Chapter 27: Another Addition?
Gohan's eyes widened when he saw the boy standing in the doorway, soaked to the skin with the freezing rain. The boy looked to be around his age, maybe younger, and had dirty blonde hair and green eyes.
"Hello," the boy said in a frightened voice, "May I please come in? I don't know where to go, and I'm really cold."
"Of course you can," his mother said in a sweet voice, leading the boy inside.
Goten was hiding behind Gohan, and he glanced back to see his brother staring at the boy with wide eyes.
He doesn't know what to think, he realized, feeling sympathy for his brother's confusion.
His gaze wandered back to the boy as he closed the door. He couldn't blame his brother for being confused; yet at the same time he felt curiosity invade him. Who was this boy and how did he get the whole way out to Mount Paozu?
No one besides us really lives up here, he thought, not sure of what to do; maybe someone else moved around here without us knowing?
He closed his eyes for a moment, searching the area for any other unfamiliar Kis, or at least any that could be similar to the boy's, but found none. His confusion continued to mount as he stared at the boy.
Apparently standing in one place for a semi-long time wasn't the best thing to do; his mother glanced over at him.
"Gohan, would you be able to go get some clean clothes for him?" Chi-Chi asked, surprising him for a moment that she wasn't yelling at him. He nodded and headed to the spare bedroom they had for guests (or anyone who was visiting, which wasn't very often since they lived so far away).
He glanced around the room for a moment, spying the plastic container that they kept older clothes in (mainly ones that no longer fit him but could be used for Goten when his brother got older). He grabbed a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt from the container and pulled them out.
A noise made him turn around, but he relaxed when he saw Goten. Something seemed different about his brother: the confusion was still evident on his face, but he seemed almost… worried.
That can't be though; he just doesn't know how to react.
"You alright, Goten?" he asked his younger brother, who had now come to stand beside him.
Goten looked up at him with semi-pleading eyes, making it seem like he wanted to tell Gohan something but didn't know how to say it. He sometimes had to remind himself that his brother was only three, since he did seem a bit more mature than others his age (well, in some areas; in others he was just a regular three year old).
Goten finally nodded, answering his question and leaving the room. Gohan shook his head, wondering what could be going through his brother's head.
He carried the clothes out to his mother, handing them to her as she tried to dry the boy off with a towel.
"Thank you, Gohan," his mother was making him slightly confused again. She was being almost like her old self; almost like before…
But why could that be? He asked, taking another glance at the boy who had mysteriously appeared on their doorstep.
Motherly instinct? His other self suggested, making it hard to hold a laugh in at the obvious answer he had missed; and before you ask, no, I don't know him.
This made him smile a bit; apparently he had asked that question way too many times when meeting someone. He spotted Goten again, over near the kitchen. Normally his little brother would be eating, but he was just standing in the open entryway, staring at the boy.
He walked over towards his brother as Chi-Chi started to lead the boy towards the bathroom, presumably to get washed up.
Gohan felt a strange feeling run through him and he turned around, seeing the boy stare at him for a moment before giving him a smile. It wasn't a normal smile though; it seemed more like the boy had found something he was looking for.
What could the boy be looking for though? The most obvious answer came to him: a family, a home, maybe someone who could help him. Or maybe something else…
Or maybe you are being paranoid, his other self said as he walked into his bedroom, sitting down on the bed and staring at the floor.
Maybe, but Goten seems to think something is wrong too, he just realized he was too quick to defend himself in the matter.
I think Goten might just not like someone new invading his space so suddenly, his other self sounded irked for a moment, but then seemed to brighten; either way, today has been amusing for me to watch.
Gohan shook his head, finding the comment slightly amusing and angering at the same time.
With Videl 'spying' on you and now this, I don't really know what to expect, his other self continued, not really giving him much time to form a response, and I had a meeting-
A meeting? Gohan felt suddenly confused, with who?
Well, obviously I talk to you, don't I?
Gohan laughed either way at the sudden comment, but felt that his other self wasn't telling him everything.
"Gohan, what's funny?" Goten's voice and sudden appearance startled him slightly. He hadn't even heard his brother enter the room.
"Just a thought," he answered, wondering why his brother was here in the first place. He was complaining, but it seemed sort of weird.
Maybe he likes how your room smells, his other self suggested, making him somewhat irritated at the ongoing banter.
I think that's enough, the comment left no other responses in his head, which was slightly relieving.
"Anything wrong, Goten?" he asked gently, not wanting to startle his brother. He kind of wished that his brother knew how to relay emotions through his Ki, but knew he was probably too young to do it intentionally.
Goten was quiet for a moment, but then came to sit beside him on the bed. His little feet swung once he was up and sitting, not being able to reach the floor. The motion seemed strangely familiar to Gohan, but he didn't know personally from where.
"He never said," Goten had a frown on his face and was directing it at the floor. At first, Gohan wanted to ask who 'he' was, but then figured that it was the boy.
"What didn't he say?"
"He never said his name," Goten replied, making some relief run through him that nothing was wrong. He gave a small laugh and looked at his brother.
"You could always go ask him; I'm sure he would like a friend," Goten brightened at his suggestion and nodded, running out of the room a moment later.
Goten had left the door open on his way out. Gohan started to stand up to close it, but stopped when something else did it for him. He glanced around the room, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.
Definitely paranoid, he thought, lying back down on his bed, deciding to try and sleep. After all, he did have school in two days, and figured it would be better to get caught up on sleep.
Voices interrupted his sleep, waking him up a bit. He knew by how dark it was that it was late at night, so confusion filled him as he wondered who could be awake.
A light filtered gently from the bottom of his door. He sat up and pushed the covers off him, listening for the voices again. He heard them, but couldn't make out what they were saying.
He made his way towards the door and peeked it open an inch, just enough to be able to see out it. The light was coming from the living room, and he saw his mother and John talking.
"Where you able to find out where he came from?" his mother was asking, and Gohan guessed they were talking about their newest resident.
"No," John answered, shaking his head, "He just said that he didn't know. Nothing else of the sorts."
Gohan felt like laughing, feeling slightly bad for the boy who had to endure John's questions, but held it in. He would get in trouble if they knew he was listening.
"Did he say anything else?" his mother's voice brought him back to the conversation, and he felt like he had missed something.
"He said his name was Drew, but that was about it," something else was said, but Gohan couldn't hear what it was, and John continued, "maybe he suffered some kind of head trauma and memory loss. Other than that, he seems to be healthy."
"He's staying in the spare bedroom for now, since no one is using it. I figured that-" Gohan backed away from the door, heading back to lie down on his bed.
Now that he searched for it, he did feel the boy's, or rather Drew's, Ki in the spare bedroom beside Goten's room. It didn't feel at rest, but also did feel awake.
He decided that he could sort things out in the morning, or maybe in the next coming days, but worrying about it wouldn't do a thing. It never had helped to think too much on something.
He closed his eyes and as his consciousness drifted away, he heard a voice:
I know you are there. You won't escape this time, no matter how hard you try. You can't leave.
Once again, I am really sorry for not updating for a while (and I just realized that anniversary for this fanfiction is in three days). I wanted to get a chapter out, but have had a lot of things getting in my way (one of them being a trip to the hospital). So anyway, now Gohan has to deal with another "addition" to their family: a strange boy named Drew who appears out of nowhere. Who is Drew? Why is Goten acting different? What was that voice that Gohan heard? More answers will be coming in the chapters ahead. Please tell me what you thought in a review!
-AnimeWolfGirl9