All Mixed Up AG

Chapter 12

All was quiet in the Tendo home. Not a person was stirring, unless you count the shriveled old pervert currently creeping his way up the stairs towards Akane’s room. Happosai cackled to himself as he imagined the wonderful, silky darlings that he would soon be liberating. Slowly, carefully he reached up towards Akane’s doorknob. He was a bit surprised to find his objective seemed to actually be coming down to him. ‘That’s strange…’ looking around, the old pervert realized that he was being lifted into the air by an irritated Gohan.

“Where do you think you’re going, old man?”

Happosai squirmed out of the young man’s grasp and bounced a short distance away. “You’ve thwarted me for the last time, boy! I’ll show you the power of my Happo Daikarin!!!”

Gohan just raised an eyebrow at this, but Genma and Soun, who seem to appear from nowhere, instantly went into full coward mode. “Please, Master! Not in my poor house! There’ll be nothing left!”

“Master, what about your oath to never use that dreaded technique again?” Genma reminded the old pervert.

“Too late for that, boys. This young pup has pushed me too far. Happo Daikarin!”

Gohan crossed his arms and braced in anticipation of the coming attack. He was quite startled when a small, barely noticeable puff of fire slowly traveled the distance between the aged martial artist and his intended victim. The half-Saiya-jin could only stare in disbelief at the little ball before blowing it out with a small puff of breath. “I’m sorry, old man. Was that supposed to hurt?”

Happosai glowered angrily. “It’s been a few years, sonny… I just forgot how to do it.” He began rummaging through his pack, grumbling to himself. “Now, where is that scroll… I know I put it somewhe-(HURK!)” The aged martial artist failed to respond quickly enough before Genma and Soun grabbed him and booted him over the horizon. Akane, Gohan, and Ukyou just stared as the two older men tore the pack apart. A mirror almost broke as it landed in the quickly building pile. There was odd jangling sound as an incense burner quickly followed. A few bathing supplies were also quickly added. At one point a rather interesting bracelet with three pearls embedded in it went rolling down the hallway..

After a few minutes, Genma cursed and threw what was left of the pack on the ground. “The Master’s scroll isn’t in here…”

Gohan glared down at the rather overweight, bald, and generally despicable martial artist. “And just what scroll would that be?”

“The scroll on which the Master wrote his technique after he sealed it away. He decided it was too dangerous to use any more after a horrible accident.”

That gave Gohan pause. ‘Too dangerous?’ Images of moons vanishing, planets exploding, and stars going supernova drifted through his mind. “What kind of accident?”

“It was during Soun’s and my training with the Master. We had just… err… that’s not important. Anyway, the Master had to use his technique on an enormous boulder, destroying it. Unfortunately, some of the… err… treasures that we had recently liberated from a village were caught in the blast and destroyed. The Master was so distraught that he swore to never use the technique again. You, however, seemed to have angered him beyond that point. So, what are you going to do about it?”

“…”

“Well?”

“That’s it? He blew up a boulder?”

“It was a really big boulder.”

“Yeah. Okay. Whatever.”

Soun finally piped in. “Don’t underestimate the master!”

Genma nodded in agreement. “There has only been one technique that ever defeated the Master’s dreaded Happo Daikarin. The Crouch of the Wild Tiger,” the fat man stated proudly.

Gohan blinked. “Crouch of the Wild Tiger?”

With a nod, the rotund martial artist explained. “First, you crouch down on your knees.” He proceeded to demonstrate. After a moment, Gohan realized that Genma was waiting for him to emulate him.

“Next, place your hands on the ground in front of you, like this.”

“Ok.”

“And then,” Genma suddenly started bowing over and over again while blubbering, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

It took Gohan a few moments to recover from the rather painful facefault that followed the demonstration. “Oh, for the love of… All right, all right… I’ll figure out something, but I will NOT use that stupid crouch.” Noticing that the rest of the Tendo household had shown up by this point, he came to a decision. “Akane, Ukyou… we’re going to start up a special training session. Meet me in the dojo.”

A short while later Gohan was kneeling in the dojo with the two girls. “All right, now there’s a chance that the old pervert is going to come after us with a ki attack. What we’re going to train on for the next few days is how to defend against ki attacks.

“Hai, Sensei…” Akane and Ukyou glared at each other after speaking simultaneously.

“Hey, cool… stereo.” Gohan chuckled nervously as his attempt to break the ice between the two girls failed. He just knew this wasn’t going to be easy or fun.

After a bit of meditation practice and sparring, Gohan’s attention was drawn to the door when he heard someone knocking. Turning towards the sound, he saw Kasumi standing at the entrance. “You two keep going. I’ll be right back.” Gohan stepped outside and closed the door. A sigh escaped him as moments after the door closed, the violence level in the dojo increased. “Why can’t they get along?” Gohan grumbled under his breath.

Kasumi sighed lightly. “That’s why I wanted to talk with you.” She smiled a little as Gohan blushed. “I want to ask you an honest, blunt question and I want you to give me an honest, blunt answer. Will you do that?”

Gohan nodded a bit nervously.

“Can you see yourself happily married to Akane?”

The half-Saiyjin grimaced. That was not a question he wanted to answer, but he had promised. “Err… uhh…” He suddenly seemed to deflate. “Yeah.”

Kasumi smiled a little brighter. “Can you see yourself happily married to Ukyou?”

Gohan fell silent. After a while, he shook his head. “I don’t really know her enough. I mean, she’s a great girl and all… but…”

“But you think of her as more of a friend, while Akane has already found a special place in your heart.”

Gohan shifted uncomfortably as he stared down at his feet. “So what should I do?”

“Tell them quickly. The longer you wait, the more it will hurt… all of you.” Kasumi turned around and walked back into the house leaving a very contemplative Gohan behind.

Sighing, the young man headed back into the dojo, noting to himself that it was awfully quiet inside now. Sliding open the door, a rather amusing sight greeted him. Both Akane and Ukyou were out cold on the floor. Akane’s face was covered by Ukyou’s mega-spatula while the brown-haired chef’s noggin was imbedded in the floor thanks to Mallet-sama. Gohan carefully removed both weapons and set them in a corner of the dojo. Moving gently, he lifted the two girls in his arms and hefted them onto his shoulders.

As he passed the kitchen, heading up the stairs towards the girls’ bedrooms, Gohan saw Kasumi smiling at the scene. Shaking his head, he proceeded to Ukyou’s room and carefully laid her on her futon. After tucking her in, he took a moment to watch her sleep before taking Akane to her room. As he had with Ukyou, he gently placed her on her bed and tucked her in. He lingered longer with her, though. When the raven-haired girl rolled over in her sleep, her admirer softly pushed a stray hair away from her face. After an indeterminate time, he finally stood up and left her room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Back in the dojo again, Gohan set about cleaning up the mess that the two girls had made, all the while trying to build his resolve to telling Ukyou how he felt.

As the trio walked to school the next day, both girls could tell that there was something on their mutual interest’s mind. A few broken attempts were made to try and get him to open up, but they always degraded into a verbal sparring between Akane and Ukyou. As they reached the gate to the school, Gohan finally spoke. “Uhm… Akane? Would you mind going on ahead? I kinda need to talk with Ukyou.”

Akane froze as cold fear ran up her spine. “G-gohan?”

“I’ll be right in. I just wanna talk to Ukyou in private for a moment.”

Akane nodded slowly before turning around and quickly walking into the school, tears brimming in her eyes. Gohan didn’t notice because his attention was focused inwards as he tried to maintain the resolve he had built up last night. ‘You can do it. Just look her in the eyes, tell her you still want to be friends, but that you don’t want to date her. She’s a big girl, she can take it.’ He opened his eyes and looked at Ukyou. “Ukyou,” he started to say, but he felt his throat seize up some. ‘Come one, you can do it. Just look her in those big, trusting eyes and crush her fragile heart in the cruelest way you can. Aw, crap.’

“Yes, Gohan?”

“Er…” ‘I can’t do it today. Maybe tomorrow.’ “I just wanted to say… uhm… that I think you’re training is coming along great!”

Ukyou blushed at the compliment. “Thanks.”

Inside the school, off in a corner, Akane was desperately trying to get her emotions back under control. Part of her wanted to go flying into a rage and hammer anything that was male. Another part of her wanted to tear Ukyou limb from limb. The most dominate feeling, however, was the one she tried to never show. The feeling that she just wasn’t good enough.

Yuka and Sayuri, Akane’s two best friends, heard the gentle crying and followed it to the source. They were startled to find Akane. “What’s wrong?”

It took a while for the distraught girl to respond. “I th-think Gohan prefers Ukyou over m-me.”

Akane’s two friends looked at each other and then back to her. “And you’re in here?”

Akane blinked in confusion at them.

“You should be out there, showing him what you think of that!”

“B-but I want him to be happy… and if he’s happy with Ukyou…”

Yuka slapped herself on the forehead while Sayuri just shook her head. “Girl, you are a fighter. You always have been and you always will be. All of the girls look up to you as a girl who knows what she wants and doesn’t let anything stop her. You want Gohan? Go fight for him!”

“But he doesn’t like it when Ukyou and I fight.”

“Then don’t use your brute strength. Use your feminine wiles! She’s been pretending to be a boy for ten years, right? Just show him how much more feminine you are than she is and you’ll be sure to win!”

“You’re right! I’ll do it! I’ll prove I’m the better choice!” Mount Fuji and little bouncing samurai waving victory flags appeared behind Akane as she posed dramatically.

Yuka shuddered at the similarity to Kuno, but wisely kept her mouth shut.

Over the next few days, Akane did her best to show up Ukyou at everything they did. There were several particular incidents of note. Akane trying to cook for him, like Ukyou did. She tried wearing her long hair in the same style as the chef, tied at the top instead of the bottom. She even tried dressing like the chef, wearing dresses one day and men’s clothes the next. Nothing seemed to work for her. Little could she know that the only one who noticed the effort was Ukyou. Gohan was too focused on trying to find ways of letting Ukyou down gently. Time and again, he would get her alone, convinced that this time he would tell her, only to fold once again.

So distracted was he that he never noticed Happosai’s return. The demented gnome followed Gohan around, watching carefully to find when the boy’s guard was at its lowest. The aged master took special note of how Gohan was acting around that girl, Ukyou. ‘The boy has plenty of chances to get a good feel in and take either girls’ treasures, but instead he just wastes the opportunities on words. Feh.’ Finally, the old man had a plan of attack. He watched Gohan and the girls get ready for their daily training. Happosai would be the first to admit that he paid far more attention to the girls, especially Ukyou. ‘Boyish or not, the sight of her lovely breasts can put steam back in an old man’s stride.’

As the trio headed from the house to the Dojo, Gohan outlined the training schedule for that day to Akane and Ukyou. “Okay, you girls should be ready for some basic ki techniques now. The first thing we’ll cover is…”

“Happo Daikarin!”

Akane and Ukyou stared in horror as a terrible explosion obscured Gohan. Frozen with fear, neither one reacted until they heard light coughing coming from within the smoke.

“Gohan?” The two girls spoke in unison.

“<Hack!> Yeah, I’m fine. Just trying to remember how to breathe <cough> smoke.” Suddenly the cloud dispersed and a mostly okay raven-haired young man emerged. Gohan glared at the shriveled gnome that was now standing on the wall around the Tendo yard.

Happosai’s eyes flew wide. He knew that any son of Goku would be strong, but the Happo Fire Burst was the old pervert’s deadliest attack and Gohan had shrugged it off like it was nothing. ‘Well, when in doubt… use more!’ The gnome leapt back and unleashed a volley of the bombs at his intended victim.

Gohan sighed as a ‘Why me?’ look crossed his face moments before the bombs struck. As the smoke cleared once again, Ukyou and Akane both blushed at the amount of lightly smoked skin Gohan was now sporting. The half-Saiyajin rolled his eyes and shook his head. “What are you trying to do, kill me with second hand smoke? That takes years, you know. Give it up.”

Narrowing his eyes dangerously, Happosai came to a conclusion. ‘He’s just standing there, putting up a shield every time my bombs come for him. I think I’ll show him that I’m not out of tricks yet.’ “Sure. Catch.”

Gohan just shook his head as another bomb headed for him. ‘Can’t the old man get it through his head?’ Stretching out his senses, he could tell that Happosai had charged these bombs with some ki, which would increase their effectiveness. However, against someone like Gohan, they were still all but worthless. A movement off to the side caught his attention. Turning his head just a bit, he saw Akane and Ukyou both charge towards the perverted master. He also saw bombs heading for both of them. ‘The shield technique I taught them won’t work against those things!’ “Akane! Ukyou! Look out!”

Ukyou heeded the warning in his voice and dove out of the path of the bombs, but Akane was determined to prove herself to Gohan and Ukyou… and herself. Charging through, she expected to catch Happosai flat-footed by coming out of the smokescreen caused by the attack. She grinned fiercely as the first bomb exploded and the edge of the blast struck her barrier. The grin grew for a moment as she could feel the explosion bounce off. A split second later, the grin vanished as a bright flare of ki blasted through the barrier and plowed into her. Pain ripped through her senses as a second bomb exploded, blasting her body mercilessly. A moment later, her conscious mind sank into the dark oblivion of unconsciousness as another series of explosions echoed from the end of her senses.

Time seemed to slow down as the smoke cleared and Akane’s battered and bleeding body was revealed. Everyone was stunned, even the old pervert. Sadly, the aged master only felt a moment of remorse before shrugging it off. His attention refocused on Gohan as the young man’s gaze slowly shifted from Akane’s still form to that of her attacker. Happosai felt the smallest twinge of fear at the look in the boy’s eyes, but it was quashed as quickly as his remorse had been. What happened next, however, would long haunt the old man’s nightmares.

Before his eyes, the young boy’s chest began heaving as he took in long, angry breaths. A battle aura like none the old master had felt in a long time sprang up around the raven-haired boy. Moments later, with an incoherent cry the boy’s aura magnified exponentially and his once black hair became a blazing gold. Contrary to the burning aura around him, his eyes were a cold green. The look in those eyes promised a new level of pain for the old pervert.

Faster than Happosai could even begin to register, Gohan cleared the distance between them and drove a rising knee into the old man’s head, snapping it back and sending him rocketing into the sky. A moment later, pain flared across his back as Gohan blasted him back towards the Earth with a double-fisted hammer blow. A split second before impact with the ground, Happosai felt Gohan’s foot crash into his head again, arresting his downward momentum and throwing him into the stone wall. As the old pervert struggled to stand while fighting off blinding pain from every inch of his body, Happosai felt Gohan’s hand grab him roughly by his gi and lift him up. Suddenly, Gohan’s enraged face was pressed into his.

“Now, you will listen to me, old man. You are going to leave Nerima and never return, or I will do to you what I did to Cell. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORDS THAT ARE COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH?!”

Fear, a long forgotten sensation for Happosai, overrode his pain temporarily. ‘Cell?! Yes, he is about the right age… he just might be that young boy who killed that monster.’ “I… do.”

“Pray we never meet again.” With that, Gohan kicked the old man in the stomach and sent him flying over the horizon.

A groan from behind reminded him that someone besides the ancient pervert was badly injured. “Akane!” In the blink of an eye, the golden-haired young man was kneeling next to the unconscious girl. ‘This isn’t good. She’s bleeding badly and the hospital will take too long. They might not even be able to help. Senzu beans. I have to get some for her.’ He started rifling through his pockets, but he remembered that he had to use the last couple of beans to heal Ukyou and Akane after a particularly bad sparring session. ‘Karin may not have any more ready. What am I going to do?’

‘Bring her to me.’

Gohan blinked at the voice in his head. ‘Dende! Of course! Thanks!’ Gohan picked up Akane carefully, praying to anyone who would listen that she’d be all right. Without any further preamble, the glowing young man shot into the sky and faded into the distance.

Ukyou sat where she had been ever since she saw the bomb hit Akane. Following the fading, glowing trail, she could only blink and stare. “Th-that’s… quite… a jump.”

Kasumi sighing behind her made her jump. She hadn’t even heard the oldest Tendo daughter come out of the house. “That’s not a jump, Ukyou dear.”

The chef turned towards the eldest Tendo. “He can fly?”

“Yes.”

“And you knew?”

“Yes.”

“How long have you known?”

“Since shortly after he came to live with us. A lot of people may not think much of my intelligence, but I do notice things. The fact that a powerful young man stopped a terrorist attack only a short while after Gohan arrived in town was one thing. Another was when Gohan suddenly had the money to pay Nabiki’s suggested rent. That coincided with the arrest of the entire terrorist group that had been bothering Nerima for a while. Add in that one of my friends in the shopping district saw Gohan returning all the money that had been extorted from the businesses there, and it was pretty obvious.”

“Why would he hide all of that?”

“Gohan has had very few friends since he moved to Nerima. He’s afraid that if he shows his power that it will scare people away. He hates it when people fear him, so he tries to avoid showing off. He’s a very sensitive young man. He hates to see people suffer.”

Ukyou stopped to consider Kasumi’s words. After a long while, she spoke again. “That’s why he was willing to be my friend even after I tried to hurt him.”

“Yes.”

“And all the attention he’s been showing me lately… I thought there was something off about it. He wasn’t trying to get closer to me, he was trying to let me down easy. He doesn’t love me, does he?”

Ksaumi tsked at her, which surprised the okonomiyaki chef. “Don’t be silly, dear. Of course he loves you. But I don’t think he feels the way you want him to.”

“But why? Why HER?” Ukyou cried angrily, “She’s violent, abusive, and angry! I’m more feminine than she is, and I’ve been acting like a boy the past ten years!”

Kasumi sighed. “You’ve only seen the worst parts. There were many times, back when the engagement was real, that they got along so wonderfully. It was only when other people starting getting in the way, spreading vicious rumors and the like, that they had problems. You just happened to keep catching them right after one of those times.”

“D#&$! Why did I have to fall in love with him...” The young chef was on the verge of tears.

“Ukyou, we can’t control who we fall in love with. You just have to remember that there are different kinds of love. If you can’t love him as a wife, then love him as a friend.”

The chef silently thought that over that for a bit. “I see… I’ll have to think on this for a while.”

Kasumi smiled softly as she stood up. “Just remember, it’s okay to work on a problem as long as you don’t dwell on it.”

Ukyou nodded softly before heading up the stairs to her room. Once inside, she closed the door and collapsed onto her futon. “What am I supposed to do? I’ve been a boy for so long, I don’t even know how to be a girl. What guy is going to want someone like me? Do you have any idea what I’m going through?” She sighed to herself. “But is that enough of a reason to try and get between my friend and a girl who could also be my friend?”

She sat in silence for some time before getting up. She swiftly packed away all her things, a not-too-difficult task since she didn’t really own much. Walking down the stairs, she found Kasumi in the kitchen. “Uhm… could you do me a favor?”

Kasumi didn’t need to turn around to know what was going on. Many people might think of her as clueless, but she was quite aware of everything that went on in the house. She had heard Ukyou packing and knew that the young girl had come to a decision. Turning around, she smiled fondly at the chef. “Anything for a friend.”

Not used to having friends, Ukyou blushed. “Thanks… could you tell Akane and Gohan that I’ve got to go away for a while. If… when I come back, I’d like to be their friend, if they still want me.”

Kasumi nodded. “Of course. You’ll always be welcome here, Ukyou.”

Meanwhile, at Kami’s Lookout, Gohan watched anxiously as Dende carefully lay his hands on her. A soft glow encompassed her body and a few moments later, the young girl’s eyes fluttered open. As she started to sit up, Akane suddenly found herself in a crushing hug. Struggling for breath, she managed to pull away far enough to make out Gohan’s concerned face.

“What happened?”

“What happened?” Gohan repeated incredulously. “You didn’t listen to me and nearly got yourself blown into the next world, that’s what happened!”

Akane suddenly found the ground to be quite interesting. “I thought I could take it.”

Gohan shook his head slowly. “I told you to dodge because I knew the techniques I’d taught you and Ukyou weren’t enough to stop those bombs! It was almost like you were trying to prove yourself or something!” Suddenly it clicked in Gohan’s mind. ‘Oh, crap… that’s exactly what she was doing…’

“I’m sorry,” Akane said quietly. “Gohan… I… I know you want Ukyou. I j-just hope that w-we can still be f-friends.” ‘I won’t cry! I won’t cry! I won’t cry!’

Gohan just stared at her for a moment. “What are you talking about?”

“You’ve been hanging around her all the time, always finding some excuse to be alone with her. Do you think I’m stupid? That I can’t see how much you prefer to be with her?” Akane was quickly losing her control over her tears.

“Akane, I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell her that I want to be her friend, but not anything more. I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell her that I think I love you.”

Akane blinked through her building tears. “Y-you do?”

Gohan rubbed the back of his head. “Well… I’m not sure. I don’t really know anything about this sort of thing, but I think I love you.”

Akane stared at him for a moment longer before throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly, tears now flowing freely down her face. Gohan was stunned for a moment, but eventually he slipped his arms around her. “I think I love you too, Gohan.”

Dende coughed from off to the side, reminded Gohan of his presence and catching Akane’s attention. Turning to look at the source, Akane saw the tall, green-skinned alien and did what most people would do in that situation. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!”

Dende wiggled a finger in one of his pointed ears. “Healthy set of lungs on that girl, eh Gohan?”

The half-Saiyajin nodded with a smile. “Akane, calm down. He’s a friend and he’s the one who healed you. Dende, this is Akane. Akane, this is Dende, aka the Kami of Earth.”

Akane blinked a few times. “KAMI? Y-you mean I’m dead?!”

Dende had tried to contain his laughter the whole time, but this outburst shattered his self control. “Bwhaahahahaahahaha!”

Gohan shook his head in amusement. “No, Akane. And before you ask, we’re not in heaven either.”

“Bu-bu-bu-bu…”

“It’s a long story. Just know that you’re alive and that Dende here is a good friend of mine.”

At this point, the green-skinned Kami managed to get his laughter under control. “And I hope that you will consider me your friend as well, Akane. I’ve been watching you for some time and I’m glad to finally get the chance to meet you.”

After a few more moments of stunned shock, Akane finally managed a weak smile and a bow. “I’d be honored, Kami-sama. And thank you for healing me.”

Gohan chuckled at the title while Dende just shook his head lightly. “Just call me Dende. And it was my pleasure.”

The half-Saiyajin shook his friends hand. “Sorry to cut this short, Dende, but her family is probably worried about her so we better get back quick.”

The Guardian of Earth nodded in understanding. “I know. Take care, you two, and be sure to visit again.”

Akane bowed once again as a stray thought entered her mind. She remembered her words from months ago, ‘So, does that make Kuno Kami?’ and Gohan’s startled reaction. It made so much sense now. Shaking her head to clear it some, she started to look around for the exit. Walking over to the side of the Lookout, she nearly fainted. She thought that maybe they were on a small platform or even a tower or something. The fact that she could make out clouds FAR below her was almost overwhelming. “Whaaaaaaaaaaaa!? You said we weren’t in heaven!”

Gohan chuckled. “We’re not. We’re just on Kami’s Lookout, which is pretty high up there.”

“How did we get up here?”

Before Gohan could respond, Dende piped up. “Gohan flew you up here, cradled in his arms. It really was kind of romantic, you know.” Dende ignored the glare he got from Gohan and sent a telepathic message back. ‘Trust me.’

Akane turned to look at Gohan, who was trying his best to look everywhere but at the raven-haired girl. “You… flew? You can fly?”

Gohan slowly nodded. “Uhm… yeah… I don’t like doing it in front of others because it scares them off.”

“C-can you teach me?”

“Sure. You’ve actually gotten far enough in your training to where I think you might be able to learn how to fly. The only problem is, a city isn’t the best place to do that. Too much attention, plus too many other things in the air for you to run into.”

Dende smiled. “Why don’t you take the girl to your home? There’s plenty of open space, plus she can meet your mother.”

Gohan made a strange noise at that. “I don’t want to scare her!”

Akane instantly went from hopeful to angry. “Are you saying I’m scary?!”

Gohan blinked. ‘When you’re like that, yes.’ Wisely, he didn’t say that. “No, I meant I didn’t want to scare you. You see… mom can be a bit strange at times. And violent. And hot tempered…” ‘Gee, that sounds familiar.’

Akane smiled at him. “That’s okay. I’d really like to meet your mom and learn how to fly.”

Gohan smiled back. “It’s a date, then.” They both blushed at that.