Edit 7/8/11: Chapter structure and grammar revised once more.

Chapter 1- Visiting

Gohan woke suddenly, startled beyond wits, and threw his covers off with inhuman speed. A brief look at the clock told him it was already 9:30 a.m. He would never make it to school in time for the advanced calculus test! His heart rate slowed and his head stopped spinning somewhat as he remembered that he had already done that test, and that today was, in fact, Saturday. Besides, his mother would have been screeching at him to get out of bed hours ago if it had been a school day.

He sighed in relief and stretched his arms above his head as he thought about the dream he was having before his subconscious demanded him to get up. The details were blurry and only a vague memory of something Piccolo-related remained. This did give Gohan pause; how long had it been since he'd seen his sensei turned best friend last? Heck, how long had it been since he'd done more than half an hour of training every other evening?

Gohan searched out Piccolo's Ki as he got changed and eventually managed to find it at the Lookout. It seemed calm and meditative, so he decided that today would be as good a day as any to visit his Namekian friend. Gohan ran down the stairs into the kitchen, to find his mother scolding Goten for attempting to eat the breakfast she had put aside for her eldest son.

"Morning Mum, sorry I'm up late; guess I stayed up later than I thought last night." He said sheepishly, quickly snatching the tray of food Goten had once again tried to get his hands on.

"I don't think so!" He chided his younger brother good naturedly, and proceeded to eat the now cold, yet still delicious, food at fast as his digestive tract would allow. Given his Saiyan heritage, that was fast enough to prevent the younger boy from attempting another grand theft food.

"That's ok, dear." Chi-Chi responded in a voice easily loud enough to be heard over the incessant munching of food and clinking of dishes and cutlery. She was well seasoned at making herself heard over two noisy males. Sadly it had never been three, but she tried to avoid thinking like that, for the sake of her sons' wellbeing. "I know you've been working hard, you had straight A's on your last report." She added proudly.

Gohan paused long enough to smile in return, and then continued eating as Chi-Chi rounded on Goten. "As for you, mister, I see you've been falling behind in mathematics and reading! You can't run around being illiterate and unable to do basic sums!" She began, only sounding slightly hysterical. She also failed to mention anything about the man her little boy resembled physically and, apparently, mentally. She didn't want to get into that this morning.

Goten pouted and gave his usual excuse, "But Mummy, that stuff is so boring! Can't we do some training today instead?"

Gohan smiled privately. His brother had no idea how lucky he was. Goten was neither pressured to study until he was the top student in classes three grades above his own, nor had he been thrown out into the wilderness with a less than friendly 'Mister Piccolo' for his first taste of training. Gohan was glad his mother seemed to have mellowed with age and had come to see the value of martial arts again.

Well, he definitely hoped it wasn't depression or a lack of one Son Goku that had caused it, anyway. After having established with everyone (including his father, thanks to King Kai) that he should not feel guilty, he still tried not to think too much about his father's death these days. The only time either he or Chi-Chi spoke about Goku out loud was when Goten initiated conversation in that vein.

"Um, speaking of training, is it ok if I go see Piccolo today? I mean, I don't have any more tests until the end of next week." He attempted to justify as he dumped the now empty dishes into the sink.

Chi-Chi frowned and looked very much as if she wanted to say, 'definitely not!' However, she did pause to think about her son's mental health. He had been quite stressed lately. Sometimes she heard him up at odd hours, or when she stopped by his door she heard mutterings which sounded very much as though he was reliving the past through his dreams. Perhaps a hard training session would actually do him some good. "Alright, but make sure you're back before dinner. I expect you to study something before bed!" She added.

Gohan looked surprised that he had managed to win his mother over so easily, but didn't pause to consider it in case the offer was retracted. "Sure thing, Mum!"

He reminded Goten to behave for their mother, before blasting off in the direction of the Lookout. It had been so long since he had flown any distance without Kintoun that making it all the way there was actually rather taxing.

As Gohan arrived at the Lookout, he tried to cover his heavy breathing and recover as subtly as possible, which wasn't being made any easier by the thin air at this altitude. He followed the familiar Ki signatures to Mr Popo's carefully tended garden, in which there was an ecstatic Dende running towards him and Piccolo himself slowly opening his eyes in vague surprise, as he pulled out of his meditative mind state and stood.

"Gohan!" Dende exclaimed delightedly. "Good to see you, it's been so long." He smiled and halted before the boy, seeming to be waiting for an explanation. "What brings you here?"

"Well," he began, "it's been so long since I've seen anyone. You know, with the way my mother keeps me locked away in my room to study." He laughed and scratched the back of his head, a habit most associated with his father. "Guess I missed everyone enough to risk escaping for a while."

"Seems you also missed a training session or ten." Piccolo smirked as Gohan continued to laugh uncomfortably, embarrassed. "I barely recognised you."

"Yeah well, hasn't been much to worry about since Cell…" He trailed off, avoiding the subject for the umpteenth time that morning.

Piccolo picked this up almost instantly, however. Obviously the boy, almost man now, had not dealt with Goku's death quite as well as he would like the rest of them to believe. "You know that's no excuse. We'd better rectify the situation." Piccolo more demanded than suggested, before taking off in the direction of the desert where he had first trained Gohan so many years ago.

Gohan briefly bade farewell to their latest Kami and passed on a greeting to Mr Popo, before taking off after Piccolo. He was glad he was at least able to keep up with the Namek, but the amount of effort it took to maintain flight was still embarrassing. He was too busy trying to pretend he was keeping pace with no effort to notice Piccolo's poorly concealed look of concern for both his mental health and physical state.

Finally, after a silent trip over, the pair plummeted into the relatively small, lush green area located within the centre of a desert. Piccolo turned to Gohan and began, "Alright, we're making up for lost time. Don't tell me you've forgotten how to fight?" He decided to taunt a little, trying to get Gohan to take him seriously. Piccolo felt the tireder he was, the easier it would be to find out what was still ailing him. Getting him to admit to his guilt would be the first step to abolishing it.

Their sparring session was stilted at first, as Gohan became used to moving at speeds to outdo someone beyond an average human again. But he was soon surpassing Piccolo as his familiar Saiyan battle instincts awakened.

Several hours later, Gohan finally gave in to his hunger as he realised that it was way past lunchtime. He could have sworn his stomach was attempting to eat itself.

"Say, mind if I take a break to eat? I'm starving!" He complained, clawing at his own stomach as soon as they broke apart from a particularly fierce exchange of blows. His distraction had cost him, however, if his swelling and bleeding bottom lip was anything to go by.

Piccolo simply rolled his eyes at the dramatic gesture and folded his arms, signalling his assent. He hadn't even been required to remove his training weights yet. Gohan just grinned foolishly, grateful for Piccolo's unexpected lenience, and trotted off to find enough food to sustain him until dinner time.

Sometime later, Piccolo found himself frowning in mild disgust at the amount of and manner in which Gohan was packing away whatever the thing that he had managed to find for sustenance was. He just sighed and muttered something unintelligible about Saiyan appetites.

"What was that Piccolo?" Gohan asked after forcing another lump of meat down.

"I said you're disgusting." He replied, brow knitting together in a familiar way.

Gohan simply laughed, once again. "Yeah, well, we can't all survive on water alone. I don't even know what to classify you as. Part reptile and part plant? Do you photosynthesise?" The questions continued coming despite Piccolo's lack of answers, as Gohan thought about the content for his upcoming biology test.

"Possibly," he replied, not wanting to admit he didn't know what the word meant.

"It's the only thing I can think of that would make sense, you know." Gohan added thoughtfully, slumping down with his back against Piccolo's side. He was stuffed, and seemed to be getting sleepy instead of reenergised. "I mean, your muscle is similar to ours," this comment was accompanied by a poke to a pink bicep, "and I can only assume your brain is too, so you have to be getting large amounts of energy and building proteins from something other than water."

"Humans and Saiyans are so similar. I mean, when two organisms can have fertile offspring it's meant to mean they're of the same species, right? But Saiyans still have a tail… and the ability to transform…" He mumbled off to himself, knowing high school biology would never be enough to explain his own body, let alone a Namek's.

Gohan sighed as he settled into his own thoughts. He didn't appear to be moving anytime soon. Piccolo was growing increasingly more uncomfortable with the physical contact. Eventually he caved and shoved Gohan enough to break the contact… and cause his inattentive face to smack into the ground.

"Uh, what was that for?" Gohan complained, slowly sitting back up again and rubbing his head in mild discomfort.

"You know I dislike physical contact." Piccolo replied, actively trying to not feel guilty for his mostly unwarranted abruptness. "While you Earthlings seem to be content to touch each other and scream your feelings to the world at large, I feel that only a child I hatched myself should be treated in a way that even vaguely resembles that."

"Oh sorry, I forgot. Just my instinct, you know? But, Nameks must have relations with each other. I mean, other than with their children. Obviously there is no concept of 'mate', but don't you feel inclined to have a best friend or something?" Gohan questioned, turning over to lie on his stomach and childishly swinging his legs at the knee as he waited for a response. His hands supported his head so he could maintain eye contact.

"Well I… suppose that is true. I remember, though it isn't one of 'Piccolo's' memories, that those who are especially close will open their minds to each other." He finally answered, uncertain all of a sudden. So much for putting Gohan on the spot about his father…

"What do you mean?" Gohan asked, tilting his head to the side curiously.

"You know the rare occasions on which the two of us communicate by thought? Well, Nameks are able to communicate naturally to one another in a similar way; it's used over long distances, or for privacy. But between those who are closer, both thoughts and feelings are completely open. The ultimate honesty, if you will."

Gohan stared and then immediately thought of the consequences of sharing a bond like this. Piccolo would see right through his act of all's fine and dandy in the Son house in picoseconds. Anytime he had a bad thought, such as a pang of jealousy or bitterness, it would be out there.

"Now that," he finally replied, "is weird."

Piccolo simply smirked. "Hiding something, are we?"

Gohan immediately averted his gaze and said, "No!" both too quickly and too loudly to be natural.

"Well, that's the idea behind it. You trust the other person so much to not think badly of you, no matter what negative things you may feel sometimes. Without mental barriers, it is much easier to understand another, but it seems humans don't think this way. Everything has to be verbally expressed, which often detracts from the true meaning."

Gohan briefly thought this explained Piccolo's stubbornness against and inability to physically express emotion. Perhaps it was time to stop lying to everyone, including himself, and actually do something about the, some days debilitating, guilt.

"And, um, have you ever wanted to share this bond with a human?" He asked, suddenly hesitant. Maybe he was assuming too much. Why would Piccolo want to know his every thought and feeling?

"Well, perhaps with a certain half breed." He replied, watching Gohan's face as the meaning of that remark slowly dawned on him. Honestly, in some ways he was as slow as his moronic father…

"I dunno if I can. It just seems so…" He made a face in an attempt to explain what he either couldn't or didn't want to put into words. Considering the size of his vocabulary when he actually stopped to think, the former was probably not the case.

Piccolo just privately snickered at the look on his face before saying, "And how do you think I felt every time you insisted on trying to touch me when you were a child?"

"But I couldn't help it 'Mister Piccolo'; you were the biggest and grumpiest eight-year-old I'd ever seen!" Gohan said earnestly, which was soon betrayed by the look of mirth on his face.

Piccolo scoffed at this, stating, "Knowing how sheltered you were, I was probably the only eight-year-old you had ever seen." Privately, he continued puzzling over the contradiction he had just been faced with. "You know, it's things like that which make me mistrust humans. Your face says one thing, your voice another and, for all I know, your thoughts something else entirely. But I managed to get used to it… eventually."

"Well," Gohan sighed, "I can't make any promises, but I'll give it a try." He sat up and faced Piccolo, mirroring his favoured lotus position. "So, what do I do?"

Piccolo released a breath as he focused on Gohan's Ki and spoke to him telepathically. "Well, first we need to establish a connection. Feel around. You can sense the barriers in my mind, yes?"

Gohan concentrated on Piccolo's Ki in turn, and made his consciousness spread out a little. He soon found himself encountering the resistance of the Namek's mind, feeling his thoughts almost slide off some kind of rounded wall. If he had to compare it to the physical world he would say he was on the threshold of a weirdly shaped room that he couldn't quite see or get into.

"Yes." He finally replied, also telepathically.

"Alright, now these kinds of barriers could be forced down, but that would more than likely lead to madness. So, what you have to do is… leave some kind of hole in your barriers so that the other can get through freely. Opening your psyche to whomever cares to glance into your mind is just as mentally damaging as forcing someone else to remove their barriers to you. So concentrate on only letting me through." Piccolo continued to instruct with words alone. "Here, I'll open up a bit and let you see."

Gohan let his hesitancy and general agreement to continue escape, before instinctively closing up his own barriers once more. In response, Gohan could feel Piccolo's surprise at how quickly he'd gotten that far and mild curiosity directed towards the issue of this actually working. It didn't take Gohan long to realise why Piccolo preferred this method of communication. It was succinct and highly informative, especially compared to trying to adequately put things into words.

He inhaled and exhaled again, briefly wandering through his own mind and attempting to open things for Piccolo to feel. In his haste he brushed over his feelings about the whole 'Cell Fiasco' and did the mental equivalent of clamming up.

Piccolo groaned and rubbed his head as he felt the unpleasant effects of being suddenly and very forcefully ejected from Gohan's mind. He did, however, now know that his suspicions had been correct. Six years later, Gohan still had a problem with what had happened to his father.

"Um, are you ok Piccolo?" He asked quietly, wondering how much he had seen.

"I'll live, but all you really have to do is close the 'hole' next time. Even though hiding anything is going against what we're trying to achieve, there's still no need to get so violent." He grimaced. It was much more difficult to maintain a defence against mental violence when his guard was already down.

"S-sorry…" Gohan muttered, shaking both from the foreign experience and the abundance of unwanted raw emotion he'd just touched upon. "How much did you see?" He wondered, trying to assess the damage.

Piccolo briefly contemplated saying he had seen nothing so he would be more willing to try again later, but decided to stick to his own advice instead. Honesty was the best policy. "Enough."

Gohan's face fell and he turned away in contemplation. Just as Piccolo was about to say something more, Gohan stood and said more quietly than usual, "I'd better get going home now. Mum told me to be back for dinner."

"I'm just trying to help you." Piccolo reminded him as he powered up to take off.

"I know." Gohan replied almost inaudibly as he took off in the direction he thought his home was in. After a brief pause, he passed back over their desert training field again, cheeks red with embarrassment. Piccolo sighed and wondered how he had managed to survive this long.

Yes, thoughts are so much more succinct than words. Ironic that I can only communicate this with… words! Anyway, please drop me a review. Constructive criticism would be very much appreciated, particularly about character dialogue. I've only seen DBZ Kai dubbed, and that doesn't have the Majin Buu time, so I worry about OOC…

Another chapter will be up when I have fewer assessments.