, Goku. Take your pill, play your silly sports, and fuck a few girls." She paused and I heard her nails undulate on the doorframe. "And keep Ellie out of that last category for now."

"Mhm," Goku said offhandedly.

Now I was beginning to panic. He was deliberately letting me listen to Bulma ranting on and on about whatever weird plans they all had for me and they didn't sound good. She sounded so different—meaner, like she was really a business tycoon. And Goku was attracted to me?! I couldn't believe it. Maybe I was hearing them wrong. It was a bad case of information overload.

"Good boy," Bulma said after a minute. "I'll be down at the end of the week to give you the next pill. These ones are going to really help you relax."

"Great. See you tomorrow."

"Oh, that reminds me: Chi-Chi will be back next week. She enjoyed her, uh… vacation."

The door shut softly and Goku returned, promptly spitting a red pill into his palm and grinding it to dust between his fingers. He sprinkled it in his sink and flushed it down before turning to face me, now a bit calmer than before. His expression was painful to look at: sad and kind of trapped.

"I'm risking a heck of a lot for you, Ellie," he said.