Author's note: Anything in bold is sign language.

The campfire crackled quietly, it's glow and warmth chasing away the chill of the night. A small emerald green form was sound asleep, wrapped in the corner of a white cape. Not too far away, a larger emerald green form was staring at the star-speckled sky and brooding silently.

My son…deaf… Endlessly black eyes turned away from the stars and fixed onto the smaller sleeping form. Did I do something to make him that way? Am I to blame? No…how could such a thing be possible? The large Namekian slowly moved and sat down at the smaller one's side. Maybe the doctor made a mistake…

"Tategoto." Piccolo spoke in a whisper.

No response. Tategoto just kept right on sleeping, as happy as a baby could be.

Piccolo snapped his fingers right by the baby's ear. Still no response. Grimacing slightly, Piccolo steeled his nerves, put two fingers into his mouth and whistled as loud as he could. The noise echoed in the valley and grated on his nerves like nails on a chalkboard.

And Tategoto slept on as his father stared at him in silence.

What else can I do? I'll just put him out of his misery… Piccolo reached his large hand down towards the child and slowly curled his fingers around the tiny neck. One quick squeeze would do it. One quick squeeze would end a lifetime of pain. One quick squeeze to end a life the never really began. Tategoto awoke to the touch and his large eyes met his father's as a happy squeal came from his mouth. That innocent smile and bubbling giggle seemed to jam a sword into Piccolo's heart. Piccolo started to press his thumb down over the tiny bulge in Tategoto's throat that would someday be an Adam's Apple, causing the small child's air supply be cut off. The baby's innocent smile disappeared as a look of agony came to his face, and he struggled against his father's grasp.

For some reason, the disappearing of the smile did something to Piccolo's mind and made his eyes mist over. No. I will not shed tears! I am not that weak! He found himself shaking his head violently as if to toss aside the strange emotions while releasing his grasp on Tategoto's throat. He watched him slump back against the weighted shoulderpads and cape that were lying on the ground. Almost instantly, the young Namekian baby started to cry.

Unable to stand the sound, Piccolo got up and flew away, leaving the child there all alone. Vulnerable to anything and everything. He flew as far as he could as fast as he could, until finally he could hear the child's cries no more.

How will I ever communicate with him? How will I teach him to fight?! Piccolo thought about this as he crossed his arms. His left elbow brushed something papery, and he looked down to see the pamphlets he got earlier were still stuck in his belt. They had migrated there from his pocket when he "morphed" out of the clothes he wore to the doctor's office. Out of curiosity, he pulled one of them out and opened it. Most of it just talked about the various types of deafness, but the back page had something rather interesting on it.

There were images of hands in all sorts of strange positions, and a letter of the alphabet was labeled under each drawing. Cocking his head, Piccolo copied the first picture. He formed a fist, keeping his thumb pointed upwards so it was parallel to the first joints in his fingers. Then he copied the second one by sticking four fingers straight out and curling his thumb in towards his palm.

It didn't take Piccolo long to realize that these hand signals stood for a letter in the alphabet. In a few minutes, the mighty Namekian mastered the entire Manual Alphabet, and managed to spell out his own name as well as Tategoto's. A glimmer of hope rose in his almost-frozen heart, even though it was going to be a long shot, and he quickly reached for the next pamphlet.

"Sign Language…" He said aloud as he read the pamphlet. Then he remembered that he'd left Tategoto all alone. "If he can fight, it'll be worth being annoyed for a little while…." Piccolo said aloud as he rose into the air and returned to where he had left Tategoto.

Tategoto was asleep again, curled around the heavy shoulderpads of his father's cape. Piccolo reached over and pulled the cape around his small form, then sat back and finished reading the pamphlet.

I can't believe I'm doing this… Piccolo said silently as he landed in front of a rather nice looking building. It looked more like a house then a classroom, with many different types of flowers out in front and a nice red brick path up to the door. The building itself was white with a chocolate-brown slatted roof and a wood-paneling door. The large Namekian stared the place down for a few moments. Once again, he had changed into street-clothes, but something slightly less casual then last time. He was wearing an unbuttoned black flannel shirt with a white shirt underneath, and the three buttons under the collar were left undone so that the top of his pecs showed, and he was also wearing an expensive looking pair of blue jeans.

Tategoto gurgled from his position in the crook of his father's arm. Piccolo looked down at him and snorted. "Yeah, I know." Then he remembered that Tategoto couldn't hear him and that was the reason why he was here. He looked at the building again and sighed, "Well, I guess we gotta go inside." The tall Namekian man slowly walked towards the nice looking building and rapped on the door with his pointed nails.

"Come on in!" A light voice called.

Piccolo opened the door and was greeted by a blast of cool air from the air conditioning. Tategoto shifted slightly, his large eyes turning to look at his surroundings. Piccolo looked around as well, not seeing any of the people yet.

The room was decorated with all sorts of murals. Abstract colors and shapes. A large wall hanging with the Manual Alphabet decorated the far wall. There was only one person in the room, and she seemed to blend in so much that Piccolo didn't see her until she moved to stand.

She was a tall masculine looking woman, almost as tall as Piccolo, with chocolate skin, large dark brown eyes that were almost black and long sable hair that was pulled into a french braid. She smiled and said in a rich, sweet voice that gave away the fact that she had shouted the 'come on in', "Konnichiwa. You must be Piccolo."

"Yeah." Piccolo replied tersely, his deep voice seeming to boom throughout the entire room.

"Excellent. I'm Yasmine Davis, and I'll be your instructor for awhile." She extended her hand, but when Piccolo just blinked at the gesture, she boldly grabbed his free hand and shook it. "Welcome aboard!"

"Yeah." That seemed to be the only word that worked right in his brain at the moment as he pulled his hand away and fought the urge to hit her. Don't touch me lady. Piccolo said silently. Tategoto gurgled and wiggled his fingers at Yasmine while his other hand kept a firm grip on his father's shirt.

Yasmine just smiled at Tategoto, then looked back up at Piccolo. "I suppose he's the reason you're here. C'mon and sit down so we can get started already." She gestured to the couch, then turned, walked back to where she was sitting before and sat down. The wooden floor creaked in slight protest as Piccolo followed and eased himself onto the couch while fighting off the urge to just leave this uncomfortable situation.

"Where are the others?" Piccolo asked absently as he put Tategoto down next to him. "I thought this was a class."

"You're the only one that signed up. But that's OK. I find it worth it to help one person make a difference." Yasmine cocked her head a bit and smiled brightly to reveal flawless teeth. "So…do you know the Manual Alphabet already or not?"

"You mean the fingerspelling stuff? Yeah." Piccolo answered. He was feeling uncomfortable, maybe even scared, there was no way to be sure. All he knew was that this woman was seeing him doing something because he cared for his son. Why couldn't I just kill him?

"Good. Show me what you got."

Sighing, Piccolo held out his hand and started to form the letters with his fingers. When he got to the P, Yasmine stopped him.

"What?"

"Your middle finger is supposed to point down, not outwards. It might get confused for an H. Here." She reached out and gently adjusted the position of his fingers. Tategoto, seeming oblivious of what was going on, happily clapped his hands together and babbled.

"Whatever." Piccolo did the right symbol, then continued through the rest of the little gestures until he had completed the entire alphabet.

"I think we're off to a pretty good start, Piccolo." Yasmine commented, pushing her braid over her shoulder.

Almost a year had gone by since Tategoto was born. It had been nearly six months since Piccolo had started learning to use Sign Language, and he became pretty good at it. Even still, he made a few mistakes. Tategoto was growing as well. He had gone from crawling to walking, and when he wanted attention, he had this annoying habit of grunting or clicking his tongue. When he wanted something, he'd usually tug his father's cape and point at whatever he wanted. Piccolo would often teach him how to get it for himself, but even still, he just couldn't shake the urge to keep looking over the kid's shoulder.

Good morning. "Good morning!" Yasmine spoke the words and signed then at the same time to Piccolo as he arrived for the day's lesson with Tategoto not far behind.

Piccolo replied in silence with the same gesture, looking genuinely annoyed. Good morning.

"You always look like you've had a bad day. Cheer up." Yasmine laughed quietly and headed inside, shutting the door, "There's a few things we need to talk about anyway."

"Whatever." Piccolo loped to the now-familiar room with Tategoto scrambling along behind him. When he sat down, Yasmine started to speak.

"When he gets older, he's going to need an education."

"I'm going to teach him to be a fighter." Piccolo quickly replied, crossing his arms as his brow ridges drew together to complete his typical scowl.

"Oh really now? But what will you do when he's old enough to realize that he's different from most people? That he can't hear? Then what will you do?" Yasmine countered, the silvery tinkle of her voice taking on an edge of coldness. She leaned back on the couch and crossed her arms, glancing at Tategoto momentarily to make sure he was OK. "You only know how to talk to a deaf person. You don’t know how to teach one. Sight won't be enough, you know. You gotta stimulate the other four senses that still work."

"I can do that just fine." Piccolo growled in a harsh tone. "Are you suggesting I put my kid in some school?"

She made a fist and moved her hand up and down, signing. Yes.

"Bah!" Tategoto grunted as he knocked over an expensive vase and watched it crash to the ground. Yasmine jumped up and ran to his side. Piccolo brooded silently for a moment, then got up and walked over to where Tategoto and Yasmine were, looming over them both with his arms crossed.

That was bad. Piccolo signed to the boy when he had his attention long enough to do so. That was the first time he'd ever used the sign language outside of the lessons, and he did it without even thinking.

Yasmine just grinned. Perhaps she was getting through after all.

Piccolo landed out in his usual valley with Tategoto under his arm. Almost immediately, Tategoto scrambled away to go take a nap, and Piccolo sighed because now he'd have some peace for a few hours. He pointed to his chest and let the yellow glow cover him as his street clothes morphed back into his gi. Then he sat down on the ground indian style, crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he started to hum a monotonous note to ease himself into meditation.

Tategoto had changed his mind about sleeping. He was cold anyway, and his "blanket" was currently in use. So the young Namek did the only thing he knew to do. Scrambling over a rock, Tategoto walked over to Piccolo and climbed into his lap. Piccolo just snorted in indignation, but didn't push the child away either.

Then Piccolo felt Tategoto's hand on his throat. It was common for Tategoto to do this, to feel the vibration of his father's voice as he hummed during meditation. Still, he had yet to learn that what was most often a vibration to him was a sound to someone else.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…" Piccolo kept on humming, but the hum fell silent when he felt a tug on his cape. "Grr! What?" His arms were still crossed, so he couldn't sign the question out. A giggle from Tategoto made Piccolo open his eyes.

And Piccolo opened his eyes just in time too, because at that very moment, Tategoto opened his hand, stuck his thumb out and touched the extended thumb to his forehead.

Tategoto's "first word".

Piccolo couldn't hide his astonishment. He just called me father! How did he learn that so fast?! A brief grin passed the Namekian man's face, making him look surprisngly pleasant for a moment.

Father. Tategoto signed again, giggling.

Yes, Tategoto…there is hope for you yet…