Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Thicker Than Blood ❯ Father And Daughter ( Chapter 12 )

For several months now Neko had been training, alone as well as with Piccolo or Gohan, or whoever happened be there at the time. She started from sun up til sun down and it often too several of them to coax her into ceasing and coming in for the night. The only thing which seemed unchanged was her apitite. According to Alaura, her daughter ate twice as much now and she had to send the woman who did their shopping for them twice a week, out three times a week now.

Piccolo was the first to notice the drastic change in his daughter. Not just the newfound determination to increase her fighting skills, which was a bit odd in itself, she had always just had a so-so attitude about martial arts, a kind of take it or leave attitude and it seemed more a game to her than anything else. Now, he noticed, it seemed as if she believed her very life depended on her fighting proficiency. He did not like what he saw in his daughter's eyes nowadays. They were rage-filled and she seemed driven with a grim purpose only she could say. He had seen the look he saw in her eyes before and hadn't liked it then, either.

"I'm worried about Neko, Piccolo." Alaura said one afternoon when the spring sunshine was just a little too bright and she hadn't wanted to venture out of doors. Instead, she had decided to read a little bit, curled up on the sofa, but thoughts of her daughter and how changed she had become since Mira's death kept floating inbetween the words on the page. Finally, after Piccolo had entered the room and sat down next to her, she had sighed and placed the book aside. "She's not like she used to be, she's not my little girl anymore."

Neko's seventh birthday was coming up, but to Alaura it might as well be her thirtiest the way she was acting. She'd never seen a child so devoid of childlikeness before, it broke her heart to see her little girl with her eyes always shadowed and her fists always clenched at her sides, a feirceness in her eyes that frightened her and made the blood in her viens freeze every time she looked at her. "Something's happened to her, since…"

"I know." Piccolo said gravely, "I'm not sure there is anything anyone can do for her at this time…"

"At least can you go talk with her?" She asked, hating how she scared she sounded, "She listens to you more than she does me, I know it."

"That's not so, you're her mother." Piccolo said at which she shook her head strongly.

"It is so, Piccolo, and has been for awhile now," She said, "She loves me, I know that, but she respects you. She will listen when you talk and take what you say to heart. I know this and so do you."

"I'll try to talk with her, Alaura." Piccolo said, rising and leaning down to kiss her cheek, "But I don't promise anything."

"All I ask is that you try." She said, tears in her eyes, "That's all I ask."

Neko was in a tree. She had climbed it and when she had reached the branch she had been aiming for she had decided to keep on climbing until she was near the very top of the sprawling oak which had always been her favorite ever since she had first seen it. She dangled her legs over the branch and leaned her back against the trunk, her eyes closed as she tried to will her body and mind into an altered state of complete relaxation.

After a great few moments she realized that she was too tense, had been for months and that relaxation was beyond her now. All she had now was her determination to be perfect and that wore on her like a sickness that kept growing and festering inside her. She had not even realized she had been crying until she felt the dampness on her cheeks and swiped at her face with her arm, hating her tears for the weakness they showed. She knew that one day she would face Larajin and that she knew she could not show any sign of weakness then. Best not to fall into a pattern now, she thought as she glared though the tree's baby leaves towards the forest and blue afternoon sky beyond.

"Neko." She stiffened when she heard her father's voice below her, "Come down, I wish to speak with you."

She did not reply, instead she groaned and prepared to exit the tree in her usual style, leaping from branch to branch til she reached the ground. Instead she felt a rush of wind and saw Piccolo floating at her eye-level, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for her to aknowlege him. She sighed and sat back down on the branch. "I need to go trai…"

"Not just yet, Daughter." He said, "Your mother is worried. I am worried…"

Neko waited as he struggled for the right words, knowing that verbal expression has always come at a great price for him and interrupted, "You don't have to worry, Da. I know what I'm doing."

"I don't think you do, Neko." He said, "I know you want to hurt, even kill, Larajin for killing your friend. I know how the feeling eats at your heart day and night. But, Neko, you're making a huge mistake. You're a little girl and you should be having fun and doing little girl things, not spending all your waking hours obsessed with this…this…"

"I cannot explain it to you, Da!" She cried, stepping off the branch to float in mid-air in front of him, her childlike face twisted in an expression far too old for her years, "I really don't want to. Leave me alone!"

Piccolo watched her speed off into the sky, flying farther and farther away. He knew he could catch her easily if he flew after her, but she would still be too far for him to reach emotionally. Sighing, he sought the secluded darkness of the deep forest to ease his mind and calm his spirit, if such a thing could still be done with all the turmoil he felt within.