Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Shades of Darkness ❯ Blinding Shadows ( Chapter 2 )

Shades of Darkness

Part 2

Blinding Shadows

Disclaimer: Me no own.

ENJOY!

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Piccolo felt his mouth fall open in surprise. "I thought you were different." He whispered softly. "I thought you weren't like them."

Kakarotto faced the being with sad eyes. "I did what I could. You are not of age yet and cannot be freed."

"I-I…"Piccolo trailed off. The man had a point after all. Piccolo was twenty by the way his people counted years, but on this planet, he barely passed ten. The being bit his lip. "You bought me."

"I told you that!" Kakarotto said, becoming slightly frustrated. His voice rose slightly. Piccolo winced slightly, waiting a blow. Kakarotto noticed the movement. "I'm not going to hurt you." He added crossly.

Piccolo shrugged and relaxed. Kakarotto sighed. "Get some sleep. You were in bad shape when we found you and you need it." The tall Saiya-Jin walked from the room with a long sigh. This was going to take work.

"Papa?" A small voice asked, reaching up to grab his hand. "What was you talking about?"

Piccolo and I WERE talking about what we were going to do once he was better." Kakarotto told his little son, walking towards the kitchen.

"I thoughted he was gonna stay with us."

"I don't know yet, Gohan." Kakarotto said and closed the discussion.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Piccolo sat watching the door long after they left, half in shock. They had BOUGHT him? He ran away so he wouldn't have an owner and now the people had BOUGHT him? It couldn't be, he wouldn't believe it. There was no way that it could be so. He sank back into the bed he was laying on. He had to get away from there! He had to run away! He tried to get out of the bed, only to find himself unable to move. He had really hurt himself. Logic took over. Why not stay for a few more nights, get a little more descent water and then run off, be it broad daylight or night? Sounded good to him. Darkness overcame the Namek and he fell into oblivion.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Chichi, what are we going to do?" Kakarotto sighed. "He's going to try to run away again and if they catch him, he's toast!"

"It's not our concern, Goku. If he runs off, there's very little we can do." Chichi told him. She had to be the logical one.

"I know, but he'll be put to death and-." Kakarotto began.

"Look, I know what the punishment is. They're trying to repress slaves, remember? It will be all right." Chichi touched his hand.

"I know, but it kills me to see someone else have to go through what I did." Kakarotto rubbed his temples briefly.

"Of course, dear. Take this to our friend, please?" Chichi held out a cup of water tinted slightly green. "I added the more of the nutrients his body lost and some vitamins that he's lacking but ought to have. Remind me to thank Bulma for giving us that scouter."

"I will." Kakarotto took the tray from his mate and headed toward the room they had put Piccolo in. There was a crash, a yelp and Kakarotto stormed out, covered in water. Chichi raised an eyebrow.

"Don't ask." He snapped, getting another glass and returning to the room. Chichi blinked. She'd had no intention of doing so, though she had the feeling it involved one boy, an armchair, and her never-pay-attention-to-anything mate.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Bulma leaned farther over the chair's edge and grabbed the screwdriver she thought she'd lost. He fingers slipped on a small round bauble and she fell over. The woman shouted in surprise and tumbled to the ground. The small round thing gave a soft clink, glass on a hard surface. What on earth would be glass in the middle of the basement no one ever used? She wouldn't even be down here but for the fact she'd dropped her screwdriver-and not just ANY screwdriver, but her favorite-down the wall in the upper floor of the house.

The woman blinked. What the hell? Her fingers rubbed the smooth surface and she pulled it carefully out of the wall. In her hand was a baseball-sized orb, a gleaming yellow-orange with seven orange-red stars winking up at her. What on earth was that? It looked to be glass, but that was impossible! Her screwdriver had been laying almost on top of it, so it had to of smashed into it on the way down. Glass wouldn't have survived that! The woman bit her lip. Maybe Vegita or Kakarotto would know what it was.
~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~ ~~*~~

"Get in here, brat!" A tall man, who bore a remarkable resemblance to Kakarotto yelled.

"I here, papa." The little girl giggled. The man smiled.

"How would you like to go see Auntie Chichi and Uncle Kakarotto today, chibi hoshi?" Turles, the tall Saiya-Jin asked the girl.

"Did mama say we could? I wanna see cousin Gohan!" Turlis laughed. The little girl, only two, practically worshipped the ground her older cousin walked on and Gohan, being the child he was, never told her to leave him alone, even it he wanted to play with Mirai. He always let the girl hang around.

"Yes, Azai, she did. Ready?" Turlis pulled out a capsule car that Bulma had given him. Neither he nor his mate had an easy time finding work, him being an ex-slave and her being married to him. A lot of what they had they spent a lot of time getting, and that was with Bulma's and his father's help. His father, being the heir to the Williams estate was very well off.

The girl jumped in, not truly understanding why her father never flew to his brother's house, Uncle Kakarotto shouldn't be afraid of him, right? But it was to hard for the young girl to understand the ki collars and what they meant.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~

It didn't take long for the duo to get to the house, Turlis speeding along and wishing he could fly, by himself, outside, carrying his daughter like his father had done back on Vegita-sei. He felt hot tears prick at his eyes and frowned. He hadn't seen Vegita-sei in a decade. Why would he be homesick now?

They landed lightly in the yard, and Turlis jumped out, catching his daughter easily as he landed. "Kakarotto! Chichi! Gohan!" He yelled, striding towards the house.

"Jisan!" Gohan screamed, racing towards him. Turlis leaned down to lift up his nephew and laughed.

"How's my Chibi hakari?" He asked, hugging him.

"I'm doing fine, Jisan." Gohan said slowly, careful to pronounce every word correctly. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, chibi hakari. And you're getting all grown up, talking like that!" Turlis grinned as Gohan giggled.

"How's Go'an?" Azai questioned. "I misseded my Go'an."

"Hi Azi!" Gohan grinned. "Guess what!"

"Wat, Go'an?" Azai asked, leaning forward.

"Daddy rescued somebody today! He was a slave too! Just like our Daddies used to be! He said he bought him!" Gohan grinned proudly. "I gots a new person to play with me!"

"Really? What's his name?" Azai asked. Turlis listened intently.

"Piccolo-san." Gohan smiled. "He's not very nice yet. Mama said it's just cuz he's tired. And, he GREEN!" Gohan crowd with a laugh.

"Really? I've never met a green person before." Azai's eyes grew wide.

"Turlis!" Kakarotto appeared a few moments later, smiling happily. "How are you, brother? It's been a week since I saw you last!"

"Well, I've been trying to find a job, you know how it is." Turlis shrugged and Kakarotto grew sober.

"I know. I've been having a lot of trouble myself. Chichi did all right though, since she's the only doctor that will work on slaves within nearly a hundred miles." Kakarotto admitted. "It's disappointing."

"And what's this about you buying a slave?" Turlis raised an eyebrow.

"I couldn't just send him back!" Kakarotto protested. "He was in danger! His old master was going to beat him to death. He's very insubordinate, you know."

"Like us?" Turlis gave a wicked grin.

"Yup." Kakarotto agreed, watching Gohan and Azai play. "You know, it's a shame." He said suddenly, some moments later.

"What is?" Turlis looked confused.

"That our children will have to be collared simply because of the year of their birth." Kakarotto sighed. "I wish I could do something to prevent that. Something to help."

"Even so, they will probably be forced into the collars any way, just to set them apart. We will always be branded." Turlis told his brother with a sad look.

"There's no point in speaking of it now." Kakarotto sighed. "You want to spar?" He feigned a cheerful look.

"Sure." Turlis nodded, and the two went towards the house to get their collars taken off for the match. Chichi was the only one that could remove them and she was more than happy to oblige them both. Kakarotto was about to fly off when she sighed.

"What's wrong?" He asked, watching her with a confused look on his face.

"I want to go. I haven't had a decent fight in forever!" Chichi sighed. Kakarotto shook his head.

"You and I will spar tomorrow. I need you to watch Piccolo. I afraid he'll run off before he's fully healed. And Gohan and Azai need watched also." Kakarotoit pointed out.

"You promise we'll go tomorrow?" Chichi eyed him cautiously.

"Of course, Chichi." He did the Saiya-Jin gesture of promise, touching the first two fingers of his hands together and closing the partial triangle with his thumbs in front of his heart.

"Okay. Have fun! I'll tell Shannon that we'll have dinner over here tonight, okay?" She gave him a quick kiss before he took off to catch up with his twin.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Dinner that night was a fun affair, with Chichi and Kakarotto relating how they found Piccolo and what had happened up to the point, Kakarotto including his morning run-in with a particularly ferocious chair. The others got a good laugh from it, and the evening seemed to end all too soon, much to their disappointment.

But the children needed to get to bed, and Gohan, even being the good natured child he was, still needed a break from Azai and they had to go home. Goku, lifting the sleeping child in his strong arms, carried him easily to his room and put him to bed, giving him a soft kiss on the forehead.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The next day went by quickly, and it was soon dinnertime. Piccolo was finally up and about, Chichi allowed him out of bed for the first time in a few days, and was resting in the living room at the human's insistence. The woman was in the kitchen, wrestling with a large fish Kakarotto had brought in earlier after they had been sparring. She was trying to begin putting food up for the winter so that they didn't have to buy so much, and the fish, while no where near trouble for Kakarotto to carry, was causing her some problems.

"Hey, Piccolo? Come here." Chichi half-asked, half-ordered, before cursing slightly. Gohan was upstairs doing homework and she needed help.

"Yes, mistress?" Piccolo walked to the door way.

"I thought I told you not to call me that." She grinned.

"Of course, mistress." Piccolo agreed. Chichi shook her head.

"Could you help me for a moment? I need you to hold this thing still." She kicked the fish in a fit of anger.

"Of course, mistress." Piccolo grabbed the fish's jaws and calmly held it while she cut it in two. "What are you planning on doing with me now, if you don't mind me asking, milady." Piccolo bowed and backed up several steps.

"What makes you think we're doing anything to you, Piccolo?" She asked, a bit surprised.

"I-well, I suppose it's because I'm a slave and you're my master." He admitted.

"Don't be silly, Piccolo. Tell me, how much do you know about my family?" She was still wrestling with the fish.

"Not much, I suppose, why, milady?"

"Then you wouldn't know about my mate. He was a salve, once. That's why he wears the collar. He will have to wear it for ten years because he threatened the woman trying to beat him and his brother to death." Chichi paused, wiped her brow, and continued, "Gohan, my son, was born before Kakarotto was free. He too is a slave, though he doesn't know it yet. He won't have to wear the collar until he's five."

"Your own son is a salve?" Piccolo's eyes widened.

"Yes. Though I wish he wasn't. I suppose they thought that it would ease our financial difficulties." Chichi gave a bitter laugh. "All that we worked for was wasted and not even the Saiya-Jin no Densetsu can change that."

"Mama! I'm done!" Gohan yelled, holding up his paper, just as the phone rang.

"Okay, Gohan. Give me a second to get the phone!" Chichi grabbed it off the hook. "Moshi moshi…er…hello?" She could have kicked herself for lapsing into Saiya-Go.

"I have a slave that was badly hurt in an accident! He's going to die without help!" The voice was frantic.

"I need your address, sir." Chichi said, acting calmer than she felt. He immediately obliged and she gasped. It was pretty far away. If she was going to make it, she had to go NOW and from the sound of it, Gohan couldn't go.

"Piccolo!" She yell, frantically. "I need your help!"

"Yes, milady?" He asked, somewhat afraid.

"Look ,I just got a call from a man who lives kind of far away. A slave just got hurt in an accident and I'm needed. Watch Gohan until Kakarotto gets back for me, please?" She begged, grabbing her things.

"I suppose I could. You trust me with your son?"

Chichi smiled. "I haven't a choice. If I'm to save this guy, I need your help."

"I will help." He agreed.

"Thanks Piccolo. I have no idea when I'll be back. Tell Kakarotto to cook. He knows how. And tell him that if he burns the house down I'll come after him with IT." She grinned and ran out the door, giving Gohan a quick hug and telling him to mind his manners for Piccolo or else.

The little boy hastily agreed.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~