Uncharted Waters

Chapter XIV:


The landscape beneath him was nothing more than a shady blur. His eyes, though open, were unfocused, the night’s crystal sky all but lost to him. A shimmer of power surrounded him, shielding him from the pull of the crisp wind, but doing nothing to protect him from the spinning rage and despair that fluxed behind his eyes.

It wasn’t Goten; it was his father.

He had been wrong, so very, very, wrong.

Despite his earlier fury, the gravity of the situation was only now starting to sink in. Trunks and Goku were bond mates. He felt like he was going to puke. And Vegeta - the very thought of the Saiyan prince sent a stab of uneasy guilt to twist through him.

Faster than he expected, the lushness of the forest spanned below him. He dropped into the middle of it, hoping to regain control over his frenzied thoughts in solitude. He had told his Saiyan lover that he wanted a few hours to train on his own, but then again he had told him a lot of things this evening. With a deep breath he crossed his legs lotus-style, floating ten or so feet off the ground, the night’s events playing over in his mind. He had been so certain. Kami, how could this happen?

‘I know you think highly of yourself, Piccolo, but you do not honestly intend to tell me that you could have somehow controlled this situation?’

‘No,’ came the bitter reply.

Years ago, Piccolo would have scorned any advice from the former guardian of the Earth. Kami was nothing more than a necessary evil, the last chance in a desperate situation, and above all, a nuisance to be tolerated, if only barely. The elder Namek seemed to delight in this knowledge and would butt in profusely with his affairs. The same could be said for Nail, the other Namek he had fused with during the battle with Frieza.

However over the years they had grown quiet. In fact, it wasn’t at all unusual to go months at a time without hearing so much as a peep. He suspected Vegeta was responsible for this. It had been a shock to them all when Piccolo had been in the middle of a well-worn argument with Nail and Kami when a fourth voice entered the arena, telling them all to kindly piss off.

Apparently, if so inclined, Vegeta could, in essence, ‘hear’ Nail and Kami, if they were speaking to Piccolo. Not only hear but also join in the conversation. It had been unnerving to say the least, especially since Nail— who was just as proud of heritage as Vegeta was of his—had told Vegeta, that as a Saiyan he should be honored to partake in any sort of telepathic communication. Then the young warrior imprudently launched into a detailed explanation as to how the Namekian people was the most evolved race he would ever have the honor to encounter. The memory of his mate’s reaction tugged a reluctant grin from his lips. Needless to say, Nail was taken down a few pegs on that night.

That was more than seven years ago, and since then he had reached an unspoken agreement with the other Nameks he had fused with. As long as they didn’t constantly intrude on him, he wouldn’t immediately try to shut them out whenever they requested to speak. It had worked wonderfully, so far. Only in the most extreme cases was this overlooked. And if tonight did not constitute as an extreme case, Piccolo didn’t know what did.

When he had first walked in on Goku and Trunks’ make-out session, he could hide neither his shock, nor the flood of righteous anger that followed. Kami, who luckily had reacted faster than Piccolo, threw up a mental barrier. The elder Namek knew it would be disastrous if the Saiyan prince had come rushing to his mate’s side in Piccolo’s moment of distress. It hadn’t been easy; Kami too, was quite startled by the turn of events. But fortunately, all the hundreds of years guarding the Earth had given him the edge he needed to close off the mental link between Piccolo and Vegeta and replace it with a faux-neutrality before Piccolo’s reaction could make it to his mate.

‘I suppose a ‘thank you’ is in order,’ Piccolo intoned dejectedly.

‘It’s not necessary, lad. I did what was needed.’

‘What am I going to do?’

If Kami had the ability to shake his head he would have done so now, ‘Nothing. Give the boy his week. It is his right to tell his parents, not yours.’

‘What if he doesn’t? What then? I can’t hide this from Vegeta forever. By the demons, I don’t know how I’m going to be able to hide this for a week!’ Piccolo didn’t bother to conceal the gale of emotions from his uncle, he wasn’t even sure if he could at this point. In eight years he had never mis-lead his Saiyan lover. Nearly nine years now, he thought bitterly, the better part of a decade…the best decade of his life.

‘You are a good mate,’ Kami soothed, ‘and take your role as Trunks’ bond father very seriously, no one can doubt that. You are a strong individual—

Piccolo growled in frustration, anger transposing grief. The older Namek was missing the point, ‘Look, I don’t need my ego stroked—

‘Let me finish.’ There was a small pause. ‘You will do what you must. If the boy doesn’t take his given time, then you will have to inform your mate. However, I suggest you try your utmost to convince Trunks to do this himself. It will be hard enough for Vegeta to grapple with this without having found out from a second source.’

‘Well no shit!’ Piccolo snapped. Kami was doing nothing but stating the obvious. While he may have been on better terms with the former guardian, the old man still grated his nerves. Especially since he seemed to be taking the situation far too lightly. “He’ll kill Goku, you know,” he said out loud to emphasize, ‘or die trying.’ His eyes narrowed at that very thought, a chill running up his spine. The guilt came back, unbidden, mixing with the animosity like oil to fire. His tone grew disturbingly cold, ‘I think I’ll help him.’ Perhaps the answer wasn’t as difficult as he once thought, ‘Goku’s still a little stronger, but between the two of us we should be able to—

‘That’s not funny,’ Kami snapped back, cutting him off.

‘Do you see me laughing?’

‘You will not raise a hand to Son Goku!’

‘The hell I won’t—

‘Look past your anger, Piccolo, this world needs him.’

The younger warrior was more than a little insulted by the insinuation, what were all the rest of them? Trash? Blood boiling, he concentrated on several images of what he would like to do to the Earth-raised Saiyan should get his hands on him. It was with a dark exuberance that he smiled when he felt Kami recoil from the mental onslaught. The desire to kill was something he had not felt in a long time. He had forgotten how liberating it could be.

However the old Namek was quick to recover, with a grim determination he spoke, his words slicing through the imagery like a blade.

‘Kill him then, if you think you can manage it. I cannot stop you. Although, I am going to be highly interested to hear your explanation when Gohan walks up to you and asks why, you, his most beloved mentor and friend, killed his father. Has he not all ready lost his mother?’ His tone softened, ‘How much should he have to pay to feed your desire for vengeance? Hasn’t he suffered enough?’

It was as if Kami had pulled some sort of magical mental plug on him. He felt the majority of his ire drain out of him, leaving nothing more than a clammy hull. He couldn’t do it, as much as he would like to at the moment. He wouldn’t rob Gohan of his father, no matter how worthless the man may be.

‘Damn you.’

‘He is needed, Piccolo. Yourself and the other Z senshi are phenomenal, but Son Goku is a special case. What he may lack in his domestic skills he makes up for in battle.’

As much as he hated to admit it, he knew Kami had a point. As stupid and depraved as he was, Goku had saved the Earth countless times. Somehow he had always found a way. He was an invaluable asset to the Earth’s safety. He could see this from Kami’s point of view as guardian; keeping the Earth’s best interest always in the forefront of his mind. Personally, Piccolo didn’t give two whits about the Earth at the moment, but knew in the long run, that his uncle was right.

He may not have been able to kill the Saiyan in cold blood, but if it came down between Vegeta and Goku in death-lock combat he wouldn’t blink twice about snuffing out his one time archenemy to protect his mate.

‘Fine, you win, I won’t interfere with the initial battle, but if it turns for the worse, all promises are off.’

Kami knew that it was the best response he could hope for at the moment, Piccolo was understandably still up in arms about the matter. ‘Why are you so certain that this will end in bloodshed?’

‘I know my mate, old man, and he won’t allow this. I don’t want to begin to imagine what his reaction will be, but be certain, he will want vengeance.’ He sneered, ‘You’re lucky you held me back earlier—

‘Oh that was me!’ a new voice cut in.

“Nail,” Piccolo said out loud, “why in the hell would you interfere? I thought you of all people would back me up on this.”

‘Nope, sorry. Kami was busy holding your mental block up and calming your emotions, I had to step in to keep you from beating poor Goku.’

‘Poor Goku, my ass!’ Piccolo seethed, speaking mentally again, ‘How in the fuck can you side with that bastard?’

‘Because you’re making a big deal out of nothing. They’re both of Saiyan blood; I would think it’s only natural that they be attracted to each other. Who else is there? Goten said it himself that he prefers females. What options did Trunks really have? And Goku obviously has a good eye.’

‘What!?!’

‘Nail,’ Kami broke in, ‘I don’t think you’re helping matters.’

‘I’m just stating the obvious,’ the younger Namek reasoned, ‘I mean look at the other options. Saiyans, from what I understand, are naturally drawn to power. That kid you trained,’ Nail floundered here for a moment, being horrible with names, ‘the one who visited Guru on Namek.’

‘Gohan?’ Piccolo provided. Hadn’t Nail been listening earlier? Kami had just been talking about the kid. He grit his teeth, biting back any acidic comments, curious as to where Nail was going with his line of reasoning.

‘Yeah him,’ he chirped, ‘he bonded with the strongest woman on the planet. Goku did the same thing. At the time, what’s her name…his woman,

“Chichi.” Piccolo sighed, “You really need to start paying attention.”

‘Yeah well, you knew who I was talking about. Anyway, she was the strongest in the world at that time, so he was naturally attracted to her. It produces strong offspring. Same with Vegeta, the strongest woman in the world was all ready taken so he went for the smartest.’

‘What? Nail, you’re full of shit.’ The floating warrior shook his head, wishing he could kick the other Namek for his stupidity, ‘You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. I know how Vegeta and Bulma got together, and it didn’t have much to do with how smart she was. Gohan and Videl met in high school, and Goku didn’t even know what the fuck bonding, or marriage was! Chichi tricked the moron into it. And if you haven’t noticed, Vegeta is currently bonded to me. You’re building up an argument based on coincidence.’

‘Sure it seems that way,’

‘Nail’ Kami said in warning.

Nail ignored him. ‘But, it’s instinctual, not conscious. Think about it! Saiyans reproduce primitively. It’s all about strength with them. In order to have the strongest offspring they need to mix their genes with the strongest female, or vice versa. Vegeta has all ready reproduced, so he was free to bond with you. Same with Goku, he had two offspring so now he can also have a male partner.’

‘Okay, Darwin, then what about Trunks? Or Goten, for that matter?’

‘Goten hasn’t bonded with anyone yet, he’s still, what’s that term Earthling’s use, ‘playing the field.’ And Trunks, um...well...he could claim Goku’s children as his own, or maybe mix with a female just to produce…’ he broke off, his argument weakening.

“Just shut-up.” Piccolo breathed, exasperated. He continued mentally, ‘Besides even if your argument was logical, then all of the Saiyans would be inbred at some point, due to their social structure. They have a caste system, or did you conveniently forget that?’

‘No… though it wouldn’t surprise me if they were all inbred.’

“Damn it, Nail!” he barked, “I’m not getting into this with you again. The Nameks are not some chosen race. Shit, you’re ten times worse than Vegeta!”

Piccolo felt Nail try to retort, but he abruptly closed his mind off to him.

“I can’t deal with this crap now,” he muttered, although he had to admit he felt a little better after debating with other, arrogant Namek. It at least got his thoughts under a tighter reign.

‘He is proud, this is true, but he was only trying to help. Though his logic was flawed, perhaps he did have a point.’

‘I doubt it, but go on.’

‘I do not think this is as big as a catastrophe as you are making it out to be. There are always two sides to a story. Talk to Trunks and to Goku,’ Kami could sense that Piccolo was about to protest, but he continued before the younger man had a chance, ‘find out why they have chosen to bond. They can better answer your question as to’ why’ than anyone else. And from that knowledge perhaps you can help soften the blow for Vegeta.’

Piccolo shook his head, ‘That’s easier said than done.’

‘You are his mate, if he’ll listen to anyone, it will be you. At the very least, no matter what happens, you will know you had done everything in your power to aid in this situation.’

‘I lied to him, Kami, how is that aiding the situation?’

‘You did what you had to. Like it or not, Trunks is bonded to Goku. If anything were to happen to Goku, it would affect Trunks. You were protecting your bond son. In time, Vegeta will forgive you for it.’

‘In time…’ Piccolo snorted in disgust, ‘are you a seer now?’

There was a pause, and a sense of frustration, ‘You are not making this easier.’ He paused, ‘Do not let the guilt consume you. You didn’t so much lie to him; you told him you were speaking to Trunks, and that you were.’

The tall warrior ground his teeth together, ‘I know what I told him! I told him Trunks and I were having a conversation about his stupid fucking school, not that Trunks and I were talking about his poor-ass choice in mates! I’m hiding the truth from him, Kami, that’s lying. There’s no other way to look at it.’ Another wave of guilt hit him hard in the stomach, ‘I have to pretend that everything is normal, keeping my true emotions at bay. You think that’s going to be easy? This is more than one little fib, or an exaggeration of the truth. How in the hell am I supposed to keep this closed up?’

Kami sighed, ‘I’ll help you with the bond part of it. But the sooner Trunks talks to him the better. I suggest you speak with him as soon as possible.’

‘That, I can do.’




He screamed. The world around him seemed to be cast in a red hue, spinning noxiously, threatening to swallow him. He shut his eyes against it. Blood, wet and dripping on the side of the sauna onto the snow covered ground—

“NO!!”

Goten sped up, ascending, crashing through anything that got in his way. His aqua eyes darted over the waters below him seeking the shoreline. He found it to the north and made a beeline to it. He had to get on land quickly and push his ki down; he knew his father would come looking for him. The demi-Saiyan had purposely taken the long way around and a few detours along the way to throw his father off; he only hoped it would buy him enough time. The cauldron of rage within him was about to boil over. Once he had overhead Vegeta make a comment about Saiyan children killing their fathers. He thought the older man had been joking, especially when Bulma had teased him about some guy called Oedipus. At least, he had hoped he was joking, he could not imagine anyone wantin kil kill their own father, especially since he didn’t have one of his own at the time.

The present was a different story. He had his father back, and now he wished by all that was holy he had never been revived. His mom would still be alive and Trunks would still be his friend. He growled at the thought of the lavender-haired teen. He had wondered why Trunks had been so dressed up tonight, or why his father had actually put on decent clothing instead of his normal training gi. Goten shuddered.

He landed on the beach, and pushed his ki down as far as possible and made his way towards the lighted highway in the distance. Looking back he could see the signs. Trunks was always over at the house, at first he knew it was because of him. Trunks was being a good friend; making sure he ate, dragging him out of the house, forcing him to start living again. But after a few months he noticed that his dad and Trunks were beginning to talk a lot. Even after he went to bed, he could still hear the muffled voices in the other room conversing late into the night.

And lately he had come home to find Trunks all ready there. He cursed softly, fist clenching in recollection.

There had been other signs too, Trunks eagerly wanting to help him when he confessed he had a crush on Vicky. She was the funniest girl in his year and downright hot, but she was also had some of the highest grades in the class. And while Goten had a great sense of humor and wasn’t bad to look at, his grades were barely passing. Trunks had ingeniously come up with the ‘stupid puppy plan’. The science final was in the form of a research project, normally Goten would have slapped something together in less than an hour to turn in and be done with it. But Trunks convinced him to seek a ‘tutor’. Vicky Jennings was smart, and easily flattered. Goten had stroked her ego and played the ‘dumb puppy’, tail wagging at her every word. After a couple of weeks of after school mentoring at her house, they had ended up making out on her small twin bed. He had been certain things would have gone further if her parents hadn’t come home when they did. But still, he had been so happy. He liked Vicky a lot, more than liked really.

He began making his way through the quiet streets of the small town, his hands shoved into his pockets, head down as he recalled the night’s events. He had been so excited to tell Trunks all about his success with Vicky. When he had finally pulled the other youth aside and relayed his story, Trunks had smirked and said, “See, my plans always work.” But now he knew that Trunks’ helpfulness had been nothing more than a scheme to get him out of the house. He scowled, “Dumb puppy plan, indeed.”

He had always known Trunks was gay. He didn’t have a lem lem with it because Trunks didn’t act like the stereotype he’d seen on TV, or the flamers that hung out downtown in the ‘Pride section.’ The lavender haired teen was as manly as they come. In fact, Trunks got hit on by tons of girls; it was just that he never took an interest in them. Never - not even as a kid. The older boy had always been that way. He could remember, as a child, Trunks refusing to even play with the girls because they were ‘stupid’ or ‘yucky’.

Goten knew that Trunks father was bonded to another guy, but he didn’t think this had influenced him any. For the life of him he couldn’t call Piccolo or Vegeta ‘gay’. He wouldn’t have even known they were a couple unless he had been told, you certainly couldn’t tell by watching them. They didn’t act like they were anything but friends in public. In fact he couldn’t ever recall seeing them touch each other unless they were sparing.

At any rate, he had been fine with it. Goten considered himself pretty open minded, but this was pushing things way too far. Trunks relationship with his father was not only completely disgusting; it was just plain wrong. His mother hadn’t even been dead for a year yet, and all ready his dad had hooked up with someone else…his best friend. While, he may never speak to Trunks again, he knew that his anger towards his ex-childhood friend was nothing in comparison to the all-encompassing rage he felt towards his father.

The man had abandoned him, his mother, and brother for seven years. So what if he was dead, he could have been wished back, but he refused. Yet, he had to admit, it hadn’t taken very long for him to warm up to the man. Even so, it had taken him months if not years to think of Son Goku as a father figure. Trunks’ dad had filled that role in his life and it had been hard to replace him.

But then the ‘accident’ happened. Goten tried in vain to push away the memory of his mother as he last saw her. He could distinctly recall her asking his father to fix the roof before the first snow came. He had absently nodded and said, “Sure thing, hun.” That was in the fall. The snows had come early, his dad was off training as usual, and he was running late for school, the roof was leaking, before running out the door he could remember his mother cursing his father, digging through the tool box…

“No, I won’t think about it.” The demi-Saiyan muttered, finally banishing the sickening images that flashed in his mind’s eye

It had been his father’s fault. But it wasn’t intentional, he knew it, so he had reluctantly tried to let it go. As he did the fact that his father had left him in their home by himself for several weeks with out so much as a phone call. He had reigned in his anger and held his tongue. But this he couldn’t overlook, not any more. A newly formed black hatred rose within him. He would never forgive his father for this, ever. While he didn’t think himself capable of patricide, he wouldn’t so much as bat an eye if the Earth opened up and swallowed his father whole.

Finally he reached a two-story house with a red fence. He stalked up the yard, through the bay window he could see a woman sitting in a recliner, remote control in her hand. She happened to look up at that moment, a look of surprise on her face once she saw him. She pulled her self up and moved out of view. The door opened.

“Hey Goten, what are you doing here?” her dark blue eyes widened slightly when she took in the hard expression of his face, “Are you all right?”

“No,” he said stonily to his sister-in-law. “I need to talk to Gohan,” he would hold his tongue no longer, “now.”


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Damn it! *sighs* I swore I wasn\'t going to bring Kami and Nail back in this fic, but the green bastards snuck past my defenses *growls*

Anyway, if you haven\'t all ready picked up on it, (which I hope you have at this point considering I did the same in the first story), comments in \' \' are suppose to be mental as opposed to \" \" which are out loud. On my copy the mental dialog is in italics. But stupid, droolie me, doesn\'t know how to post with italics on AFF. (Insert Special Ed picture here...YAY! I peed in your pool! YAY!)