___Chapter 15___

The rest of the day went smoothly. The training equipment was brought up, and the gravity was set to 200x earth's normal gravity. There was no known enemy approaching, but a chance to train in enhanced gravity was not one to be passed up. When night arrived, Gohan and Vegeta fell asleep on the floor in the training room, with the gravity still on. Oboe just sat up in bed.

She could not sleep. Like she could not the night before. But that night she had had an excuse not to sleep, she had been working on the supplies and such for the trip. Oboe had no such excuse tonight.

It was just that... this was the first time in nine years she had tried to go to sleep without him beside her.

It felt too cold, too lonely, without his strong arms encircling her and clutching her close to him, so that Oboe would fall asleep to the gentle beating of his heart and the slow motion of his chest as he breathed.

She could not rest. Her body was on alert, she usually was tense at night, ever since the time in her childhood when...

"That's enough. I'd rather not like to think about that, thank you." Oboe said to herself as she lay down, trying to sleep. "This is going to be a long night." She blinked away a tear, and whispered "I wish you were here, my beloved. Oh, where are you Piccolo?"

Then a small shape moved in the darkness, and a little hand touched her head. A feeling of coolness swept over Oboe, and she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

---

Lute took his hand from his mother's head. "Poor mom, you're a wreck. Hope you don't mind the sleeping spell. Sorry if you do, you need the rest" he said as he walked out of the room.

Lute had stolen away on the space pod, determined to help. He wasn't going to be left out this time. Even though the night before Oboe had told him he had to stay at home, he had snuck on when the cargo was being loaded. Between the rain and his friends distracting the loaders, he had gotten on without being noticed.

Lute glanced at Vegeta and Gohan as he passed them on his walk through the pod. They were slumped on the ground, their backs against each other, and Gohan was snoring loudly. It made for a pretty funny scene- until you glanced on the light on the gravitron that said "250x".

"I'm not even gonna try to go in there, I won't be able to move" he said to himself for the sake of talking as he continued to stroll about the ship.

It was twice as big as the first space pod, the one Goku had took to the original planet Namek. It had the main room with the gravitron and the kitchen below it, but it also had five small rooms instead of one. And only the main room was affected by the gravitron, the rest was left at normal gravity.

Lute glanced at Vegeta and Gohan's rooms as he passed them. Gohan's looked typically like that of any 20 year old boy- a total mess with all sorts of junk tossed through it. Vegeta's room was very plain. The only thing on the wall was a band poster for "The nameless ones".

Finally Lute got bored, and went back into the cargo hold to sleep.

---

The sky was bright, the only clouds were below him, and the road was before him. And on, and on, and on. And on some more. The road went on forever it seemed. Piccolo was bored out of his mind. Everything was so plain on snake way. The only thing that changed was how the road looped.

He knew he could go faster then just trudging along with his arms crossed, but he hated the idea of being stuck with Kaio-sama and his stupid jokes. He wasn't going for training, he was much stronger than King Kai, Piccolo was just going there for somewhere to stay while the others got the dragonballs.

He was utterly bored. It wasn't THIS bad last time. Then he'd had standable people around him. He had someone with him now, but this one only asked uncomfortable and/or personal questions EVERY FIVE SECONDS.

"But why didn't you tell me you had a son?" asked Kami once more.

Piccolo stopped, turned around, and screamed right in the old god's face "I told you to SHUT UP!!! I'm sick of you asking me that question! You don't have to know everything about my life! I don't even know why you're here!! You weren't here the last time I died! Why the hell now!?!"

Kami, staring up at Piccolo's rage filled eyes, answered as calmly as he could "I don't know. I just know that we have to keep going and stop fighting each other."

They continued walking with an eerie silence between them.

Then, more silently, the old namek added "And I'm sorry for asking you so many questions. I should know you well enough by now to understand what you are like. You may have changed much, but your... dislike for me, will never change, and you hold secrets deep in your heart from me. I know that you do not like when I interfere in your life. But we are connected, and you are my son. Even though your father and I were separate, we are one and the same. There are some times when I must interfere."

Piccolo's hunched-up shoulders slacked down the slightest bit, and, his back still turned, he said "You can read me like a book. I really hate that."

Kami was silent.

"I have no idea why I'm saying this, but... I don't really know why I didn't tell you about Lute. Ok?"

Kami pushed past Piccolo and kept walking without saying a single word to his 'son'.

"Where the hell are you going? You're not going to try and 'talk' to me like the bastard you usually are? You've decided not to give me any more of your bullshit? That's a change for the better!"

Kami glanced back for only a second. But the look on his face was enough to shut Piccolo up. A barely contained rage was boiling in the god's face. Kami had never responded to Piccolo's insults before. He just bore it quietly. But... Piccolo had hit a raw nerve this time, and Kami was having a hard time taking it. It was only when he disappeared over the horizon that Piccolo remembered he was suppose to be following. Piccolo leapt up, flew to about 1/4th a mile in front of the god, and started walking again.

The two continued down snake way once more, but quieter now, and a bit faster.

---

When Oboe woke up that morning, she automatically rolled over, looking for Piccolo. Seeing she was alone, she sat up.

"Where am I?" she whispered to herself as she looked around.

"Oh... I forgot. The ship. That's where I am." said Oboe quietly as she stood up, wearing only her underclothes.

Oboe shook the sleepiness out of her head, walked over to one of the walls, and took the framed rose off it. She stroked her hand over the smooth glass, a tiny smile appearing as she remembered when she had gotten it. It had been the first thing Piccolo ever gave her. A bigger one spread across her lips as she remembered something else. Right after that, she had given him his first kiss....

Oboe clutched the blossom tight to her heart, her eyes fluttering shut as she remembered it- the shock on his face when she pulled away from his cheek a second later, how he had sat there for a full minute (before even breathing it seemed), and then put a hand to his cheek, closed his eyes, and pulled his hand away, staring at it in disbelief, the smile that had crossed his face, and how he had turned his head down to look at her, staring up into his dark eyes with her sapphire ones, merely inches apart, and.. when the confusion totally faded from his face, and he laid his hand on the back of her head, pulled her a bit closer, and kissed her lips softly...

She sighed again, a tear coming to her eyes as she placed the frame back on the wall. How could he possibly be dead if these memories were so alive in her mind, if something like that from twelve years ago could be so vivid? He had been so strong in every way imaginable, how could he have been killed so easily...?

Then it struck her. He did have one weakness-

his heart.

He had not been born with all the emotions most people were, Piccolo was lacking all those that had stayed in Kami, the 'good' emotions. He had to be taught those. And it was much harder for him to be able to accept those things he had been taught over the demonic nature born in his soul. His heart, not the physical thing, but the embodiment of all those emotions called 'heart', was his weak spot. Kartak had struck at his in both ways. That was what had killed him. If Piccolo had never been taught those emotions, he would never had placed himself between death and his family. In fact, if it wasn't for those emotions, he wouldn't have a family at all. Indirectly, Oboe had caused his death. His love for her had killed him. If he had never known love, he would still be alive... but what kind of a life would that be?

Oboe brushed her hand across her face to try and silence her thoughts as she pulled her clothes on, and went out into the main room to see how the boys were doing. It didn't matter. He was going to come back to her. No matter what she had to do to do that. Then she could muse over her thoughts. Not before.