Fractured Souls

Chapter Five: Pain of the Emotional Sort

The lecture had taken over two hours and made him feel appropriately guilty. He knew what he had done was borderline suicidal but he hadn't known of any other way. His name had to be cleared somehow and a thorough investigation was the key.

"*Please* just call me the next time you discover something!" Vegeta pleaded with him. It was so rare for him to do so that Gohan immediately agreed.

"The waiting is hard for us too, Gohan. None of us know if they have enough circumstantial evidence yet for an arrest."

"I don't have a good alibi for yesterday. Videl knew that I was going to see Jackson-san."

A thoughtful look came over Vegeta's face. "How did the body smell?"

Both Goku and Gohan stared at him with incredulity. "Is *now* a good time to ask that question, Vegeta-tousan?"

He nodded. "It'll help clear you if we now how long he was dead before you got there. Now, did the room smell metallic like fresh blood or was it putrid like he'd been there awhile before you arrived?"

Gohan thought back to that awful moment yesterday despite the fact that his mind was shielding him from all the details. It had become a distant thing, as if it had happened years ago instead of just the day before. "It was fresh, I know that for sure. The handprint on the wall hadn't even dried completely yet."

"Damn," he sighed. "This is going to be harder than I thought."

Resurfacing memories made the tears come again. He thought he had moved past the horror and fear onto something more positive. Nearly incoherent, he apologized for his emotion and ran off to his room.

"He's going to need counseling for this. Until he works out his feelings it'll never leave him alone." Goku's fists clenched involuntarily. "Why are they doing this to him? Gohan wouldn't even hurt a fly!"

"I know that and you know that," Vegeta said softly. "But the cops don't. Right now he's the only suspect they have probably. If there are witnesses who saw him leave the apartment then they might have him arrested."

"He's fourteen for Kami's sake! Kids his age shouldn't have a criminal record. He's still a child!"

Vegeta didn't know what to do or say to calm him down. Truthfully it angered him as well but, by nature, he didn't show his emotion. Goku, on the other hand, was an open book. Very rarely was he angry but when the emotion surfaced it was often violent.

He wrapped an arm around his shoulders and held him close. "I promise you, koibito, that I will find those who want to hurt our son and make them pay."

***

Gohan sat in his room, doodling aimlessly on a scrap sheet of paper. His fingers itched to pick up the phone and dial Colby's aunt's house but it had been only a few hours since Vegeta had taken him home. So he decided to take his mind from everything by doing the homework from his morning classes.

The phone rang ten minutes later, startling Gohan from his reading. "Moshi moshi," he said softly as he answered the phone.

"Are you okay, Gohan?" It was Videl and she sounded more than a little worried. "When you didn't come back to school I asked around and no one has seen you since this morning."

He silently debated with himself. How much could he tell her? "Something happened and I had to go home instead. I'm sorry you were worried."

"It was bad, wasn't it? Your voice sounds funny. I'll be over in ten minutes, Gohan. You need someone to-"

"Iie, don't!" He nearly shouted before lowering his voice. "I mean, I'm okay now. You don't have to come over here."

"Swear that I don't. On someone's grave."

He didn't want to do that because he knew he would be lying. But, if he swore on the grave of someone still living it wouldn't be that bad, would it? "I swear on my ojiisan's grave that I'm fine."

There was a pause. "I'll believe you... this time. See you at school tomorrow."

"Alright, ja ne." He hung up feeling even sadder than before. Gohan hated to lie but he couldn't tell her the truth about what happened. Videl didn't need to know horror so soon in her life; no one did.

"Niichan! You're on TV.!" Goten shouted as he ran into Gohan's room. He grabbed his arm and tugged on it, trying to pull him into the living room. On sofa sat Vegeta and Trunks, staring at the screen with wide eyes. Gohan blinked as he saw himself, white-faced and shaking, run from the apartment building and down the street. It was an amateurish film, the picture was shaky and sort of blurred, but you could still identify the person it featured.

"Oh my God," he said quietly as he sat on the edge of the sofa next to Vegeta. "They can indict me, now, and the judge will convict me."

Vegeta wanted to say something, anything, to reassure him but nothing formed in his mind. It would be up to the Tokyo Police Department and the case looked pretty open-and-shut despite the fact that Gohan didn't kill anyone.

An insistent pounding on the front door startled them all. "Police! Open up!"

Gohan jumped up from the sofa and backed away. "They're not taking me. I didn't do anything." His eyes darted around, trying to come up with a way to escape. After making a quick decision, he ran over to the window where the fire escape was, opened it, and took off for the ground below. Vegeta cursed and was about to go after him when a cop kicked in the door.

"We have a warrant for Son Gohan's arrest, sir." One of the cops said in a serious voice. "Are you his father?"

He shook his head, already on his way to the room he shared with Goku. "Iie, I'm not. Let get him for you."

Trunks frowned at the two police officers and looked them over. "Are you two guys bakas?" he asked.

"Excuse me?" the formerly silent cop asked in disbelief. He couldn't believe what he was hearing from a small child.

"You think my niichan killed two guys but he didn't do it."

The tall one holding the warrant crouched down until he was on Trunks' level. "How would you know that?"

"Because he's Gohan," he said simply. "He doesn't even hurt Goten an' me and we drive him crazy."

"Son Goku?" the shorter cop asked as he saw the saiya-jin enter the room. "I'm Officer Okawa and this is Officer Warren. We're here to charge your son with the murders of Aizawa Akira and Jackson Joseph. Where is he?"

Goku, Goten, and Trunks all looked to Vegeta for an answer. "Um, he, um..."

"Gohan ran down the fire 'scape," Goten said helpfully. "He's so scared of going to prison 'cause he didn't do nothin'."

The tall officer pulled a radio out of his waistband. "Dispatch, I need an APB out on Son Gohan. He's escaped into the city."

"Right away, Officer Warren. You will be contacted when we find him."

Goku forced himself to stay calm and took a seat on the sofa. "Explain to me why my son is being charged with murder and don't spare any details." He silently hoped that he could give Gohan enough time to hide until they could work everything out. They needed more time to find those who wished to frame him and every second counted.

***

The sun was setting, throwing deep golden light over the reflective glass windows of the tall buildings. Gohan ran until his breath came in gasps and his chest was burning, stopping to lean against the side of a building. He didn't know where he could go to escape from the police other than to Africa and his ojiisan but he had no money for a plane ticket.

'Why is this happening to me?' That was a question he had been asking himself over and over again ever since the day Principal Aizawa had been murdered and the blame was placed unfairly upon him. Someone wanted him punished, that much was clear, but he didn't have any idea who he had angered.

"I can't stop them from doing this to me," he whispered into the coming night, "but I can make the pain go away."

He used what little money he had left in his pocket to buy a bottle of cheap sleeping pills and a container of water from the nearest drug store. His mind was protesting and his heart was heavy, but he had no other solution.

Gohan walked across the city to the ocean and found a quiet, deserted spot on the beach. Darkness had fallen completely and he stood barefoot near the water with a resolute expression, pausing a minute to apologize.

"I know this will hurt all of you but I don't have a choice. I will miss you all." He looked upwards to the sky, and took its peacefulness as consent. He swallowed the pills two at a time and didn't stop until they were all gone. After allowing time for the medication to kick in, he walked into the cold water and let it carry him away.

***

Colby sat straight up in bed, sweating and terrified. He had no idea why he was so afraid but something strong was pulling him in the direction of the Pacific Ocean. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he jammed his feet into his nearest pair of shoes and ran downstairs to the street.

'Something's wrong with Gohan. Something bad.'

The pavement sped underneath his feet as he ran, arms pumping and eyes wide with fear. He had seen the news report with his aunt earlier that evening and remembered the state Gohan had been in earlier that day. They had no right to try and charge him, it was obvious he had been frightened. Why would a murderer have such a panicked look on his face?

The sound of the waves crashing against the shore, something that usually comforted him, was the first thing that alerted Colby to the closeness of the ocean. He looked around quickly and, after not seeing anything, continued on in the direction his heart was taking him.

He spotted a pair of shoes lying on the sand and identified them as the very same pair that Gohan had been wearing that afternoon. Heart leaping into his throat, he ran to the water and swam out.

"Gohan! Where are you?!" he called as he swam out into the dark, icy cold water. Shivering with more than just cold, he held his breath and dove down deep. There was very little light to aid him in his search but still he would not give up.

The third time he surfaced for air, he saw something white floating nearby. He hoped and prayed to God that it was Gohan and that he was still alive.

"Oh God, oh God," he said over again as he turned the still body over. Gohan's face was blue-tinged and his chest was not moving underneath his white tee-shirt. With great strength that he didn't know he possessed, Colby pulled him over to the shore and packed the sun-heated sand around his body to keep him warm and proceeded to give him CPR.

After a minute of this there was still no movement. Hot tears trickled down his face and a nearly unbearable wave of pain washed over him. "You can't die! Please don't die..."

The boy underneath him gasped suddenly and Colby quickly rolled him over onto his side as he begun to cough violently. He threw up both the salt water and the pills he had taken and collapsed back onto the sand with a throbbing headache.

"I'm so glad you're alive!" he said sincerely as he threw his arms around the still chilled boy and sobbed. "I felt you go into the water and I ran as fast as I could down here."

Gohan kissed his cheek, feeling awful for making Colby panic. "I couldn't find any other way. The police were over at my place earlier."

"I knew they probably were because I saw the video on the news. My aunt wouldn't let me call you, though." He held him close. "Everything will be fine. I won't let anything happen to you."

He tried so hard to believe his words but he was only one teenager versus the entire government. "Unless I get the world's best lawyer, I'm just screwed."

They rested there for a little while longer until Gohan was able to walk, and went back to Colby's house to call his father.

***

The after-hours pediatric waiting room of the nearest hospital was crowded with screaming, crying children of all sorts. Gohan had never hated being under eighteen as much as he did at that moment. His head was pounding from all of the noise and he buried it into the shoulder of Colby, who had refused to stay home and wait for a phone call.

The older blond boy was glaring daggers at the parents who couldn't calm down their kids. Couldn't they see that there were miserable people in the waiting room? That was what the emergency room was for, anyway, injured and ill people.

"We're going out into the hallway," Colby shouted over the voices to Goku. "He can't take much more of this and neither can I."

He nodded, feeling an impending headache himself. "I'll come out there and get you when they call his name."

Down the hall there was a small waiting room that was blissfully silent. The few people that were sitting inside were all older adults. A man looked up as if expecting them to disturb the peace but was pleasantly surprised when it didn't happen.

"They might make you stay here overnight for observation because you tried to," his words halted, not able to come out around the lump in his throat. He tried again. "Because you tried to-"

"Because I tried to commit suicide." His tone was neutral, idyllic even. The boy beside him froze and turned slowly to stare into his eyes.

"You wouldn't try it again, would you? I thought our love meant more than you throwing your life away when things get tough." He rubbed his back gently and it only served to make Gohan feel worse.

He couldn't look at him, the guilt was both in his eyes and probably written all over his face. "It was a hastily made decision brought on by extreme pressure and emotional distress."

"Aren't all suicides brought on by that?"

"Hai. Iie. Maybe. I don't know!" He groaned and let his head fall forward into his hands. "My mind was -- is -- screwed up. Once the police figure out that I'm still around, I'm going straight to a holding cell until my trial."

He snorted. "I doubt it. That's what bail is for, Gohan."

"Yeah, I guess so." He still wasn't convinced. The chances that a suspected murderer received bail were slim at best.

It took a full hour for him to be called because several critical cases had come in. They were all tired and hungry by this time and the lengthy wait had done nothing to improve the patient's mood.

"Can you come in there with me?" he asked Colby, suddenly afraid to face things alone. He knew that his father was more than willing to accompany him but, at fourteen, he was too embarrassed to let him.

He kissed him softly on the cheek in full view of everyone else. "Of course I can. What are soul mates for?"

***

"You can't hunt them down and kill them all," Vegeta said and, for once, he was the rational one. Goku was going through his koibito's collection of armaments, and was placing the small, not-very-powerful ones onto the floor.

"Maybe not," he said as he loaded a 10mm handgun, "but I can sure as hell try."

He grabbed his arm and took the gun away. "You wouldn't just go to prison for this, you'll be executed. What about Goten and Trunks? What if Gohan isn't convicted? Have you thought about them... or me?"

"They did more than hurt our son," he said angrily, "they forced him to hurt himself. I can't wait for the justice system to do its job, something has to be done *now*."

"Killing people won't solve the problem. It'll only make it worse."

He took his hands and pleaded. "Please let me do *something* about this! I can't sit by and wait."

Vegeta knew exactly what he could find to preoccupy Goku. "I'm going to get Aizawa's cell phone records and check all incoming and outgoing calls. I doubt he was stupid enough to use his home phone but we need to check that as well."

"All I have to do is call the telephone company?"

"That's not your job, koi." He handed him the gun. "I want you to tail someone for me..."