All Mixed Up

Chapter Eight

Gohan sighed softly to himself as he stared down at his homework. His mind wasn’t paying any attention to what his eyes were seeing, however. ‘What am I going to do? Kasumi’s a nice girl and all, and I’d like to see her happy, but I don’t think we have enough in common to really have a relationship. Akane’s still mad at me, not that I can really blame her. And Nabiki vanished. I could really stand to have someone to talk with…’ He heard someone knock on the door and Kasumi answered. Gohan ignored it for the most part since it was almost certainly not for him. He scribbled a couple of answers down on the paper to at least try and fool himself into thinking he was doing his homework.

‘I don’t know if she will want me to keep training her or if she won’t want to have anything to do with me any more.’ His exceptional hearing picked up snippets of a conversation that was apparently being held between whoever had shown up and Akane. When her voice suddenly rose in anger, Gohan started to get up.

“…Karate Queen!”

He blinked as he mumbled to himself, “That’s an interesting swear.” He paused outside of the living room where Akane and several oddly dressed boys were talking. From the angry look on her face, he could tell it was not a pleasant conversation. ‘Will she want me to help her out if they try something, or would she just think I was calling her weak by doing that? But if I don’t help, would she think I was abandoning her? Aww, man! Why can’t things ever be simple?’

“You want me to play Juliet!?” Gohan felt his heart flutter at the absolutely radiant smile that Akane graced the world with after her proclamation. He watched as she blurted out a few lines and he sighed. ‘I wonder who’s going to play Romeo?’ His features darkened as he imagined the hentai horde fighting for the role. ‘Maybe I should… no, she would think I was as bad as them… but…’ Gohan wrestled with his emotions.

Still wrapped up in his thoughts, Gohan wandered into the kitchen. His eyes focused on nothing as he tried to sort through his emotions. Kasumi, sensing an intruder into her kitchen, turned to look at him. She smiled softly as she watched Gohan wrestle with himself. “What’s wrong?”

Gohan sighed. “Akane was just asked to play the part of Juliet in a school play. I just know all of those boys from the morning ambush are going to try to get the part of Romeo, especially Kuno. They’ll ruin the play for her, I just know it. I want to help, but I don’t think she’ll want me to, or she might misinterpret what I’m trying to do. I just don’t know.”

Kasumi smiled softly at him. “Gohan, why don’t you just ask Akane what she wants you to do?” ‘Mine’ screamed at Kasumi to shut up, but she ignored it. This was one time where she needed to help out Gohan and her sister more than she needed to worry about her own future. Besides, she could tell that even though he seemed to enjoy his time with her, his worries were always on Akane. And you don’t worry about someone’s welfare unless you really care for them.

“But she can’t trust me, she may think I’m being like all those other boys and just trying to get the role to kiss her.”

“Gohan, if you give her the choice it will go a long way towards repairing that trust. And if she gets angry, try to ride it out. Remember, she is used to dealing with boys who are controlled by their hormones.”

Gohan sighed and nodded as he smiled at her. “Thanks, Kasumi.”

Suddenly there was a loud crash from the living room. Kasumi blinked for just a moment and suddenly found herself alone in the kitchen. She let out a little giggle at just how protective Gohan was becoming of her little sister. The giggling stopped as she realized that the crashing sound inevitably meant that a mess had just been made that she would have to clean up.

In the living room, Gohan saw something he hoped he’d never see again. Happosai was glomped onto Akane’s chest. As he nuzzled her breasts, he was sighing contentedly. “Ahh, Akane! Don’t worry, I’ll be your Romeo, Sweeto!” The look on Akane’s face was bouncing back and forth from nausea to extreme anger.

Gohan snarled and flung himself across the room, past the three oddly dressed boys who had been speaking with Akane. Happosai saw him coming at the last moment and hopped off of Akane. A quick brawl erupted as Gohan forced the aged master outside and onto the defensive. After a few moments the two separated.

Happosai smoked his pipe as he looked Gohan over appreciatively. “Where did you learn how to fight, boy?”

Gohan glared as he answered. “My father and Piccolo taught me.”

Happosai’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “You were taught by that monster?”

“He is NOT a monster!” Gohan was unable to keep his aura under control at that comment, and in a brilliant flash it sprang into life. “He is my friend!”

Happosai calmly took another drag off of his pipe, outwardly unconcerned by the raw power pouring off of the boy. Inwardly, he was beginning to become scared. ‘That green-skinned freak is dangerous and any student of his is likely to be just as big a problem.’ “Some friend. And who’s your father? That murderer, Vegeta?” Happosai let out a derisive snort.

Gohan seethed. “I am Son Gohan, son of Son Goku. And you are making a big mistake by making me mad.”

Happosai froze for a moment. ‘GOKU? One of that old pervert Roshi’s students? That would explain the Kamehameha.’ In that one moment where he froze, Happosai’s defenses dropped and Gohan, with unbelievable speed, sent the ancient pervert into orbit.

Gohan dropped his aura and headed into the house. As he turned around, he suddenly saw Kuno’s body punch through the roof on a similar trajectory to Happosai’s. Looking inside the house, he saw the three actors running for their lives and a very angry Akane still gripping her mallet.

“Uhm, Akane?” Gohan asked nervously. He pulled at the collar of his shirt, amazed at how tight his throat felt right then.

“What?” Akane said in an irritated voice.

“Would… that is… uhm… have they decided who’s going to play Romeo yet?” Gohan cursed himself for a coward for not just coming to the point.

Akane scowled and shook her head. “Not yet, but it looks like it’s either going to be Kuno or Happosai, and I honestly can’t figure out which one would be worse.” She shuddered at that thought.

“Akane…” Gohan’s mouth opened and closed a few times.

“What?” She glared at Gohan as he stumbled over his words. She had actually lost a lot of her anger towards him, but the betrayal still hurt and she had no intention of letting him off easy. “Spit it out!”

Gohan closed his eyes. “Do you want me to try for it?”

Akane blinked. She had been expecting him to try and apologize again, so the unexpected question threw her off. “Do what?”

“Do you want me to try for the part of Romeo?” Gohan cracked an eye open to look at her.

Akane blinked again. “Why would you want to do that?” Her eyes narrowed a bit dangerously.

Gohan scratched the back of his head. “Well, I know how you hate perverts trying to come on to you, and I figured that a lot of them would see this as a chance to get a free kiss off of you. I mean, that is probably the whole reason that Kuno and Happosai are getting involved.”

Akane glared and felt her temper flare. “So you figured you’d join them?”

Gohan shook his head wildly. “No! It’s not that, it’s just that well… I thought you’d prefer it to be me… well, because… never mind, I guess I was wrong.” Gohan’s head hung low as he started to turn around.

The completely dejected look tugged at Akane’s feelings and she let a small sigh escape her lips. “I… would prefer it to be you, Gohan. I know you’re not a pervert like those other boys.” She watched Gohans head snap around to look at her with a hopeful expression. “But you’re not off the hook yet! Why weren’t you there, Gohan? You promised me, and it really hurt to think that I couldn’t trust you.”

Gohan’s shoulders slumped some. “It just took forever at the circus.” He suddenly felt the temperature rising and looked up to see Akane’s battle aura raging at full tilt.

“You. Missed. My. Fight. To. Go. To. The. Circus?”

“No! Yes! Not exactly! Er…” Gohan cringed away as Akane started stalking towards him. “Let me explain!”

Akane took a slow, deliberate step towards him. “You have until I can reach you to explain.”

“I didn’t think the circus act would go for so long, but I had to rescue Chobi!”

Akane stopped her approach and blinked in confusion. Her aura dimmed some. “Who’s Chobi?”

“He’s a pterodactyl that lives near my family’s home. I’ve been playing with Chobi’s parents since I was a kid and Goten, my brother, has been playing with Chobi. When I went home to visit I found out that this circus had kidnapped him and were putting him through some mean tricks for their act.”

Akane’s face softened and her aura vanished. “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

Gohan scratched the back of his head again. “Well, I didn’t want you to think I was making excuses or that I thought it was all right for me to miss your fight.” He bowed his head in shame. “I’m sorry.”

Akane finally pulled back her fist and punched Gohan in the arm. Gohan knew he was tough, but he had barely even felt the contact. “Consider yourself punished.” He blinked at Akane as she smiled that radiant smile of hers. “I think that what you did was very sweet, Gohan, and it sounds like Chobi really did need you more than I did. I won, after all.”

Gohan smiled back, relieved. “Yes, you did. So, do you want me to try out for Romeo?”

Akane nodded. “I’d rather deal with you than any of those perverts.” ‘Besides, I like kissing you,’ she thought to herself with a subtle blush. “How well do you know the play?”

Gohan shrugged. “Fairly well. It was never one of my favorites, considering the fact that in the end everyone lost.”

Akane blinked and hadn’t considered that part of the play before. “You’ve got a point, but this will be so great!”

Gohan smiled at her. “Have you ever acted in a play before?”

Akane nodded before frowning. “Yes, but I’ve always had to play male roles. I’ve done Romeo and Juliet a few times, but I’ve always played Romeo. The only female roles I get to play are like ‘the Karate Queen’. And we are NOT going to talk about ‘the Taming of the Shrew’. Do you know how much it hurts when everyone tells you that you play such a great male role?” Akane sniffled a little. “No one ever sees me as anything but a tomboy.”

Gohan winced at that. “Akane, you seem to have a really undeserved reputation.”

Akane’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Gohan. “And WHAT do you mean by that?”

“Well, everyone keeps talking about you as a violent tomboy, but you’re a very nice and really cute gi-” Gohan gulped as Akane’s eyes seemed to sparkle at him. He suddenly found himself being victimized by a flying kiss as Akane threw her arms around his neck. He stared in shock for a moment before the rather pleasant sensation fought its way through to his brain. Unfortunately, as soon as he realized how wonderful it was, it ended.

Akane blushed fiercely as she let go of Gohan and stepped away. “Uhm, that was just practice for the play!”

Gohan nodded and blinked a few times as he touched his lips softly. “Uhm, yeah…” He slowly turned around with a stunned bunny look on his face and headed to his room.

Kasumi sighed softly to herself as she prepared dinner. She was beginning to feel that her words to Gohan the day before might very well have been prophetic. As she watched Akane bounced happily down the stairs and Gohan follow after her with a bewildered expression, she knew that the two had made up, which pretty much killed any chance she had with Gohan. She put the knife she was holding down as she rubbed at her forehead. “And Doctor Tofu just can’t seem to be serious enough for any kind of a real relationship,” she muttered softly to herself. Wrapped up in her thoughts, she never noticed the strange look Gohan gave her as he walked past.

A few days passed and the night of the play came. It started off just fine, with Gohan only having to throw Happosai out of the dressing room once and Kuno twice. During the play, however, bedlam ensued. Afterwards, Gohan and Akane walked home. Gohan sighed and banged his head in frustration against the wall as he took his shoes off. “I can’t believe that they would even consider trying that during the play.” He made a derisive snort as he stood back up. “Kuno is really going overboard with that whole ‘demon sorcerer’ thing. I mean, what good did he think that throwing a bunch of salt at me would do? And that strange piece of paper, what was the story with that?”

Akane sighed as well. “It was a demon ward, Gohan.” She shuddered. “I just hope we won’t be seeing Happosai any time soon again.”

Gohan smirked. “It’ll take him a while for his flight on ‘Mallet Airlines’ to end, so we should be safe for a while.”

Akane laughed lightly. “You know, that’s one of the first times anyone’s ever complimented my mallet technique.”

Gohan smiled at her. “So, barring idiots, perverts, and weirdos, how did you enjoy the evening, ‘Juliet’?”

Akane giggled. “It was great, ‘Romeo’. Thanks for helping my dreams come true.”

Gohan’s reply was cut off as Soun seemed to appear next to them. “Oh, my little girl is going to get married! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Gohan found himself instantly soaked by tears.

Akane blushed furiously and growled at her dad. “Father! We are not getting married!” ‘Yet,’ a voice said in her mind, which was promptly glared at.