AN: This is my first ever fic on the Dragon Ball fandom… A show I haven't watched in seriously like… 6 years or so! I still don't know what possessed me to write this, but Piccolo has always been my absolutely favourite character and one of the parts of DBZ I enjoyed the most was when he interacted with ChiChi.

I will admit I'm a rabid shipper of these two, but there is so much more to their relationship that I can be contented with just what this fic works with. Sorry to disappoint fellow shippers, but the only confirmed pairings you will see mentioned here are Chichi/Goku and a vague mention of Bulma/Vegita. Everything else will be handled from a purely analytical point of view, which I hope you are able to enjoy. To anyone taking their time to read, thank you!

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Mutual:

Gohan looks as puzzled as Piccolo feels when the boy tells him his mother wants to see him. Still, it's only been a few weeks since the end of Cell's tournament, and while the world is still celebrating the victory of the greatest hero in history- he swears the next airplane he sees dropping confetti and photos of Mr. Satan will go down in a mass of flames-, Gohan is still mourning.

He supposes it would show more if it weren't for the boy's unnatural physiology. Maybe if he were more than just half-human, the rings around his eyes would be more noticeable, and the natural tan on his skin would show more of the sickly pallor underneath, but Saiyans are a warrior race born to rise from bloody battlefields, and their bodies refuse to show any hints of weakness.

And so, while Gohan's body looks as fit and ready as Piccolo knows it to be, his eyes appear dead.

Piccolo knows him, knows the thoughts gnawing at his mind and the guilt overriding him. Goku had all the trust in the world in him, trusted him to be even stronger than he himself was, and despite it having been true, Gohan feels his father died because he failed. Never mind the fact that he had saved the world, that he had defeated the strongest enemy they had ever faced- Goku is dead, and probably not even thinking about them as he trains in the afterlife.

Not for the first time, the Namekian is surprised at how much he wishes he could strangle Goku. Just a little, to make himself feel better.

He would probably want to do it more if it weren't because he is pretty sure, for once in his life, Goku understood how utterly selfish and careless he was being with his own son. By then, it was too late, of course, but at least he had understood it.

Unlike others.

And unlike Goku, he would very much like to strangle a certain Saiyan prince more than just "a little"- and that would certainly make him feel much better.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he stands from his admittedly failed attempt at meditation, and follows the boy back home. Chi-Chi probably wants to discuss Gohan's situation, or just drive him mad for the hell of it. Either way, it would be a welcome distraction from too many thoughts that he is tired of mulling over.

******* TBC *******