Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ RipTide ❯ 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 6

When the Moon Madness ended, it was like a new life born on Vegetaseii. Everyone was refreshed and revitalized, new bonds had been formed, old bonds had been strengthened, and new life had been created. Those new to the experience felt enlightened and thrilled.
Except two, that is.
Hitomi had stuck to her strengths and had not left her bedroom for the rest of the time. After a while, Adrian had regained enough control over himself to retreat into the forest and hide away in his room underground.
However, now that the Madness was over, Hitomi and Adrian seemed to be going as far away from each other as possible in an awkward attempt to ignore the events of the days before. Hitomi paid special close attention to her work with Vitani, who was back from the children's reserved area, and Adrian shut himself up in his room without greeting anyone.
As it turned out, this became a problem.
The young prince never left his room, even to eat. At first, everyone assumed he had brought food in with him, but they were getting worried now. Also, Adrian refused to grant anyone admission to his bedroom, even Gohan. And Gohan had sure tried. He felt that it was his duty as Adrian's best friend to talk the prince out of whatever depression he had sunken into, like he had in the past. And when Gohan tried to get information out of Hitomi, and found only blushes and evasive responses, he had figured out the truth quicker than anyone could have guessed.
Vegeta and Vaya were getting nervous as well. Vegeta wasn't used to Adrian keeping quiet for more than 12 hours at a time, let alone a full week. He wanted Vaya to talk to their son, but it was a hopeless cause. Even if she knew exactly what was wrong, which she would have denied anyway, she always let the children find their way on their own. Nothing anyone could say would persuade her to perform otherwise, and Vegeta was certainly not going to go in himself. Kakarrot tried, but not even a soul-father's comfort was enough to rouse Adrian from his bedroom.
So Gohan went to the person he felt could assist them the most...Hitomi.
"You've got to do something," Gohan insisted one day. "You know what Adrian thought of the Moon Madness. He's probably disgusted with what he did."
"Oh, well how do you think I feel? I was his target!" Hitomi snapped, growing irritated that he was still bringing up the uncomfortable subject.
"Well, did you resist him entirely the whole time?" Gohan asked seriously. Hitomi lowered her head and closed her eyes in shame, her cheeks turning a bright red as she folded her arms uncomfortably.
"Ah." Gohan also folded his arms and gave Hitomi a stern look. "Then I think it would be better for the both of you if you two worked this out. Otherwise it's going to be uncomfortable forever, and since you work here, I'd be ready to assume you wouldn't like that."
"What do you expect me to do? Do you want me to go up to him and tell him that it's gonna be okay? That we lost ourselves for a moment? That I actually enjoyed--" she covered her mouth before she could say more.
"Please, just leave me be. I don't want to say anything else that'll shame me further," Hitomi uttered before turning and rushing down the hall.
Gohan chased after her and grabbed her by the arm. "Look, Hitomi, you don't have to discuss the experience with me. I just want Adrian back. I'd do it myself, but...well, you know how it's been. Why don't you want to talk to him? It's not like I'm asking you two to make out."
"He's your friend, you talk to him. I'm still having trouble dealing with this myself!" Hitomi said before pulling from his grip and heading into her room. Gohan merely sighed and turned around.
I hope I have better luck with Adrian...

~*~
Knock. Knock. "Hey Adrian! I know you're in there! You can't stay cooped up forever! Why don't you talk to me?" Gohan yelled through the door.
To his slight surprise, Adrian actually opened the door. He was on the other side of the room, seated sideways on his windowsill with his back against the wall. He gave Gohan a sullen look. "What is it?"
Gohan approached him slowly, "I know what happened...Well, I sort of have an idea of what happened. Man, you can't let that keep you locked up in here. I mean, you didn't bite her, did you?"
Adrian sighed and ran a hand through his wild black hair. "No, thank god. I told her to knock me out before we really got the chance to do anything serious."
Gohan looked at him incredulously, "Man have you got some willpower. I'm actually surprised you didn't."
"Why?" Adrian asked sharply, catching Gohan by surprise.
"Hey! Take it easy! I didn't mean it to be offensive!" after a short pause, "What I meant was that, I'm surprised you didn't claim her. I would've."
"She didn't want to be claimed," Adrian answered. "And I respect that."
Gohan looked at him, "Oh, well from what I heard, she didn't resist you the whole time."
Adrian blushed a little. "It wasn't her fault...the madness kinda got to us." Gohan smirked, noticing the blush, "Didn't anyone ever tell you that the madness reveals a hint of your true feelings for the one you hunt? I think you wanted to claim her."
Adrian blushed even more wildly. "You're delusional."
"And you're in denial. Admit it, if she didn't have that whole 'men are dogs' attitude about her, you would've taken her right then and there. Speaking of which, where did it happen?" Gohan sat on the sill in front of him, curious as ever.
"Look, can we not discuss this?" Adrian huffed in irritation. But his tone was hiding something; a real reason for not wanting to talk. This didn't go unnoticed, "There's something you're not telling me, Adrian..."
"What are you talking about?" Adrian grumbled. "I've told you everything I should...I mean could." This only made Gohan's smile deepen, "Alright Adrian, spill."
Adrian looked extremely uncomfortable. He gave Gohan the guiltiest look that the other boy had ever seen him with. It was apparent that Adrian didn't want to tell him, but did at the same time. "Um..."
"Adrian," Gohan gave him the "no-nonsense" look.
Adrian searched the room for a potential escape route and found none. The look on Gohan's face was impossible to ignore, so the prince took a deep breath and spilled. "You know how...I've been with other girls, but I never stayed with them?...They were just like...I don't know...they were just for kicks. Fooling around with them was fun at first, but then it would get boring after a while. So I'd move on."
"Uh huh.."
Adrian inhaled again nervously. "Well, it was...because I couldn't appreciate. But...with Hitomi..." He looked at the floor. "It was different. I've never felt...that way...before, about anyone. It was more than just another kiss. It confused me...and I panicked."

Gohan stared at him for a few brief moments, not even blinking.
"Adrian...you don't mean that you..."
Adrian suddenly found the windowsill edge quite interesting. Barely perceptible, he nodded.
"Adrian!"
"Look, could you do me a favor and not make this more difficult than it already is?" Adrian snapped, suddenly angry.
"Easy there. It's not like I'm gonna tell anybody! Come on Adrian, finish what you were saying," Gohan gave him the puppy dog eyes.
"Man, don't do that. You know it freaks me out." Adrian leaned his head back against the wall. "There's nothing else to say, I guess...That's everything important."
"I had a hunch that you had a thing for her, but actually hearing you admit it man...this is too weird. You're gonna tell her, right?" Gohan looked at him expectantly.
"Oh, of course. And then I also plan to have Warfrost feed what's left of me to the animals in the Menagerie," Adrian replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Well what do you plan on doing? Wait until somebody else claims her? Or when you're old with your numerous cats? I think you two should get together, of course, it'll take some time with Hitomi in the mix," Gohan pressed on.
"That's exactly my point," Adrian answered, jabbing a finger at Gohan. "For one thing, I doubt that we could ever be a couple if we get on each other's nerves so bad. For another, you know me -- I'm way too impatient to wait that long...for anyone."
"Then why not just go up to her room, toss her on the bed and finish where you left off. Then you'll be mates and you can work your way up from there," Gohan said with a winky-eyed smile, knowing it'd probably never be that easy.
Adrian gave Gohan a death glare that succeeded in cutting him short. But, to Gohan's surprise, Adrian stood up.
"If it'll shut you up, I'll go talk to her right now, and get this whole thing over with."
And without waiting for Gohan's reply, the prince strode quickly out of his bedroom.

~*~
After reaching Hitomi's room, Adrian raised his hand and rapped on the door with his knuckles. "Hitomi? It's me. Listen..." he took a deep breath. "We have to talk."
He had to turn his head to the side immediately as her door slid open and a ki ball nearly knocked his head clean off of his shoulders. After a few seconds, Hitomi stuck her head out.
"What is it?" she asked warily.
Adrian raised an eyebrow. "Hey, I'm sorry, I had no idea we were at war," he said sarcastically.
"I did that to make sure you wouldn't tackle me again and try to rip my shorts off again," Hitomi remarked with narrowed brows, leaning against the frame of her sliding door.
"Yeah...see, that's what I wanted to talk about," Adrian said uncomfortably. "I'm...I'm sorry if I...if I scared you or anything. That wasn't me."
Hitomi sighed, that wave of discomfort affecting her too and causing her to hold her arm, absently. "Yeah, we both lost ourselves for a moment." She headed inside, leaving the door open. She stopped to look back at him, "Come in. For all I know, someone could be listening in on us."
"Yeah, probably Gohan," Adrian muttered as he followed Hitomi inside. He looked around absently, then said, "Hitomi, I don't get it. How can you classify all males as being disgusting pigs?"
Hitomi narrowed her eyes, "I don't know why you're suddenly so concerned. If I remember, you already made up your mind that I'm just 'afraid of all men'."
"Well, being part of that classification, I feel a certain duty to defend my gender," Adrian replied coolly.
"Well, defend away.." Hitomi also replied coolly, taking a seat, crossing her legs and folding her arms against her abdomen.
"Okay..." Adrian nodded once and stared upward. "What about my parents? You know my mom. Does she really seem to you like the type of woman who would let herself be pushed around like that? And I'm sure you've heard the rumors that she holds my dad on a leash."
"She's a queen. That's an exception. There are many exceptions to the rule. For instance, my mother doesn't take any bull from my father. I see no reason to excuse every male just because of that," Hitomi argued.
Adrian spread his arms. "I never asked you to. I know just about every warrior in the Elite and first classes, and most of them are the biggest pricks in the world. But I think it's unfair that you would put the rest of us on their level." Then he folded his arms again. "And what about Gohan? He's never been anything but nice to you. And what about me? Do you really think of me as some sort of juvenile delinquent? You don't give me enough credit."
Hitomi got up and walked up to him slowly, "Oh no. I'd never classify you under something as demeaning as that. I mean, after all, a juvenile delinquent would always do as they're told. They'd never do anything like...oh say...set off stink bombs in barracks or cherry bombs in training rooms. Oh no, I'd never classify you under something like that." She was now standing directly in front of him, her arms folded.
"Sure Gohan has been nice to me, I've already excluded him from the list. Sure, even you have been nice to me from time to time, but it doesn't exclude some of the other things you've done."
Adrian stood his ground. He was used to being insulted; so much that most of what he heard always slid off his shoulders without effect. "I don't ask for approval in what I do. And if you're still upset about the kiss, then you took it much more seriously than I did."
Hitomi's eyes widened and her cheeks turned red as she turned to the side. "And why would you take it more seriously than I would? You're a guy, a prince for that matter. If you tire of one girl, you can kick her to the curb for another. You can mess around with whomever you please and never get emotionally attached, or even care about how the partner feels. No, your highness, I wouldn't expect you to take it as seriously as me. Unlike you and other men, I take those kinds of things seriously. I don't want to become emotionally attached to anyone. That's what I have my mother for." As she ranted, she hadn't even noticed what she blurted out.
Adrian half-closed his eyes and raised a brow. "Well, this is certainly an interesting bit of information."
Hitomi looked at him strangely, "What are you talking about?"
"Think carefully back over what you said. Take your time; no rush."
Hitomi paused for moment, a stern look on her face, and then backtracked. Then she realized, with wide-eyes, her mistake.
"Oh God..." she mumbled and covered her eyes with her hand and turned her back on him.

Adrian sighed and rubbed his temples. "Look, you're obviously still a little weirded out...I'm just gonna go." He turned around and pushed the button that caused the door to slide open.
"Wait.." he heard her mumble. "You don't...have to go."
Adrian stopped and turned back. He shut the door again, and moved to rest his back against the wall. "So...apparently I'm not the scum and filth you said I was."

"No...not entirely.." Hitomi said, turning around. Adrian slowly walked up to her, "Look, if I knew the kiss was gonna affect you like that, I wouldn't have done it."
Hitomi scoffed lightly, "Well now you know."
"Well, what now?" Adrian looked at her. There was silence for a moment, "I guess we talk. I need to figure out how to deal with this." Hitomi took a seat on her couch and Adrian, slowly, walked over and sat beside her.
Hitomi mumbled, "Wait till my parents hear this.."
"Hear what?" Adrian looked up, suddenly interested. "My...parents set this whole thing up in hopes of me finding a mate in the palace, the son of some Elite. Wait till they find out what's been going on," Hitomi said, light humor heard in her tone. It was Adrian's turn to smile, "Well, it's not like we're engaged or anything. Though, I think it's time I did come clean about this.."
Hitomi turned to her side, directly in his face, "And what's that?"
"That kiss meant more to me than I was letting on."