Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Okayama Summer ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 12 )

*^_^ Thanks to those people who yell at me to get on with writing this, I think I might ACTUALLY finish it. WOW!! (This is quite an achievement for me, as I have never finished any multi-chaptered fanfiction. EVER.) ^_^ So keep it up! Er... whoo! ^^; Fairly short chapter... um, I only have it as five pages... o.o Bwa ha. And the babble about DNA and assorted crap is there simply to annoy you. ^^*

Chapter Twelve

"Wow, Sasami, you're up early. Er, earlier than usual, I mean."

Mihoshi yawned, and trudged over to the counter, where Sasami was making breakfast. "D'you really think you should make breakfast right now...? I mean, it'll get cold, and everything..."

"This isn't for us," Sasami said hurriedly, trying to finish up as quickly as possible. "It's for Gohan."

Mihoshi frowned. "Gohan...?"

"Yes, he's sick." Without another word, Sasami picked up the now-finished breakfast and whisked out of the kitchen, shutting the door behind her.

Mihoshi stared after her. "... Oh, how horrible..."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gohan lay in his bed, curled up on his side. His eyes were open, but somewhat blank, as if he were staring at something far, far away. The door opened on the other side of the room, and soft, hesitant footsteps advanced his bed.

"Gohan?" Sasami's voice whispered. "I... I brought you something to eat. You know... some breakfast. Th-there isn't very much, but I didn't think you would want too much, anyway..." It trailed off, then began again, hurriedly, "I won't mind if you don't eat it, or anything, because... well... when I'm sick, I don't like eating anything, so... well, it's there if you get hungry, okay?"

Gohan said nothing. There was a very cobwebby crack in the wall, near the floor.

"I'll... um... go now. I'm sure you want to be alone... I mean... well... come downstairs if you feel better."

Maybe there was a spider living in there... that would explain the web. He would watch it for a while, to see if the spider would come out.

"I'll see you later, Gohan... sleep well, okay?" The footsteps receded, and there was a swiping noise as the door was shut.

Gohan lay there, barely moving, for a few more minutes... then sat up, his head pounding, and glanced at the tray that was set carefully on the edge of the bed. Gohan smiled, a small half-smile, and picked it up, setting it down o the other side of the bed, near the cobwebs.

Maybe the spider was hungry.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Master Roshi?"

Master Roshi, sitting on the porch of Kame House, looked over his shoulder. Chichi was standing in the doorway, squinting in the sun. He smiled upon seeing her; she hadn't come outside since... well, since she had been brought there. "Chichi! It's nice to see you outside..."

"Master Roshi," Chichi said anxiously, walking over to him, "did Kururin leave?"

Master Roshi stared at her. "Why... ah, yes, he did."

"Why?" Chichi said softly.

"Uh..." I can't tell her he went to look for Gohan... the poor woman will go into hysterics. "He left... to train for the fight against Cell."

"Oh..." She hesitated, then collapsed next to him. "I thought... well, once he said..."

"What?" His tone was light, but carried a kind of urgency. That idiot... what the hell did he tell her? "What did he say?"

Chichi shrugged, and played with a strand of her hair. Her eyes were on the ground. "I asked him... 'Are they really gone, or am I dreaming again?' And he said... he said..." she frowned. "He said that yes, they were gone... but... but that they didn't really SEE Gohan die. So..."

"Did he say anything else?"

"I... I can't remember..."

Master Roshi sighed heavily. "Well... that's okay, Chichi." He frowned. That is true, though... they didn't see Gohan die... they just assumed he couldn't have survived.

He suddenly saw Kururin's reasoning, and smiled -- though it looked more like a grimace. Maybe he's not as crazy as I thought. Good luck, Kururin.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Washuu? Are you busy?"

Washuu recognized the voice as Kiyone's, and shook her head. "Nothing I can't do later..." She turned around. "What can I do for you?"

Kiyone looked slightly apprehensive -- perhaps because she had never been in Washuu's lab before. "Well... I was wondering if you had done that test on Gohan yet."

Washuu nodded gravely. "Yeah... it's nothing life-threatening, but..." she frowned. "The actual sickness isn't what I'm worried about..."

Kiyone raised her eyebrows.

Washuu sighed. "Well, the first thing I did was a DNA test... and... well, half of it is human, but the other half... isn't."

Kiyone stared at her. "Gohan's... not from Earth?"

"Well, he's certainly FROM Earth. He's just got some alien DNA. It's almost exactly like human DNA, actually, except... well, you know that human and ape DNA are almost exactly alike, aside from a few strands? Gohan HAS one of those strands in his alien DNA, making the said species, I suppose, slightly more 'monkey-like'. They probably evolved the same way as humans, only with a slight difference." Washuu shifted uneasily. "And... he's also got some Juraiian blood, because of the blood transfer I did with Sasami right after we found him... that might actually be what's causing him to become sick; his body reacting to the alien blood..."

"But that would have happened soon after he woke up, wouldn't it?" Kiyone said thoughtfully.

"I suppose..." Washuu shook her head slowly. "I've never run into anything quite like this before... I'm not quite sure what to do."

Kiyone stared at her, stunned. From what she had heard from the others, Washuu always seemed to know what to do. Though... "Have you determined what the other species is?"

Washuu shook her head. "No... I was just about to do that when you came in. I'll let you know when I'm done... it shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

Kiyone nodded. "All right... I'll be waiting." She stepped out, so as not to disturb Washuu while she was working.

... Gohan's isn't exactly a normal case.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Aeka sighed heavily. She was sitting in the kitchen, watching Sasami prepare lunch. Today simply wasn't a good day in the Masaki household. Nothing really BAD had happened, actually, but nothing good had happened, either. Sasami was obviously distraught, what with Gohan being sick and all, and Tenchi had left early to work in the fields, so she hadn't seen him yet today. Ryoko and Mihoshi were both sleeping, so there was no chance of getting into a good fight with the former or getting to yell at the latter for being clumsy (not that she ENJOYED these things, of course). And Kiyone was hanging around outside Washuu's lab, looking extremely nervous about something.

All in all... quite a BORING day. Which actually didn't happen very often.

Aeka yawned, and heard a loud THWACK as Sasami drove a knife into the cutting board. "Sasami, perhaps you shouldn't do that when you're distracted... you might cut one of your fingers off."

"I'm not distracted," Sasami muttered, feeling somewhat annoyed with her sister for noticing anything was wrong. She was about to yank the knife out again, when Washuu slammed the door to her lab open. She was extremely pale. "Kiyone," she gasped.

"Washuu...? Washuu, what's the matter?" Kiyone exclaimed. "Is anything wrong?"

"Wrong...? No..." Washuu paused, and saw Aeka and Sasami looking at her curiously from the kitchen. "You two, come here... you should probably hear this, too."

Sasami released her grip on the knife, and the two Juraiian princesses walked into the other room to stand behind Kiyone. Both looked worried. "Washuu," Aeka began, in a concerned voice, are you --"

"I'm fine," Washuu said tersely, and sighed. "Kiyone already knows this... but I was testing Gohan for whatever sickness he might have, and I came across some DNA that... wasn't exactly human."

Aeka gasped, but Sasami spoke up. "Washuu, that might just be from --"

"It wasn't your blood," Washuu said simply. "It wasn't even Juraiian."

"What was it, then?" Kiyone persisted.

Washuu frowned, not at any of her audience, but at the floor. She seemed to be thinking over how to explain her answer. Finally, she looked up. "Have any of you ever heard of a race called the Saiyajins...?"

~

*Um, quick note. ^^; Those familiar with DBZ should probably understand Washuu's reaction... the Saiyajins weren't exactly known throughout the universe for being the touchy-feely type. >< ^^ I believe I have stumbled upon another plotbunny. Kudos to me.*