"Meditating?" A small but firm voice calls out. I peek an eye open then close it.
"Mhm." I hum out. "What's wrong? Your heart race just sped up."
"How do you know that?"
"My ears. They're big, remember? Do you need something?" He flies in front of me, changing the wind's pattern as he does so.
"I don't mean to disturb. I just wanted a quiet place to study. Do you mind..?"
"I don't care what you do. Just stay quiet and don't mess up my meditation."
There's no more talking after that, just the small sound of him turning the pages of his book.
Minutes turn into hours and the waterfall eventually falls from my steady gaze. My eyes peel open, suprised to see Gohan still here.
"Kid. Wake up."
I shake him and he groans, slapping my hands away. Even I have to chuckle at this, just a little. "Gohan, it's late. You need to go home."
"Mmmm, why?" He yawns loudly, stretching out even more. "Because it's late and your mother is probably worried about you." He cringes and I see it as he pretends to laugh it off.
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks for letting me study here, Piccolo. See you around." He flies off with books in hand.
For a while, I attempt to go back to my meditative state but I can't. His reaction when I brought his mother up haunts me and I am unable to see anything but his obvious displeased face. Instead of relaxing, I search for his energy, having a gnawing feeling that he didn't go home like I told him to.
Lo and behold, he's sleeping in a nearby cave, still clutching his school books. I want to scream, why is he avoiding going home? Figuring I won't get any answers just sitting here, I fly to his exact location. I'm careful not to startle him as I again shake him back to the world of consciousness.
"Gohan, I told you to go home. Why are you still out here?" He shudders, rubbing his hands on his arms to warm himself up. "I will."
"When?"
"Soon. I'm fine, Piccolo. Really." I make no attempt to hide my irritation at his horrible lying. He has never been a good liar. "Something you wanna tell me?" He shakes his head but I can feel his sadness. Why doesn't he want to talk to me?
In any case, I'm not going to push him. So I try another tatic. "Fine. When you're ready to go home, I'll fly back with you." He goes wide-eyed and stutters out a response. "I'm sixteen! I can take care of myself, you know."
"I never said you couldn't. But it's two in the morning and, for whatever reason, you prefer a cold hard ground to your comfortable bed. Don't you find that a bit odd?" He scowls, bringing his knees up to his chest. He doesn't have a response for that one and I'm close to just dragging him home by his ear.
"One night. Just let me stay here for one night and you can personally escort me home in the morning. Is that fair enough for you?" It bothers me that he would rather stay here than go back to his family but I grant his request. Maybe tomorrow I can figure out what's really going on.
As he gradually falls back asleep, his body is still reacting to the harsh weather around us. I drape him in my cape and my turban becomes his new pillow. He snuggles against it with a content sigh. Right. Take care of himself, he says. Sure.
