Fractured Souls

Chapter Three: Terrors of the Mind

There were small groups of students standing here and there on the school's front lawn but Gohan didn't find anything unusual about it until he heard the small sounds associated with grief. Their voices were hushed as they spoke, constantly broken by sniffles and the sound of noses being blown, and looks of fear were upon their faces. Gohan stood there, confused, and worked up the courage to question the nearest student.

It was the vaguely familiar dark-haired girl from the first day of school.

"It's so horrible Gohan!" she said while dabbing at her eyes with a white handkerchief. "They said he was just lying there in a pool of his own blood."

"Who died?" he asked with a brief hope that it was the unknown junior. The girl shook her head, apparently remembering the exact moment she had been informed, and burst into tears again.

She took a few deep breaths and answered, "Aizawa-sensei."

He stared at her for a moment, his mind refusing to give the words meaning. Then he nodded slowly. "The universe has been balanced."

"What are you saying?" she asked, eyes wide with shock. "Are you happy that he's dead?"

"Not necessarily happy but satisfied. He said things to me that I will never forgive him for." Gohan started off towards the main entrance and after a second's delay the girl followed him.

"I heard about that at lunch on Monday and even more on Tuesday," she said to him. "Ashida and his friends beat the crap out of you in the gym locker room."

"I wonder how much of what everyone has heard is a lie," he said aloud to no one in particular. He glanced over at her. "It happened, I healed. It's over."

"They also said that you had bruises all over your body. Actually, it was Yuji who told me that. I found him outside sitting underneath a tree looking pale and horrified." She looked him over. "You don't look like someone who'd been beaten half-to-death only two days ago."

He was more than a little annoyed with her. "Look-"

"It's Videl."

"Look Videl-" He broke off and blinked. "Videl Satan? Is that your name?"

She smiled slightly. "Nice of you to finally remember me. You look exactly the same, Gohan. Haven't seen you around for a while, though."

"I live with my tousan now. Did you move to Tokyo for good?"

"That's another thing...." She stopped in the hallway and leaned against the wall next to her homeroom. "You said that you live with your father, right?"

He nodded. "And my little brothers."

"Who was that other man who came in with you? I know who your tousan is, he's the tall one. Who was the short man?"

A million answers went through his mind. 'I could say that he's my uncle or my cousin but tousan and kaasan always told me not to lie.' "He's Vegeta, tousan's life-partner." 'Hey, that was a lot better than "boyfriend".'

"Oh." She had been expecting that answer but still she was surprised. "I've heard rumors about the main suspect. I thought I should tell you before someone screamed at you."

He had a bad feeling but remained silent. Gohan could bet money that Aizawa had plenty of enemies throughout Tokyo. Any one of them could have knocked him off. "What's wrong, Videl? Why are you warning me?"

"They think you or your father did it, Gohan. The secretaries said that you were both pretty angry after you left his office yesterday."

"Anger has nothing to do with it," he told her. "He's probably made hundreds of people angry on a daily basis."

"Maybe so but you're still a suspect." She patted him on the shoulder and went off down the hall. "See you later."

Gohan knew by the expressions on their faces that they thought he was a murderer. Yuji spoke to him just outside of the gym and suggested that he steer clear of Ashida for the rest of his life.

"I'm not going to fail that class because of him," he told him. "He can just keep his violent tendencies to himself from now on."

"You and I both know that's not going to happen." The boy let the worry and fear that he was feeling show on his face. "I haven't known you long but it would be terrible if he killed you."

"He's not going to kill me."

"Oh? Why are you so sure? Have you received a written statement from Ashida specifically saying that he wasn't going to lay a finger on you?"

Gohan turned away and fixed his gaze on the wooden doors to the gym. He couldn't look at Yuji; he was afraid of what he'd find in his eyes. He knew in his heart that Ashida could beat on him at any time but he had successfully convinced himself that nothing more would happen.

"You're only lying to yourself if you think this is over," he said to break the silence. "It's only just begun Gohan."

"Don't you think that I know that?" he asked as he spun back around with tears of frustration in his eyes. "It's written in stone, Yuji. For the remainder of my life I'm going to be insulted, beaten, and discriminated against." He realized that he was yelling and lowered his voice. "My tousan has been lucky enough to find someone to love and to cherish. I want that with someone someday but the risk is too great."

Yuji felt horrible for him but could only find one thing to say. "Life's a bitch and then you die."

"Don't I know it."

***

Six minutes into Ushiba-sensei's lecture on equations, two police officers strode right on into class and took him from Algebra to a small office near in the science wing. He figured that they wanted to interrogate him and followed without a word.

"I didn't kill him," Gohan said calmly even though visions of prison ran through his head. "I can tell you right now that I was at home for the rest of the day after I left the school."

The second office, a tall woman, smiled at him and he instantly didn't like her. "Hold on now. We're not accusing you of anything."

"Don't lie to me. Everyone thinks that I either killed the man or played a part in his death. He treated me like a worthless animal the entire time he spoke to me but even that's not enough for me to actually harm him."

The woman took the seat across from him at the table. "Do you have anyone outside of your family that could verify that you were at home?"

He had decided against calling Colby because they had spoken for hours the day before. Gohan regretted his decision. "Gomen nasai but iie. My tousans were at home with me, though. Both had taken the day off."

"I see." Her partner wrote something down on a piece of paper. "Where were you between the hours of five and seven a.m. today?"

'What does that time have to do with anything?' "Why?"

"Aizawa-san was murdered sometime this morning."

"I was at home. Tousan woke me up at about six-thirty. I had breakfast at seven and then I walked Goten and Trunks to school around seven-twenty."

"And they are?"

"My younger brothers."

The man took over for the woman, leaving her to record Gohan's words. "Tell me in your own words about the conference you had with Aizawa-san yesterday."

Anger was a predominant emotion yesterday but he hadn't been mad enough to hurt anyone. Actually, he pitied the principal more than he hated him. At least he had the capacity to care about others who were different from himself. "Monday I had been attacked by several other students who were merciless with their abuse. On Tuesday tousan and Vegeta-tousan came up here with me to speak with Aizawa-sensei about how he was going to handle the problem."

"Did he handle it in a way that you were satisfied?"

"No. I have to say that he made me angry. The entire time we were in his office he went on to say that basically I had brought the entire thing down upon myself. I don't appreciate being told that "my kind" should be punished for our perversion, Officer."

"Of course not, Gohan. No one would." His sympathy would have been more believable if he hadn't said it in monotone. "I would like you to undergo a psychiatric test for me, son." He held up his hand when Gohan opened his mouth to ask, "Why?" "It's now becoming formality, is all. You still have to consent to one but we like to get to know people a little better."

"In other words you want to see if I'm really a killer deep down inside," he muttered to himself but still signed his name after reading over the form. "What will it take for me to convince you that I didn't kill Aizawa-sensei?"

The female officer fixed him with an intense stare. "Concrete evidence. We'll speak to you again later, Gohan. Don't leave the city any time soon."

***

His father was called down to the police station in the middle of his shift at the hospital. The officers didn't care that he had a duty, they wanted to interrogate him A.S.A.P. Vegeta picked up pizzas from dinner after leaving the office and made it home around ten minutes before Goku did.

"I can't believe they think we killed him," Goku said to Gohan with a frown on his face. "When have we ever taken a person's life before?"

"Never."

"They why would the police think such a thing?" He was becoming frustrated with searching for an answer to his question and that in turn was giving him a headache. Vegeta appeared by his as silent as smoke and led him gently over to the sofa to give him a backrub. Gohan folded his arms and rested on the back.

"It's their job to explore every possible lead, I guess," he said. "Anger is usually a very good motive. Money, drugs, and sex usually follow."

Goku chuckled. "Do you get this stuff from t.v., Gohan?"

"Hey, I read books too you know." He pretended to be offended. "Actually we learned all of this in law class last year. In the mock trial I was the presiding judge."

"I can find out who really killed that man," Vegeta said so suddenly he startled both of them. "I am a private investigator after all."

Gohan had completely forgotten about that. "Would you really? Can I help you?"

The two men stared at each other for a moment before Vegeta gave his ascent. It was weird watching them do that even though he knew that they could speak within their minds. It was all a part of the bond. The thing that really irritated him, though, was knowing that they did it only when he wasn't supposed to overhear.

"C'mon Vegeta-tousan, let's hit the street! Time's wasting!"

Vegeta resisted his pull towards the front door and instead dragged Gohan backward. "We're not hitting anything tonight. The best way for you to help me is to ask around at school."

"You need his records don't you?" he asked with a smile on his face. "I've studied a lot of computer books so I can probably get into his files within half-and-hour."

His father turned to fix him with a look that made him squirm with discomfort. "What sort of books, Gohan? 'Ten Easy Steps to Becoming a Hacker'?"

"It all started out with a need to know exactly how certain programs worked," Gohan began. He paced back-and-forth on the carpet. "Windows 2009 was driving me crazy so I wanted to tweak it just a bit." He held up his thumb and index finger to illustrate. "I just edited the code. Haven't you noticed that it crashes less?"

"To the point, please."

He recognized the tone in his father's voice and sped up. "Anyway, I practiced with security codes on small sites and made sure to cover my trail. These people really need to consider an alternate form of security software."

Goku rolled his eyes. "I've been saying this over and over again for years but I'll say it just one more time. Gohan, you're too smart for your own good."

"I'm not sure whether to be pleased or offended."

"Be neither, you've still broken the law." Goku beckoned him closer and then turned to Vegeta. "What should I do with him on this one? Lock him out of the computer for three weeks?"

Gohan was shocked and was definitely not above begging him not to at that point.

"He's a hacker, koi. How long do you think it would take him to break into the computer?"

The boy let out a relieved breath, they didn't have to know that he had never cracked a BIOS password before. His father allowed him that feeling for only a few moments.

"For your punishment, Gohan, no television for a week."

'That's nothing, I don't really watch it anyway.' He looked sad as he nodded in understanding. "Can I still help Vegeta-tousan on the case?"

"I'll turn a blind eye to your illegial computer activities until this is over," he patted him on the shoulder and went into the kitchen for dinner.

***

He had a nightmare that left him sweating and terrified upon awakening. Gohan was torn between trying to go back to sleep and crawling into bed with his father. He hadn't done that in over nine years but the dream left him feeling uneasy

They had come into his home while he was sleeping and woke him up with their chanting. "Take the fairy, take the fairy." they shouted over and over again. There was a large group of them; kids and teachers from the schools he had gone to, distant relatives, and strangers. Two people, who's faces he could not see, pulled him from his bed and tied both a rope around his wrists and a blindfold over his eyes. Then all was a confused blur of darkness as they led him someplace far away from his home.

The scene had changed to one of a courtroom, similar to those he had seen on ancient episodes of The Practice. A judge sat on the bench in flowing black robes whose face was obscured by deep shadow.

Next to him, behind a large wooden table, was Colby who just happened to be his attorney. The blond boy smiled at him in a way made Gohan think that everything was going to be just fine. When he looked over to see the prosecuting attorney his heart immediately sank.

It was Ashida.

He sat at the table with three of his friends, head held high. It was pretty clear to Gohan that he knew the case like the back of his own hand. But just what was he on trial for, exactly?

"Prosecutor, you may call your first whitness," the judge announced.

Videl came forward and after she was sworn in, answered all of Ashida's questions with a smile on her face. What he asked made Gohan's stomach tie up in knots. "Did you ever notice that he was a fairy? Did you see any boys go in and out of his house on a regular basis?" He knew, then, what crime he was being tried for.

The crime of being gay.

"I object to this entire thing!" he shouted. "How can you hold me accountable for something I can't control?"

"Order, order!" The judge commanded. "Or I shall hold the defendant in contempt."

Gohan sat down grumbling, not happy the least bit.

"I don't think we can win this," Colby whispered. "They have more whitnesses than we do."

"How many do we have?"

"None," he sighed. "How can you prove that you're not gay without the results of a DNA test? I have prepared many questions that hopefully explain why your sexual orientation is only a small part of who you are."

The rest of the case blinked by and soon the jurors were filing back into the room. The foreman stood up to say the verdict and Gohan was shocked to his very soul to realize that it was his mother.

"We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of being a disgusting homosexual."

The judge rapped his gavel onto the table a few times and motioned to the man standing beside the bench. "Baliff," he said as the shadows dissipated. "Take him away." The judge was Aizawa.

Colby reached out for him as the officer led him away, hands falling short of their goal. Gohan cried as he stretched out as far as he could toward him and was devastated when only their fingertips brushed. The heavy doors of the courtroom shut with an echo throughout the empty hall and suddenly he was outside and it was night.

He wiggled and squirmed to free himself once he realized that he was tied to a very tall stake in the ground. There were piles of wood and newspaper all around him and the people of the crowd were mere shadows in the distance. Gohan wondered why there was something under his feet other than just plain wood for a moment before he caught sight of a headline for one front page article.

"Homosexual Boy Beaten To Death" it read and he realized that all the newspapers featured hate crimes against a gay or bi-sexual person. 'How ironic,' he thought. 'for my death fire to be lit from articles printed for the sole purpose of informing the public of what's wrong and evil.'

Colby stepped forward from the people, his face twisted into something Gohan had never seen before. He held a torch in one hand and a bible in the other. Tears silently began to slide down his face as his heart quietly wept for his friend's lost soul. It had broken after enduring the ultimate betrayal even as his mind insisted that Colby would never hurt him that way. Eventually the voice went silent and all he was left with was the pain.

The boy tossed the torch onto the pile, igniting the kindling beneath him. The hot flames flared up instantly and he felt them touch his bare arms in a distant sort of way. His mind was turning within, blocking himself from the reaction of the crowd and the reaction of his body to the intense pain. In a small corner of his mind he saw his father, his mother, and Vegeta standing at the forefront feeding the fire. The flames rose higher and higher until he could not longer see the people beyond.

That was when he had woken up.

After three minutes of staring blankly at the ceiling, he finally got up and wandered down the hall to his father and Vegeta's bedroom. They probably wouldn't mind; at least he *hoped* that they didn't. He really needed someone to comfort him, someone to hold him and tell him that everything was fine even though he knew that it wasn't. The small lie would help ease his mind and carry him off into a deep, restful slumber.

For a moment he just watched them sleep, Vegeta lying on his side facing the doorway with his father spooning him. The love they obviously shared always made him smile and think wistfully of some day in the far-off future when he would have someone to care about who felt the same way in return.

He crouched beside the bed and shook Vegeta's shoulder. "Please, wake up. I need you guys." One dark eye partially opened and took in the distressed figure before it. The other eye quickly followed.

"What's wrong, Gohan?" he asked while waking Goku. "Is everything alright?"

The private promise to stay composed and adult fled his mind as he just leaned on the edge of the bed and sobbed. Vegeta lifted him up onto the bed between Goku and himself and they tried to calm him enough so that he was coherent.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Goku asked gently while rubbing his back. "Sometimes it feels better to explain it to someone else."

Gohan sniffed and wiped his eyes. "I don't want them to come for me in the night, Tousan. Will you guys protect me from them? Please?"

"Who would come here for you?" Vegeta asked. "Why would anyone harm you?"

"The homophobes put me on trial for being gay and burned me alive after I was convicted." A fresh round of tears began as he remembered the fear. "I don't want to die. There's still a lot I haven't done yet."

Both Goku and Vegeta were inexperienced at soothing frightened children but did the best that they could. Gohan stretched out between them and finally felt safe enough to sleep again.

And there were no more dreams.