The Torment
Part 1
By Larania


Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z and Ranma ½ do not belong to me. I am not making any money from this. I do not know how to spell the names of the actual owners, but they own them. Not me.

 

(A/N: Anyone who starts shouting ‘yaoi’ to this, I have a good argument against it. Piccolo is asexual. Actually, the better term would be hermaphrodite. He, for ease of reference, can perform the same biological acts as a female. He can birth young if he chose. His species is neither male nor female, but have to, to some extent, exchange DNA. They aren’t identical. So, thus, they have to be hermaphrodites.)


            Dende was confused. He had been watching a particularly strange part of the world that he protected, and wondered if he would ever figure it out from where it was.

            Unfortunately, he couldn’t go anywhere himself, but he knew someone who could.

            :Piccolo?: he called out mentally.

            There was no answer.

            :Piccolo?:

            It took Dende a moment to realize that he was being ignored, after almost panicking.

            :Piccolo, I know that you might be busy, but this is important.:

            He got the impression of severe grumbling from the elder Namekian’s mind. Finally, with a sigh, he turned his attention to him.

            :What is it, brat?:

            Dende ignored the insult.

            :There is some kind of strange magical site in Chiukoku,: he told him. (That is what China is called in Japanese. Although I may not have spelled it right.) :I have not heard of it, and since I can’t leave the Lookout…:

            He heard a huge sigh from the elder’s mind.

            :You want me to investigate, right?:

            :Ahh-:

            :Just spit it out, kid.:

            :Alright, if you aren’t too busy…:

            Piccolo almost refused right there, because of the stupid way Dende had asked. Then he stopped. Life had been rather boring for him lately, and all he had to do was meditate and train. Now that Gohan was in high school, he didn’t come around as much. Much as he hated to admit it, he was getting restless, especially with no Goku to compare himself to.

            It would be stupid to try and spare with Vegeta. He would have to put up with the man’s solar system sized ego, and it would get one or both of them killed.

            :Fine.:

            Dende blinked. That had been way too easy.

            :Okay, this is where it is.:

            He gave Piccolo directions, and when he had left the mountains he had been in, Dende thought of something.

            “Maybe I should have asked Mr. Popo if he had known anything about it.”


            Piccolo was gliding in over the area that had been pointed out to him by Dende. There was nothing really strange about it, he thought. It looked like any other area that he had flown over at some time or another.

            It looked like several dozen tiny ponds with bamboo poles stuck into them. It was a type of Shaolin training method, but they usually used sharpened stakes for a person to fall on, not water. In fact, he couldn’t see what would make a person worry about falling at all. No one feared water. Least of all, him.

            Taking another look around, he spotted village. No danger there.

            “Well, this was lovely waste of time,” he muttered, among other various swear words.

            He could, as a consequence of his once being a part of Kami, and having then remerged with him, sense magic, and this place did reek of it. That was the only part that confused him. The place was so damned innocuous. What could be giving Dende fits?

            No Kami had ever heard about the Training Ground of Accursed Springs. Thus, they didn’t know that the Spring almost seemed to have a mind of its own, and that it loved having new victims.

            Poor Piccolo.

            Out of nowhere, an asteroid that should have burned up in orbit hit the unsuspecting Namek, and he fell, right into the Springs.

            Into the Spring of Drowned Girl, to be precise.

            “AHHHH!”

            The impact was bruising, but not shattering, as it would have been to anyone else. Still, the shock of the hit, and being dashed into the water was fierce, and he lost consciousness for a few seconds.

            Then, when he woke up, he was a she.


            “Where the hell am I?” Piccolo-chan asked, thinking she had never felt so banged up. She had been shot with lasers, energy blasts of all kinds, but he didn’t think he had ever been quite so disoriented. Up until then, his eyes had been closed, and she could feel the lapping of water around her feet. Everything spun.

            Raising her head, she tried to look around. Amazingly, her turban was still on her head, which promptly fell into her eyes.

            Cursing, she flung it off her head, struggling against her suddenly awkward cape and shoulder pads. Her clothes sagged, dragging dirt along with her. Spitting and yowling, she stood, and saw her hands.

            Elegant and fine-boned, they were also powerful with muscle, calloused, but far smaller than they had been. They were also a soft tan.

            Kuso!” she shrieked, realizing that her voice was no longer a menacing rumble, but a rich alto.

            Her hands flew to her face, feeling the smooth human skin, no antennae, and tangled in the mass of pine green hair tumbling from her head.

            “What the hell just happened??”


            Dende had been feeling like something bad had happened all day. As if to punctuate his feelings, a small, fine boned girl suddenly landed on his lookout.

            Dende, what in the name of Enma-sama have you done to me???”

            It took the severely confused god a few minutes to figure out who this person was.

            “Can I help you, miss?”

            “DAMN YOU BRAT, DON’T YOU REALIZE WHO I AM?”

            Dende shook his head in confusion.

            He didn’t have time to react as the enraged Piccolo-chan grabbed him by the collar of his robe.

            Dende was able to guess, then, who it was, but couldn’t tell him because he was choking, and his face was turning a lovely shade of purple.

            Realizing this, Piccolo-chan put him down, but the poor god took a few minutes to recover.

            “(pant) Piccolo-san? What (gasp, wheeze) happened to you?

            “I don’t know! But I do know that I want you to find a way for me to change back, RIGHT NOW!” As Piccolo-chan had said each word, she had taken a step closer, hands raised and clenched into fists. What she didn’t realize was that she looked so cute it was hard to believe that she could ever be threatening.

            Of course, he lost that assumption when she started to power up.

            “Is something wrong, Dende?” asked the usually good-natured voice of Mr. Popo.

            He then noticed what was going, and promptly ran over to protect his flowers.

            “What is going on? Mr. Popo no like it when someone try to hurt his flowers!”

            Both Namek and former-Namek jumped apart from each other, knowing how he would get.

            Mr. Popo took a moment to look at the very fit, pretty girl that had somehow gotten to the Lookout.

            “Excuse me, Miss, but do you know that you are attacking the Kami of this planet?”

            OF COURSE I KNOW THAT! I’M PICCOLO, YOU DJINN FREAK!”

            “Piccolo? Oh, you must have gone to the Training Ground!”

            This statement again stopped the two cold, and they glared, one in confusion, the other in rage.

            “What are you talking about? It kinda looked like a training ground, yeah, but- WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IT? AND WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL DENDE???”

                        The pretty girl that was somehow Piccolo, his former Kami, disturbed Mr. Popo. He was also very worried that his head wasn’t going to be attached to his shoulders all that much longer.

            Then Piccolo-chan stopped. Taking a deep breath, she asked in a tight, growling voice,” Is there anyway that the spell can be taken off?”

            “Uh, no.”

            WHAT?”

            Dende then had to restrain Piccolo-chan.

            Popo had backed up until he was almost falling off the Lookout. “I meant that it couldn’t be removed, but part of the curse is that it can be temporarily reversed, with hot water!”

            Scowling, the girl turned heel and ran into the Palace, and went looking for a water tap.


            Piccolo-chan stopped dead, when she came across a large mirror in the maze of corridors in the belly of God’s Palace. Looking at herself, she wondered what twisted demon had seen fit to do this to her. Touching her face curiously, she noticed that she kept some of her old features; her scowling mouth had the same lips, only they looked out of place on a girls face. Prominent cheekbones, eyes like ebony, and a delicate nose were under the human pale skin. Piccolo-chan then noticed her hair- she had balled it up under her turban for the flight back. Removing her turban now, the twisted strands fell nearly to her knees.

            “Great,” she mumbled aloud. “I go from being bald to having more hair than I know what to do with. Maybe I could ask Krillin what he does with his…? NO, I am not telling anyone about this!”

            She took a fist full of the nearly black green hair and shoved it back under her turban, and broke the mirror.

            With that, she stalked to the bathroom.

 


The Torment
Part 2: Someone Found Out
By Larania


Disclaimer: DBZ and Ranma ½ do not belong to me, and I make no money off this bit of my diseased imagination. Please, don’t sue me.

 

            Piccolo was having trouble adjusting to his new situation. If you could call suddenly turning into a human female whenever you were doused with cold water a ‘situation’. He would have preferred to call it a catastrophe.

            It was early the next day, after Piccolo’s rather abrupt transformation. He was carefully drinking some water that he had heated with his ki so he could drink it without transforming. He grimaced at the taste.

            Piccolo stood up from his usual mediating pose, and started his stretches for the day. He slid easily from the splits, to standing to kicks and swinging his arms, getting his muscles warm for the day.  He was about to start his push-ups when the familiar voice of his student and friend, Gohan interrupted him.

            “Ohayoo Piccolo-san! How are you doing?”

            Standing, the green giant looked at him, his face expressionless, but he was thinking- Oh, hell, if he finds out-

            He gave Gohan the silent treatment, the way he usually did. This didn’t deter the young half-breed; he chattered along, and all Piccolo had to do was occasionally nod his head.

            “I met this really nice girl at school, Piccolo-san, and she is absolutely amazing. She’s pretty, she can fight, and-“

            Piccolo wondered why Gohan was telling him this. Then again, considering that he had no real father to go to, which might be why-

            “And I was telling her about my training, and she said she wanted to meet you. Is that okay?”

            Piccolo was so busy nodding his head that he hadn’t realized that he had been asked a question, and just kept on nodding. He did notice when a bright grin lit up Gohan’s face, and the shout of thanks as he took off to school.

            Then Piccolo remembered what Gohan had said. Groaning, he put his head in his hands. Could things get any worse?


            “Why are you so worried about my meeting your sensei, Gohan?” Videl asked, looking at her friend, whom she was starting to think of in other terms, as they flew on the Flying Nimbus.

            “He tends to be rude, kinda, around people he hasn’t met yet,” he told her lamely, hoping to give as good an impression as he could.

            “Honto? I always knew that martial arts masters could be a little conceited, but a lot of the ones that I have met were pretty polite.”

            Gohan winced.

            “By the way, what is his name, anyway?”

            This was the part that he had been dreading. Most people were still afraid of Piccolo, even though there was no real reason.

            “His name is Daimou Piccolo.”

            Videl was suddenly falling off the Flying Nimbus.

            Videl!

            Clouds enveloped her, and Gohan tried to locate her ki.

            She was gone.


            As the day had progressed, Piccolo had noticed several clouds starting to move in, but in the heat of training with himself, he had forgotten what it could mean.

            He had been about to hit himself with a special beam cannon when he heard the shout.

            He had been unconsciously noticing the approach of Gohan’s ki, but he hadn’t noticed the other person’s, and when the scream happened, he had turned to investigate.

            By then the clouds had gotten so thick they had covered the afternoon sky in hazy gloom, turning it a charcoal gray. The scream, a masculine one, then one that was feminine, had shattered the quiet. Looking up, Piccolo had seen a form falling, and he had reacted by flying to catch the falling person.

            He had reacted instinctively, without thought, and only wondered later why he had done it.

            Piccolo’s arms closed around the form of a young woman as she emerged from the thick leaden clouds.  She was still quite conscious, and yelling all the louder for it.

            “Will you shut the hell up brat??” asked the Namek, his ears ringing as the low powered girl pummeled at his head. “I saved your worthless-“

            Whatever else the disgruntled Piccolo would have said was lost in the roar of sudden thunder, and the clouds broke, drenching him and the young girl, Piccolo assumed she was Videl, with ice-cold rain.

            Videl screamed again, this time because the arms holding her shrunk to the point that their grip loosened. It was then that she remembered that she could fly as well, and was able to shake herself loose.

            Floating in front of her was a lovely girl about her age, where had once floated the boogey man of her youth. With a yip, that girl flew away as fast as possible, leaving behind a very, very confused Videl.


            “Videl!” shrieked a voice in her ear, but Videl didn’t hear it.

            Her mind was still confused with what she saw. The huge, green demon that she had been taught to fear not only was her boyfriend’s (well, almost boyfriend) sensei, had saved her life, then turned into a girl.

            Why do these things always happen to me? She thought.

            “Videl! Are you all right? Answer me!”

            There was a sudden burst of flame and Gohan had become SSJ. Videl did notice that.

            “What? Gohan, is something wrong? Why did you do that?”

            Clutching her arms, then pulling her to his chest, Gohan answered, “Don’t ever scare me like that again!”

            Then both Gohan and Videl noticed how close they were. Both blushed, and jumped away.

            Unbeknownst to either of them, Piccolo-chan was watching, and rolled her eyes.

            “Kids,” she sighed.


            They got back on the Flying Nimbus, and went still looking for Piccolo-san. Gohan was baffled as to why he couldn’t sense his teacher’s ki. It had never happened before. But, as he explained to Videl, Piccolo was a private person.

            Thinking about what she had seen, Videl agreed.


The Torment
Part 3: It Gets Worse
By Larania


Disclaimer: DBZ does not belong to me, neither does Ranma ½. They are only the victims of my obsession with Piccolo-sama, and will not get paid, since I am not.

 

            Piccolo-chan swore loudly, now that Gohan was out of hearing distance. Although, she realized he wouldn’t have been able to recognize her voice.

            What now? She wondered, I can’t kill that girl, Gohan would notice. Besides, a voice in her head whispered, you really don’t want to. Shut up, she told the voice, I can still kill, even if I do look like a girl.

            Muttering evil implications to herself about what she still could do to people, (yes! Really!) She went to find the bucket Dende had given her the day before to heat water in.

            Heating it, then dumping it over her head, she noticed a faint ki to her side-

            “Oh, Kami-sama, you are Daimou Piccolo-san, aren’t you?”

            Piccolo gave her his patented glare, which Vegeta tried to copy but could never get royalties on, because it was his glare first, and the girl quailed, but rallied.

            “What happened to you?” she asked, not realizing that Piccolo was wondering what she would taste liked cooked or raw. It didn’t matter at the moment that he didn’t eat, all that mattered was the various ways he could kill her, to get his mind off of his humiliation. Instead of answering her, Piccolo kept on glaring.

            They locked into a staring match; the spunky human verses the huge, green, extremely powerful Namek. In a matter of wills, though, it didn’t matter who was stronger physically.

            Piccolo was in a quandary. If he killed her, he knew that Gohan would be crushed, and as embarrassed as he was, there was no way he could make Gohan that mad at him. Kuso.

            Videl got bored, and decided to force the issue.

            “If you don’t tell me, I will tell Gohan that I saw you turn into a girl, and then change back.”

            The implication was that Gohan didn’t know that already, although she thought he would have mentioned already if he did. He talked about his mentor constantly.

            She heard his soft growl.

            “Fine. I went to do Dende a favor, and ended up getting cursed to turn into a girl whenever I get wet with cold water. Hot water changes me back. Happy now?”

            Videl blinked. “Yes, thank you.” It took a few moments for the words to sink in. She couldn’t help but chuckle.

            “Fine, I try to help someone, then not kill the friend of my best friend, and this is what I get. Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now.”

            “Because you’re a big softy who likes teddy bears?” she asked him, then but her hands up in surrender when he powered up.

            “WHOA, WHOA! I was just teasing!”

            “You think this is funny?” he shouted, baring his fangs.

            Honesty compelled her to answer,” Well, yes, but I’m not laughing at you! If you can’t see the humor in the situation, I don’t see what Gohan sees in you.”

            That stung.

            “Do you have any idea what it is like to be turned into a human? Its such a, such an indignity! “

            “What’s wrong with being human?”

            “Because I’m not!”

            Videl looked at Piccolo strangely for a moment when what he said hit her.

            “You don’t mind being a girl, you mind being human?”

            Piccolo glanced down at her; the demon king’s face a study in confusion.

            “They’re the same thing, aren’t they?”

            At this, Videl looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

            “What do you mean, you’re a ‘he’ aren’t you?”

            “No, Namek-jin are asexual. We are not split into two genders the way that humans are.”

            Videl was a little grossed out by that. “You mean you have both sets?”

            “’Sets’?”

            “Don’t make me have to explain it!”

            :sweatdrop:

            “I’m afraid that I don’t understand,” answered Piccolo, honestly confused.

            “Girls have one set of genitals, guys have another.”

            Piccolo looked even more baffled by what she was talking about.

            “Genitals?”

            Videl’s face was very red with embarrassment, but she also wondered at his naiveté. How could the horrible and terrible Demon King not know about- Of course, that could explain itself. You don’t go explaining human anatomy to big green aliens that resemble demons. Most people would just assume he already knew. Oh, dear.

            “Well, girls have, could you change back so I could tell you?”

            Somehow, much to Videl’s amusement and Piccolo’s dismay, a discussion on comparative biology sprang up.

            “Aren’t you male?” she asked him.

            “No, I don’t have any of what you described as ‘male parts’” he told her dryly. Videl blinked. Was Piccolo getting a sense of humor?

            They had been first discussing what made someone ‘male’. To Videl’s surprise, Piccolo had picked up some of the slang terms, but very little real knowledge. Most of Videl’s answers came from her ‘talk’ with her parents when she had her first period, and from that class in biology that every youngster fears. However, it was more than what Piccolo knew.

            “Okay, turn girl now, and we can have something to look at when we are talking. Actually, you go behind the tree and look, I’ll stand here.”

            “Oh, human modesty. I never understood that,” Piccolo said under his breath, and went over to the nearby spring. Putting his hand in the water, she suddenly had to deal with her oversized turban again.

            “Shimatta,” she spat loudly.

            “If your going to be a girl, you might as well learn what its like to be one,” shouted Videl. “Curse less!”

            This was answered by several more curses, and the loud thump of Piccolo’s heavy training clothes hitting the forest floor.

            “Now what?”

            “Okay,” Videl shouted back, “see those lumpy things on your chest, those are breasts. Be careful when you fight, they can be tender. The nice thing about being female is that a pot shot won’t work as easily. See the area between you legs?”

            There was a muffled affirmative.

            “There is a slit, and two holes. I don’t think you want to know what they do. There is another hole in the back. You don’t want to know what that one will do, either. Okay, since you hopefully won’t be spending much time as a human, you won’t need to. There will be a pop quiz at the end of the class.”

            There was a strange silence for a few moments, and Videl started to wonder how long she had to live. She winced when she heard the sound of cloth against skin, and Piccolo-chan walked back out, and smirked.

            “Sorry, I didn’t study. Can I make it up later?”


            Videl was watched in fascination as Piccolo-chan heated some water to become Piccolo again. The change was just weird to look at; although it happened so fast all she saw was a blur.

            “What are you planning on doing about your curse?” she asked, curious.

            “Look for a cure, what else?”

            Piccolo turned away, and an evil idea crossed her mind.

            “There’s an all girl tournament in Satan City this weekend,” Videl said off handedly.

            Piccolo ignored her, and got into his normal mediation pose.

            “My partner dropped out at the last minute. Would you be interested?”

            The giant Namek whirled around, and started to power up. “What are you doing?” he screamed, his face turning purple.

            “Come on, you won’t find a cure for yourself tomorrow, you know that, and you need to learn about being a girl. It won’t hurt you,” she said slyly.

            Piccolo was opening his mouth to say something when Videl added,” I guess, if you don’t want to, I could ask Gohan. He might even willing find that spring-“

            “OKAY! I’ll do it,” Piccolo mumbled, looking at the ground.

            Videl was smiling hugely. “Fine! I’ll come by tomorrow and we can train. I’ll see you then!”

            Piccolo groaned, and Videl laughed as she flew away.


            Piccolo-chan waited anxiously for her new ‘student’ to arrive. She decided that if she was going to be fighting in this form, she might as well train in it.

            Doing warm ups, she noticed some immediate differences. For one, the body she was in was physically as strong as her old one, (which was very unusual for a human body) but her sense of balance was a great deal finer. Only her hearing wasn’t as great-

            “Hey, Piccolo!”

            Piccolo-chan jumped about three feet in the air. Compared to what she could have jumped, she had barely flinched, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that she hadn’t heard Videl walk up.

             Her eyes went wide as plates as the implications set in.

            “Whistle.”

            Videl looked really confused.

            “What are you talking about-“

            “I said, whistle!” Piccolo-chan shouted, and Videl stuck two fingers in her mouth. She let out an ear splitting noise.

            Piccolo-chan winced, but her eyes opened in surprise.

            “That didn’t hurt…”

            “Nani?” Videl asked, in surprise.

            “My hearing has lessened. I can’t hear in my usual range. That whistle should have had me screaming in pain.”

            “Oh,” Videl said, filing that bit of information away.

            It was then that Piccolo-chan decided to attack.

            “YAAHHH!” shrieked Videl, as she blocked frantically.

            “Never let your guard down like that,” said the other girl, and Videl swallowed nervously. Maybe she had made a mistake…

            Grinning fiercely at the challenge, Videl threw herself into the spar.

            This would be fun!


The Torment
Part 4: Womanhood
By Larania


Disclaimer: DBZ and Ranma ½ belong to people other than me. This is the fourth chapter in what promises to be a very strange story, but love will conquer all! On behalf of the moon, for love and justice, I will finish this darn fic, and someday, be sane again! Thus, I swear!

 

 

            The training that Piccolo put Videl through was rough, even if it did last only a few days. They also had some arguments.

            “I’m sorry Piccolo, its regulation for the tournament. You’re going to have to wear it,” Videl explained patiently, holding the offending object out in front of her.

            “But why do I have to wear it?” asked Piccolo-chan. They were in the girls’ changing rooms before the tournament, and Videl was holding out a breast protector.

            “I said they were regulation. I gotta wear one too, y’know. And no ki blasts. You have to use only your fists and feet for this one.”

            Piccolo-chan looked very ticked off at that, but didn’t reply. Instead, she heaved a put-upon sigh, and started to put the BP on, when Videl said, “NOT like that!”

            Piccolo-chan stopped short, confused. Videl opened up Piccolo-chan’s gi top.  She gagged a little when she saw that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

            “Piccolo, you- you aren’t wearing-“ sputtering, she dashed over to her locker, and pulled out one of her sport’s bras. She then noticed her partner’s smell.

            “I don’t think that is a new weapon you have come up with,” she grimaced. “But it is offensive enough.” Piccolo-chan didn’t have time to protest as she was rushed to one of the showers.

            Videl had her stripped in minutes, and started scrubbing hard. It was hard for her not to stare. Piccolo-chan was as well muscled female as male, but not in an ugly way. It made her look like a nice statue.

            She’s prettier than me, Videl thought in amazement. This started another wicked idea…

            Washing her hair, and drying her off quickly, she plaited the extremely long mass up, and then coiled it around her head. Pinning it, she pulled the bemused Piccolo before a mirror, and started to put make-up on her.

            As she applied the barest touches of lip gloss and eye makeup, Piccolo-chan muttered, “Is this regulation, too?”

            “Uh-huh,” she lied cheerfully, and dragged Piccolo-chan out to the ring.


            There were several catcalls and whistles that accompanied the duo into the ring. Piccolo-chan looked around, grateful that the whistles couldn’t hurt her anymore, but that didn’t mean she liked it any better. She remembered how Master Roshi would act around females, and considering their reaction; it was not a way that they liked to be treated. And the shouts coming from the crowds did not make her happy in the least.

            “Why are they acting like that?” she hissed at Videl, who also looked disgusted.

            “Oh, them,” she snarled, looking at the leering and jeering males. “They can’t stand the fact that a lot of the girls competing today are better than they are. They also like to see girls fighting. For some reason they find it to be a turn on. I’ve competed, and beaten, most of those over there.” She jerked her thumb over at a particularly loud group that was booing along with the catcalls. There were also signs saying that for a good time, call Videl, and other things.

            “I got the impression from Gohan that you are fairly respected,” Piccolo-chan answered quietly.

            “Oh, I am, by most, in fact. But there are a group of men like those boys that think a girl should never fight. If she does, something is wrong with her,” she added, then looked away, and cracked her knuckles. “I told them to stay away from this fight.”

            Piccolo-chan was confused for a moment, when she and Videl waited their turn.

            Confusion about girls was something she found a lot recently. She had assumed that girls either had not liked fighting, or that they had been too weak.

            If they weren’t, why had she heard so much that denounced them?


            All the fighters were low level, that much she was certain of, but it surprised her how much technique went into the girls’ fighting. She noticed other things that surprised her. There was the lack of aggressiveness, or rather cockiness, which she had always noticed when males fought. These women were not weak, but it was more sport, a friendly thing, than what she was used to.

            Not that there wasn’t competition, or anger. There were as many injuries as at the World Martial Arts tournament, but there was an apology that came readily. It was strange.

            Then it was Videl’s turn, and Piccolo-chan had to admire her form. For a human, she was excellent.


            “Hey, Videl,” said a familiar voice behind Piccolo-chan when their final match was over. It was a given that they would win, and amid the tears of the losers, there was also actual congratulations from them. Strange.

            Turning, she saw Gohan there. Piccolo-chan froze.

            Videl grinned hugely at the black haired cutie. She jumped into his arms, and he gave her an awkward hug.

            The startled look on Gohan’s face was priceless when Videl pulled away.

            Clearing his throat, Gohan’s eyes searched for something to latch onto, and found Piccolo-chan.

            Their eyes met, and locked for a moment.

            Gohan choked suddenly, and Videl ended up clapping him hard on the back.

            “Are you okay?” she asked, worried.

            Nodding, he straightened up, and looked again at Piccolo-chan.

            “I didn’t catch your name, miss,” Gohan said politely and bowed.

            Piccolo-chan froze briefly, then answered,” Hajimemashite. Ah-“

            “This is Clarinet,” said Videl quickly, and Piccolo-chan felt oddly grateful.

            “Hai, hai, my name is Clarinet.”

            “Well, I have some friends who are planning a victory dinner for me,” Videl said slyly, looking at the awkward situation. “I had better be going!” Videl disappeared so fast that you might have thought she teleported.

            The two stared at each other, then at Videl’s retreating back. When the moment couldn’t get any more stiffer, Gohan’s stomach roared.

            It was time for the famous Son smile, and embarrassed laugh.

            “I think I’m a little hungry,” Gohan admitted. “Uh, you want to come and get some food?”

            Piccolo-chan grimaced, knowing how much he tended to eat, but fortunately, he did it with a bit more grace than most.

            “Okay.”


            There was a certain fascination that came with watching someone eat. Piccolo-chan had to admit that to herself as she saw Gohan seem to inhale plate after plate of food.

            “Aren’t you going to eat something?” asked Gohan after his eighth helping of burgers and fries.

            They had gone to a nearby burger place. It was a nice little diner, where they were sitting in one of the few booths, while all the other patrons sat on stools at the bar.

            Food? She thought, but the smells coming from his plate did seen very attractive for some reason…

            I don’t eat, she argued to herself. Just ask for some water.

            “I don’t think so, could I have something to drink?” she tried to ask politely. Mouth stuffed, in a way that seemed cute all of a sudden, Gohan said,” Ms.?” He gestured over to a waitress. “Could I have a chocolate shake?”

            “Ah, I was just going to get some water- you didn’t have to get me anything else-“

            “Oh, its okay,” he told her, thinking that she was being shy. “You just won the tournament. My treat.”

            A helpless look crossed Piccolo-chan’s face as she eyed the chocolate mild shake with suspicion. It had been placed in front of her, in its innocuous waxed cup, and she carefully picked up the straw. She had seen what Gohan had done with it earlier. Took off the paper, and stuck it in the lid…

            Okay, that’s done, now what?

            Gohan had put the straw in his mouth, and his cheeks looked like he was sucking, so-

            Piccolo-chan let out a sigh. It was a liquid, she could give it a try…

            The coldness hitting her mouth was a shock; it was followed by a feeling of creaminess and smoothness, and a pleasant sensation coming from her tongue. Sniffing, she noticed that the smell was sweet. Sweet. That was what the taste was… and something indescribable along with it.

            Her stomach rumbled, doing a passable imitation of Goku’s. “Here,” mumbled Gohan, handing her his plate. It had half of his hamburger, which had been cut in two, and several fries left. Emboldened by the shake, Piccolo-chan decided to try this too.

            She picked up a fry, and took a bite. Good.

            Piccolo-chan blinked. The fries were gone.

            So was the hamburger, and she was licking her fingers.

            “That was good,” she mumbled, her mouth still full. Swallowing, she added,” Arigatoo gozaimasu.”

            “Your welcome,” Gohan said, beaming, his face split into a smile. Hesitantly, she smiled back. For some reason the smile felt so much easier than she thought it would have been.

            “Your fighting style looked a lot alike someone else’s I know,” Gohan then said, making conversation. This started a pleasant discussion on style and technique, one that was far nicer than the ones that they had had earlier, when all Piccolo would do was order and Gohan would obey.

            Gohan then started asking questions about her past, and Piccolo-chan had to think quickly. What would she tell him?

            “I need to go,” she said, and started for the door.

            “How are you getting home?” asked Gohan trailing her.

            “I’m walking.”

            “Do you want company?”

            “No,” she said bluntly, turning to face him. She had stopped so suddenly that he collided with her.

            This turned interesting, because he had had his hands out, and they hit her chest.

            “What?” said Piccolo-chan when she noticed that her chest was so tender.

            Gohan realized what he had done, and nearly ran off.

            Piccolo-chan just stood there, arms at her side, confused.

            “What just happened?”


            Gohan had never been so embarrassed in his life. He had felt sorry for Clarinet when she had been so abruptly abandoned by Videl, and had enjoyed her company.

            What the hell had happened? He had-

            His face flamed, and he flew home.


            Dende was reading through several of the scrolls that Mr. Popo had brought him. Many were so old that the writing wasn’t legible. Others had huge pieces missing. He was trying his best to find out the origin of the Springs, and find out who had created them, etc, etc. So far, he was out of luck.

            Dende had been at this for about a month now, and he winced at the thought. Piccolo was helping, but there wasn’t much he could do. Although, Dende thought wryly, Clarinet had been having a much easier time. As a girl, she had been able to get into different libraries and see if there was anything of use in them.

            It had given her a strange chance, as well. She was getting to know Gohan in a way that she hadn’t before, as a friend and equal. He had been over to Videl’s to visit, and Videl had blackmailed Piccolo-chan into something else. More training.

            Dende smiled to himself. I wonder what will happen next?

            He should have learned never to think that.


            “I FOUND IT!” shouted a voice.

            Piccolo looked up from the ancient, moldy tome he had been reading to look over at Videl. She was pumping her fist in the air like she had won something grand, and started to do a little victory dance.

            Not being completely heartless, she had started helping Piccolo look for a cure that could be used earlier than the dragon balls, which had been used in the beginning of the year. They had been used to reverse the effects of young Goten’s temper one afternoon, wiping out a huge expanse of a mountain range.

            Now, they had to wait another ten months, and Piccolo didn’t think he might last that long without someone finding out. Videl seemed to delight in finding ways to embarrass him, although she had proven helpful at times. It was just plain confusing. Again.

            “Here it is, a ladle that can lock a person in the shape they are in permanently!”

            “So, how does that help the situation?” Piccolo asked suspiciously.

            “Duh, Piccolo,” she said, rolling her eyes. Piccolo sighed in exasperation.

            “It means that if you are a Namek at the time, you’ll stay that way. I think this thing tells how to find it, and we can go get it.”


            Dende was looking through his scrying pool to find the ladle. Not a problem, he thought to himself when he found it right away.

            It was in a local museum. It was in a showcase that they would be holding on ancient artifacts. They would be describing and using various objects… It would be easy for two girls to sneak in.

            “Why am I having to wear this again?” asked Piccolo-chan, coming out from one of the many rooms in the Lookout. She was wearing a really cute miniskirt; a light top with a plunging neckline that would have given the rest of the Z senshi nosebleeds and Master Roshi would have had an aneurysm. Her hair was done up in a simple clip, half up, half down, and curled loosely. The makeup on her face was done well enough that unless you knew what to look for, it was invisible.

            “You’re prettier than me, and you need to make some kind of distraction while I steal the ladle. I checked the program, and it said that the person in charge a man. You flirt, I’ll snatch, you go back to being your handsome self all the time, end of story.”

            “Flirt?”

            Videl looked at the confused girl, and sighed. “Oh, dear.”


            “And this particular piece came from the late era…,” droned the annoying man at the podium. Piccolo-chan wondered if she was going to loose her mind, or fall asleep, or both. This pompous kisama didn’t have freaking idea of what he was talking about- The memories that Piccolo-chan had from being Kami told her enough about that.

            She shuddered at the thought. She had enough identity problems without thinking about that.

            There, she saw Videl behind the curtain, hovering above the stage.

            That was her cue.

            “Sir?” she asked, trying to sound innocent and curious, and stood, raising her hand.

            The stuffy professor looked up, and saw a very pretty girl standing there, hand in the air, short skirt, tight top, and got a nose bleed.

            Kuso, Piccolo-chan thought in amazement. It actually works…

            “Oops!” she squealed, faked a fall, and to her amazement just about every male leapt out of his seat to help her.

            “Are you all right?” cried several voices, among various sounds of protest from the females, as many men rushed to help her up.

            Only one didn’t immediately.

            He was going to help Clarinet when he noticed someone at the exhibit.

            “Hey, stop!” he yelled, as that person grabbed a certain ladle and made a run for it. She was wearing a black hood and clothing, and was running with more speed than human speed.

            Her ki is so familiar, Son Gohan thought, taking off after the hooded thief.


            NO! Piccolo-chan yelled mentally as Gohan ran after Videl. She wouldn’t have a prayer.

            Getting up without any help, she left a trail of boys behind her that had passed out- they had gotten a glimpse of her bra through her shirt…

            Running, all three made their way out of the museum, and into the plaza outside, a place filled with fountains. Jumping frantically to make a getaway, Videl leapt over a particularly large and deep pool. That was when Gohan caught her.

            His arms wrapped around her waist, and she fell in. She dropped the ladle.

            Desperately, she made a wild kick, which he avoided. He then grabbed the ladle, now full of water, and swung it at her, reflexively. Water went everywhere.

            There was a hoarse scream from behind the two combatants.

            Turning, they saw a drenched Piccolo-chan. Her face was frozen in a rictus of shock.

            Videl took the opportunity to get away, and Gohan went over to Piccolo-chan.

            “Clarinet, you okay?”

            She didn’t answer; she just stared at him.

            Then he got a nosebleed, because her shirt was soaked.


            “Why me?” groaned Piccolo-chan, as for the fourth time, she heated water with her ki and nothing happened when she poured it on herself. She was up on the Lookout again, and Dende was standing next to her apologetically. The yelling and cursing and threats were already over with, and suddenly Piccolo-chan started sneezing.

            The wind was cold, and Piccolo-chan was soaked to the bone with all the water she had been dumping on herself. The cold air had turned the water icy, and she had started to shiver.

            “I am so sorry, Piccolo-san,” they heard a voice say, and there was Videl.

            She was still wearing black, and looked like she was a puppy expecting a beating.

            “I guess we’ll just have to wait on the Dragon Balls,” said Dende, who blanched when Piccolo-chan growled at him.

            Piccolo-chan couldn’t keep the growling up for long, and was moaning when she started to get up. She felt dizzy.

            “Holy kuso!” shouted Videl. “Catch her!”

 

To be continued…


The Torment
Part 5: Other Problems
By Larania


Disclaimer: Here we go again. They aren’t mine, don’t make money, and my hair is red. Sort of.

 

            Piccolo-chan woke feeling like hell. That was the only word she could use to describe it.

            Her throat felt like it was withered shut, dry, and sore. Her eyes weren’t in much better shape. Piccolo-chan wondered when she had started adding weights to her other clothes…

            “Good,” said a hazy voice. “She’s awake.”

            “Where?” she croaked, wondering what in hell was going on.

            “You’re in my dad’s guest house,” said another voice, and Videl seemed to appear out of nowhere. “You’ve been out for two days.”

            “NANI??” she almost shouted, sitting up, but as soon as she did that, her head broke into an aching throb, and she lay down again.

            “You have the flu,” said the first voice. It took her a moment to realize it was Dende.

            “I know that I can fly, what are you talking about,” she mumbled. Thinking was too much work.

            “I think she must be feeling better,” said Videl, lightly. Then, chagrined, she added,” Drink this, and go back to sleep. You’ll feel better later.”

            Something bad tasting and sticky was put to her lips, and she swallowed. Sleep claimed her again.

            Piccolo-chan had no idea how long she was out again. She only knew that an unknown amount of time had passed before she woke up again.

            The dreams she had been having were bad, but not really understood. People and places she had been were interacting and doing some of the most bizarre things. Then they would turn evil. She saw Gohan killed over and over, with nothing she could do to stop it, but even worse was when he became infected by the BlackWater Mist, and turned on her.

            Coughing, she woke up, to find a familiar voice telling her to drink something.

            “Gohan-kun?” she asked softly, when a hand tilted her head up.

            “Shush, here.” Something sweet and sour this time, followed by tea.

            There were voices in the background that she listened to, and she was completely disinterested, or she would have tired jumping out the nearest window.

            “Thanks for coming over to help. I just wish there was more I could have done.”

            “You’re welcome,” said Gohan, taking up his post again in a chair. “She’s my friend, too.”


            “You need to go to the bathroom,” said a voice.

            “Lemme alone,” she growled, and Videl shook her head.

            “Gohan, help me move her.”

            Two people picked her up, but this made her feel weirder.

            Gohan stopped at the door of the restroom, and Videl helped walk Piccolo-chan to the toilet.

            “Sit,” said a terse voice.

            She did, but not before Videl shucked her pants.

            “Huh?” she asked, confused.

            “Just, uh, relax, and let all the stuff out, Piccolo.”

            Piccolo-chan didn’t really understand, but did so anyway. The vague pain in her abdomen went away.

            It was only later that she felt a little grossed out by it.


            “School?” Piccolo-chan heard herself say, after Dende had made the suggestion.

            “You’re going to be a human for a while, and since you don’t have to worry about switching back and forth now, I’ll tell Gohan that Piccolo went somewhere as a favor to me, and you can learn something about humans,” Dende said, wincing at the glare he received.

            “I’ll get you in,” said Videl with a smirk. This was going to be so much fun!

            “Kuso,” remarked Piccolo-chan


            “Hello minna,” said Piccolo-chan through clenched teeth. She was standing in front of large group of students, dressed this time in jeans and top. For some reason Videl delighted in dressing her like she was a giant doll.

            “There is an empty seat near Gohan-kun, if you would go sit there?”

            Gohan?

            Looking up, she saw him there, next to Videl and another boy with blond hair.

            “Hey, good lookin’,” said the blond boy. He leered at Piccolo-chan, and she didn’t like it.

            Unfortunately, she had to pass him to get to Gohan, and he took the opportunity to pinch her butt.

            Piccolo-chan yelped indignantly. Turning, she grabbed his shirt and lifted him into the air, and snarled,” What did you just do?”

            Sharpener just looked at her, terror crossing his face at her murderous one.

            He sputtered when she lifted him above her head. Piccolo-chan started thinking about the various ways to murder him when Gohan stepped beside her and punched Sharpener through a wall.

            Sitting down to the snickers coming from the class, the teacher started laughing.

            In fact, she laughed so hard that she was crying. “Oh, Kami, he had that coming.”


            It had been about a month since Piccolo-chan had become stuck that way, and she was feeling grumpy. More so that usual.

            What bothered her all the more was that all the males seemed so petty. As in, they were trying to pet her or touch her at every opportunity, even Gohan. They had both beaten the snot out of him after his first attempt to grope her, but then Gohan touched her shoulder, and she had gone off the handle.

            Screeching, she had punched him in the jaw, almost sending him over a building, almost giving herself away.

            Then she returned to Videl’s guesthouse. Piccolo-chan had plopped herself down in front of the TV, and was starting to cry because of the movie she was watching.

            “Piccolo-san?” said Videl, sounding concerned. She had heard about her strange behavior, and was starting to wonder…

            She was shocked to see the usually stoic Namek turned girl curled up on a couch, crying, which turned into a wince as she shifted.

            “What is going on?” she asked Videl, before making a soft sound and grabbing her abdomen.

            “Oh, hells,” muttered Videl. She stomped off to her own house, got a book, and handed it to Piccolo-chan.

            “You’re on the rag, Piccolo. Read this.” Videl also handed her a brick of chocolate and some Midol.


            The book described in very dull, dry terms the method of reproduction used by humans. Piccolo-chan had thought that they went through a lot of stupid crap, but this..!

            “No wonder guys think girls are crazy, if they go through this every month,” she moaned to herself later. She was really starting to hurt. Videl had been by again to give her a box of sanitary napkins, saying she was no way in hell going to show her how to use tampons. Piccolo-chan had no idea what she was saying, but agreed. There were things about humans that she could gladly have lived her life without knowing, and this was one of them.

            “Why the hell do they bother?”

            “Oh, there are reasons, but hopefully you don’t have to worry about them. Just stay away from horny guys.”

            Videl and Piccolo-chan were packing. Videl had apologized, but was going to have to go to America for the next two months, with her father.

            “Dad never did think much about school schedules,” she told Piccolo-chan.

            “You stay here,” Videl said, and Piccolo-chan suddenly felt lonely. As much trouble as Videl seemed to be at times, at least she had been someone to explain the strangeness of being human and female.

            Seeing the forlorn look on her face, Videl smiled encouragement. “You’ll do fine.” She gave her a hug.

            Leaving the room, Piccolo-chan wondered what else could happen, and that last comment about guys.

            “What does ‘horny’ mean? Like Furiza?”

 

To be continued…

(Trust me, in the next one, you will not guess what will happen.)


The Torment
Part 6: Lemon
By Larania


Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z and Ranma ½ do not belong to me, and never will, and I make no money from this fanfic. Heck, I don’t know what possessed me to write a lemon. Hells, I don’t know what make me write this lemon. It’s weird.

 

(A/N: I suppose that you know, if you have read the previous stories, is that Piccolo got cursed to turn into a girl when he was splashed with cold water. That is how this story opens. No Videl to keep her on the right, and safe path.)

 

            Piccolo-chan watched Gohan out of the corner of her eye, wondering why Eliza’s talking to him was making her feel so annoyed. She tried to reason away the sudden urge she had felt to slug the human with the explanation that Eliza was bothering Gohan. Which she was.  Gohan had been explaining a complicated math question to her when this insipid little blond dressed like a hussy had interrupted them. Her mind flashed to the various methods of death she would use when she became her old self again, then into pure rage when Eliza started draping herself all over Gohan.

            She stopped, realizing what she was thinking. Why should it matter to her that Eliza talked to Gohan or not? The girl was stupid, and Gohan really didn’t care about her at all, so why was she so bothered by it?

            Maybe it was the way that Gohan seemed to stop thinking when Eliza looked at him.  Maybe it was the knowledge that despite having several male students attempt to paw the new student, Gohan would never look at her that way…

            Piccolo-chan jumped when she realized where her thoughts had strayed. Her eyes darted around the room to see if anyone was looking at her, and her eyes settled on Eliza. Eliza wasn’t paying any attention to her, but she gave her the death glare anyway. Piccolo-chan hoped that the sternness of her expression would cover up her embarrassed flush.

            Eliza noticed, just then, the evil stare that she was getting. She wasn’t very smart, but even a chick knows to get the hell out of the way of a wolf.  Laughing weakly, she paled and ran.

            Gohan, on the other hand, had not noticed what was going on, and was completely baffled.

            “Clair-chan? What just happened? Did Eliza-san forget something?”

            “How should I know?” Piccolo-chan grumbled, ducking her head. Her face was still a brilliant shade of pink. She got up.

            “Are you feeling all right? Your face is red,” Gohan said, worried about his good friend Clarinet.

            Piccolo-chan noticed that her breathing was getting faster, the way it did when a hard fight was coming, and her belly was fluttering. She abruptly stood up.

            They had been working on their math homework. It was nearly the end of class, and they had been given a little extra time before the next bell.

            “I don’t feel all that good,” Piccolo-chan admitted. She was grateful when the bell rang.  “I think I’ll go home,” she told Gohan, who was still oblivious to what was going on. “Ja ne!”

            Moving with her more than human speed, Piccolo-chan was quickly out of the building. It didn’t take her all that long to fly away, back to the forest she had lived in before getting cursed.

            Piccolo-chan had some thinking to do.


            She landed softly. By the time she had made it back to the forest, she had calmed herself down enough that she didn’t feel like she was about to shake.

             What happened back there? I felt like, I felt like, what?

             It was the hardly the first time she had felt something she hadn’t understood. She remembered vividly when she had been (how had Videl put it?) on the rag. Before, the workings of how male and female interacted made no sense to her. Well, she thought ironically, she understood why Bulma and Chi-Chi were so often put out with their husbands. Hells, now she wondered why she had ever considered women weak. She was easily as strong as any of the male Z Senshi right now, but being female automatically made everyone look down at her as a fighter. That had been frustrating.

            She had been hungry, had the flu, used the bathroom, and gone through several of the things that she would have considered indignities when she had been a he. Not only had she survived them, she started to wonder if being female and human was all that bad, but this new feeling was so, so-

            What the hell was it?

            Sighing for what felt like the fiftieth time, she sat down, and took up her usual meditation pose. Her mind drifted back to what she was thinking about at the time, and how she had been thinking about Gohan…

            A pleasant warm feeling started at the thought of him. Gohan had always been the only person who had really cared about her, and had tagged along behind her, trying so hard to get her attention. There were times that she wished she had given that attention to the little boy… At least now, she could join him in whistling.

            Her mind strayed to the undeniable fact that he wasn’t a little boy anymore. In fact, he was a young man, and one of the best that the human race had produced. He was really very beautiful, with his dark hair and eyes, graceful build, soft-spoken voice…

            She felt her belly grow warm at the thought, but didn’t notice, as she continued on.

            Kindhearted, strong, ready to fight, but not willing to…

            This continued for a while, until she started to wonder what he felt like.

            His skin looked so soft, and she had started to enjoy the texture of hair-

            There was a strange dampness then, and she noticed the burning sensation in her groin. It felt nice, though.

            That trickle of dampness increased, and it broke Piccolo-chan out of her daydreams.

            What? Did I just…wet myself?

            But, I didn’t have to- wait a minute-

            She shucked her pants and underwear, and saw the wetness staining them. The smell was different from urine, as was the color.

            I have a strong feeling this did not come from my bladder. Then it had to have come from…Oh, Dende.

            There was only one other hole in the general area, and that was where it had to have come from. She had heard enough locker room talk to figure out what it was, and it was an explanation for what she was feeling.

             I can’t- Not for Gohan, he was my student- Almost like a son! He’s still a little kid!

            Fear ran along her veins. Fighting, she knew, but her own heart was uncharted territory. Why Gohan? This wasn’t something that had been planned, or wanted.

            She was Daimou Piccolo, Ma jr.! She couldn’t feel something like this-

            -this wanting…

            -this need…

            -this being about to explode…

            With a scream, she powered up and flew off to Dende’s Lookout.


            Gohan watched as Clair all but ran out of the building.

            He had just stood there, when there had been something clearly bothering her.

            It had taken him a minute to recognize that, because on her way out, Clair had all but collided with him, their bodies touching, and Gohan had to cool down the sudden tightness in his pants.

            Nani? I just got turned on by barely touching her!

            Shimatta, she smelled nice…

            That brief contact had made all sorts of thoughts fly through his head, and he was wondering if his face was as red as a cherry. He made his own dash to the locker rooms.

            Without even bothering to strip, he turned the water on full blast and icy cold.

            He sighed with disappointed relief when his erection went away.

            Looking at his now wet clothes, Gohan groaned.

            “How am I going to explain this?”


            He walked slowly to the edge of town after school, not feeling like becoming the Great Saiyaman that evening.

            Gohan had liked Videl, but she didn’t seem as close to him as Clair. He had known her longer, but he had confided more in Clair; felt that he could tell her about anything. Unlike Videl.

            He appreciated Videl as a good friend, as a beautiful woman, but not what she wanted.

            It wouldn’t be fair to her. He had thought long and hard about it, but she just wasn’t able to keep up with him, despite how good she had gotten, and despite the fact that she had made several attempts in that area.

            Besides, he thought of her too much as ‘sister’. Not ‘lover.’

            He grunted at the thought, and turned towards Clair. Why was he so, well, so-

            Okay, he was feeling lust, but that came after the friendship.

            Disgruntled, he headed home.


            What is happening to me? What is happening to me? What is happening to me?

            Those words chanted like a mantra through Piccolo-chan’s mind, as she tried to repress the warmth that would course through her ever so often when her thoughts turned to Gohan. Those same thoughts were with her when she landed on Lookout.

            “Dende!” she shouted, her voice panicked. The young god was nowhere to be found.  Her eyes frantically searched the area, but was unable to find him.

            “May I help you, Piccolo?” said a voice from behind her. Piccolo-chan jumped, and turned to face both Dende and Popo. Popo was his usual unflappable self, while Dende cringed. He thought that Piccolo was here to yell at him again.

            “Yes…” her voice trailed off. Then Dende saw the real fear there. It made him a little queasy; what could make him look like that?

            Piccolo-chan stood there for several moments, collecting her thoughts, wondering how she should phrase this.

            “I keep having these feelings that I don’t know how to deal with,” she stated slowly, like someone trying to figure something out.

            Dende quirked an antennae. “What kind of feelings?” He thought that Piccolo already knew what he was feeling, but didn’t want to admit it.

            Her face contorted at the effort, first paling at the question, then flushing.

            “Lust.”

            Dende’s eyes widened as far as they could go. THIS was unexpected.

            Or was it?

            “Piccolo, you are a young human female right now, healthy, and attractive as humans see such. There isn’t a reason for you NOT to be feeling things like that. Just don’t do anything you might regret later.”

            “That’s the thing,” she whispered hoarsely. “I’m not sure that I can.” She started pacing around the edge of the Lookout, making Dende have to keep up with her.

            “Well, does this man return you affections?”

            “I don’t know…”

            “Who is it?”

            Piccolo-chan stopped so short that Dende ran into her back. “Gohan,” she whispered faintly.

            Dende couldn’t have heard that right. “Say again?”

            “Gohan.”

            “Son Gohan,” Dende mumbled in shock. He was dazed until he saw the tears running down Piccolo’s face. Piccolo never cried.

            “I’m really a freak now, aren’t I? I mean, wanting my student, like this, but I can’t seem to stop myself…”

            Dende had been rapidly opening and closing his mouth while this was being said.

            “He’s just a little kid, my student, someone that I gave my life for, if he finds out, what’ll he think? That his sensei was a monster for feeling like that about a little kid…”

            “He’s not a little kid anymore, Piccolo, and you aren’t who you were either.”

            The teary eyed girl looked into the eyes of the young Kami, searching for something.

            “You said it yourself, you died for him. You love him. He is the only person that you have ever really loved, and it is expressing itself like that. Now you care about others, but he was the first person to open your heart. He has also grown up. Tell him who you are and what you feel and let him make his own decisions.”

            Piccolo-chan’s eyes closed, and she swallowed hard. Turning around, she blindly jumped off the Lookout.


            Gohan couldn’t get the image of Clair’s troubled face out of his mind. She had been hiding something, he wished he knew what.

            He knew that she had always been hiding something from him, but he hadn’t asked out of respect for her privacy. Although he had told her things about him in hope that she would open up. She had, in a way. She had told him about being abandoned by her father, lied to, and not having any friends.

            She had always listened to him, though.

            He got home, and said goodbye to the Nimbus. Thinking hard, he walked into the house. He nearly hit the door, and noticed that the lights where off. There was a note on the table, saying that his mom had gone to visit Bulma overnight, and had taken Goten to play with Trunks.

            Grimacing, he found his dinner in the fridge, and then went to take a bath. Maybe more cold water would help.


            Piccolo-chan’s mind was still spinning when she arrived at the Satan’s guesthouse that she had been staying at for the past few weeks. Videl had insisted, although for some reason she had been sad when she had said it.

            Walking into the bathroom, she stripped, and sat on the little stool while she scrubbed, taking a little of the skin off. She dumped cold water over her head, grateful for the effect the cold had on her. Looking at the furor, she debated getting in. After a few seconds, she decided not to.

            Now she was dry, but shivering with cold. Piccolo-chan pulled on one of her old purple gi tops, and found her comb. While it was bothersome to have her hair so long, Piccolo-chan found that the act of combing it out at night was about as relaxing as mediation. Though it didn’t seem to work tonight.

            Her thoughts turned to Gohan.


            Gohan settled down to sleep, dressed only in his boxers. The evening was warm, despite his cold shower, and he kicked off his covers. He looked up, and out of his window. The moon shown down, frosting everything in its light, giving it the edge of the unearthly and unreal. It took him a long time to fall asleep.


            Piccolo-chan’s mind wandered, and she almost shouted with the despair it brought. Why couldn’t she make a decision on this? She knew what she should do, but her heart shouted for her to do something else.

            Maybe, if I just went and looked at him, she thought, things will make a little more sense.  The longer she thought about it, the better the thought looked. Getting up, and walking to the window, she opened it, her long green hair flowing loose around her, and flew off.


            It didn’t take all that long for her to get there, maybe shorter than her piece of mind would have preferred. The door was unlocked. No one but an idiot would try and steal from them, and they lived so far away it was unlikely a thief would ever get out there.

            The house she knew well, and before she knew it, she was standing in front of his door. It was open.

            There he was.

            Her breath caught in her throat as she looked at him. He was completely uncovered sans boxers, and the moonlight drenched him with its glow, making him look like a marble statue created by an artistic genius. His hair drank in the light like ebony.

            He was beautiful. There was no other word she could use. She stepped softly up to his bed, looking at his smooth gentle face. Her hands itched to touch him.

            Her breath escaped her throat with a soft sigh, and she started to stroke his cheek. His skin was as silky as it looked. From there she brushed up to his hair, marveling at its texture.

            His chest, though… As she looked at it, she traced the scars that marred his chest, feeling their smoothness, and then glided her hands over the outlines of his muscles. She jerked away violently, however, when he made a soft moan.

            Her eyes darted to his face, but he was still asleep, then some movement caught her eye. Looking down his body, she noticed that his boxers were bulging. She blinked.

            Curiosity filled her, and her hands, seemingly of their own will, traveled down to the opening in the front. Carefully she manipulated the hole, and she saw Gohan’s manhood standing at full attention.

            He groaned again, and she looked to see if he was still asleep. He was.

            Her fingers started to fondle his hardness, touching and spreading the drop of fluid that had leaked out. Piccolo-chan felt the same wetness and heat in her groin, her stomach doing its earlier flip-flop. The heat became an almost painful throb.

            The soft moaning from Gohan continued, and she felt her lips tingle. The urge to taste him was overwhelming. She moved up his body to his mouth, and lightly pressed her lips to his.

            There was an explosion from Gohan as he woke up, his hands grabbing her arms, mouth open, and he pulled her to him. His tongue reached her lips, and she opened her mouth, letting him in.

            Gohan had been dreaming that he was kissing Clair. The kissing had turned into gentle caresses, and then into heavy petting. He had been very aroused, and when he had felt the real thing, he had awoken, not knowing that he was no longer asleep.

            His mouth probed hers eagerly, and Gohan purred when he felt Clair’s tongue meet his. Lightly he started to run his hands up and down her back, feather light, then into a harder caress.

            For Piccolo-chan’s part, thinking had gone out the window. The small part of her that had been arguing against this shut up after the kiss, and she sighed in bliss when he began to lick and nip her neck. Her hands were running up and down his chest, and they started to circle his nipples.

            Gohan breathed in sharply when her mouth joined her hands, and her hands drifted lower, and slipped inside his boxers.

            He shuddered as she stroked him, and then ran his own hands along her thighs, under her long shirt. Grabbing the hem, he pulled up, and the shirt was off, though it meant her hands had to leave his shaft.

            They looked at each other for minute, and Gohan admired what he saw. Pert, well-shaped breasts, elegantly cut muscle under flawless, almond skin, exotic eyes streaming tears…

            Tears?

            Suddenly he realized he was very, very much awake.

            “Clair-chan?” he asked softly, disoriented, finding that his fantasy was either reality, or a nightmare, and he didn’t know what to think.

            “Go- Gohan-chan,” she whispered back, blinking away the tears.

            His hand went up to cup her cheek gently. His thumb stroked her remaining tears.

            “This isn’t a dream, is it?”

            “Depends,” she mumbled, “by what you mean by dream.”

            Gohan didn’t want to think about what was going on. He was sitting there, almost naked, while Clair, the girl that he had fallen in love with sat in front of him completely naked, and his member was throbbing painfully.

            His mind flashed to the questions that he should have been asking, but it seemed that the moonlight drained such thoughts away. He could smell her arousal, and his own, and they mingled with something else in the air that made thinking next to impossible.

            While he struggled with this, Piccolo-chan made to pull away. Gohan stopped this by dragging her to him, and reaching down to kiss her breasts. She gasped as his hot, moist mouth closed around one of her teats. His other hand dropped down farther, stroking and cupping the curls at the juncture of her legs. Piccolo-chan felt all the strength in her to leave, all her strength period, seep out and she weakly wrapped her arms around his neck, playing with his hair.

            Gohan was in heaven, tasting the crinkled flesh of her nipple, feeling it harden, and went to work on the other. His hand between her legs outlined her entrance, dipping into the dripping wetness and out again. The little cries and moans she made were driving him up the wall.

            “Gohan,” she whimpered, not knowing what else to say, “please! Please!”

            Piccolo-chan couldn’t move, her own hands doing what they could to return the feelings she had.  She was more than aware of the empty place inside her, and she needed him to fill it.

            Gohan looked up from his ministrations, his eyes wild but tender, and in the moonlight, seemingly ringed with red. His swollen lips met hers in a passionate kiss, and he pushed her down, resting between her thighs. His fingers spread her nether lips, and Piccolo-chan gasped, feeling the tip of him about to enter her. She knew this is what she needed, what she was begging him for. Closing her eyes, she wrapped her legs around his waist, and he plunged in.

            The splitting feeling of fullness inside her was almost painful for a moment, but the pain faded as he pulled back, and thrust in again. Groaning and sobbing against his chest as she did so, she rose to meet his hips with her own. They met fiercely.

            Gohan was moaning as mindlessly as she was, his instincts overwhelming him. He ravaged her neck, biting sharply at the base, drawing blood. Piccolo-chan didn’t notice.

            “Gohan, Gohan, Gohan,” she whispered his name over and over again, the feeling building. It built and built, like she was powering up, until it peaked-

            She screamed his name-

            And he screamed hers-

            Gohan felt like he was touching the outer edges of her mind, and saw images he would remember later- but that didn’t matter, because the smooth muscles inside her gripped him tightly, and he burst into her womb.


            It was a few hours later. The two had fallen into a lovers’ embrace after their lovemaking, exhausted. The held each other like that for a long time.

            Gohan woke up slowly, and memory returned even slower. He was aware that there was something very warm next to him, and that it was on his chest. His eyes were still closed, and his hands became tangled in something silky. He stroked the tangles gently, and he noted the musky sent in the air. Odd, a detached part of his mind said, I only remember smelling that after ‘kaasan and ‘tousan had-

            …Sex?

            His eyes opened, and he saw Clair, and he remembered what had happened the night before. She looked like an angel. A fallen one, that detached part of his mind said. Moonlight sank into her hair, turning it black as his own, her skin bleached white as snow, and he kissed her forehead softly.

            A soft sound issued from her throat, and she curled herself tighter against him. It was so cute that Gohan almost laughed.

            Piccolo-chan’s ear was next to his heart. It had lulled her to sleep, but then the extra noise it made as Gohan stirred woke her up. First she sighed, thinking about the wonderful dream she had, when the flesh-to-flesh contact woke her up fully.

            “Gohan?” she murmured sleepily, then jumped away from him, when realization set in.

            “No, no no no no no nononononononononono-“ she groaned, voice breaking. She tried to run for the window when Gohan grabbed her.

            “Clair, Clarinet, what happened, did I hurt you?” he asked, his voice frantic. He had heard that it hurt the first time for a girl, and he frantically began looking her over search of hurts.

            He couldn’t tell what she was saying, her voice too choked with sobs to say anything coherent. Taking her into his arms, he rocked her back and forth.

            He heard her sniff, then in a ragged voice said,” I’m sorry. This never should have happened.”

            She lay limply in his arms. Although embarrassed by what had happened, Piccolo-chan couldn’t make herself regret it. The feelings that she had for Gohan were finally out, and she just had to see if he would accept her or reject her. If she could get up the courage to tell him.

            “I enjoyed it, and- “ Gohan broke off when he felt her hand cover his lips.

            “I’m not who you think I am, Gohan. I am,” she tried to spit it out, but couldn’t.

            “I don’t care,” he whispered in her ear. She stopped her hoarse sobs, and gazed into his face. He nuzzled her neck. “I think I fell in love with you, and I don’t know why you are here, but I don’t regret what happened. Whoever you are, whatever you are, I love you.”

            Again, Piccolo-chan snuggled against him, letting herself revel in what he had said, thinking back to the incredible pleasure she had shared with him a little while ago. Gohan would always be the person she was closest to in the world.

            Neither knew what the small bite Gohan had given her meant, but Piccolo-chan fingered it anxiously.

            “I’ll always love you, Gohan, now matter what happens. Especially when you find out.” She got up, pulling away from him.

            “I-“ Gohan started. “Not like this, you aren’t,” he mumbled, and grabbed her again. They both stood, and Gohan brushed his lips against hers, tasting her tears, feeling her heart flutter. Suddenly he was pushed to the ground, and Piccolo-chan grabbed her gi top-

            Her purple gi top-

            And said,” Ask Dende about me, Gohan-chan. I love you.”

            She was gone, and Gohan started to remember the images he had seen in her mind.

            His eyes widened, as far they would go.

            “Piccolo?”