Fractured Souls

Chapter 7: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Vegeta wasn't usually one to worry. He lived his life by one simple rule, allowing the die to fall where they may. On that September evening, however, one person caused his rule to be thrown out of the window.

"What did you do?" he asked Goku as the younger man started to whistle. Twenty minutes before he had been so furious at CAMI and now he was practically cheerful. Something wasn't right... or maybe it was just altered.

Goku smiled briefly at him as he chopped up vegetables for dinner. "Nothing that didn't need to be done."

Vegeta frowned at his answer. "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said. As I told Gohan before, I took care of things. Nothing else will happen."

"Unless you chopped the responsible ones up into tiny pieces and dumped the bodies into the ocean for the sharks to devour, you can't guarantee that." Vegeta said this casually, but frowned even harden when he saw the look on Goku's face. "Please tell me you didn't kill them."

The knife moved slightly faster. "Tell me that they didn't deserve it."

A brief silence, then, "You killed them?!" Vegeta's voice conveyed the disbelief he felt in that one sentence. Even when Goku was at his angriest, Vegeta felt that there was a greater chance of the sun not rising in the morning than his koibito taking a life. "You're not capable of murder."

"Who am I kidding?" The sharp thumps of the steel blade against the wooden cutting board became even louder. "You're right, Vegeta. I couldn't kill them."

Vegeta reached out and caught his wrist. "Stop before you cut off a finger." He took the knife away and held his hand. "I had no doubt of that, koi. Nothing short of your children's deaths would cause you to kill another."

"Don't forget *your* death," Goku said softly. "There would be no place on Chikyuu good enough to hide your murderer."

He accepted it without a protest. "Knowing this, I ask my question again. What did you do?"

"I called Tenshinhan."

Vegeta shuddered involuntarily. Tenshinhan had to be the most frightening man he'd ever met. The sights and sounds witnessed in his underground dungeon were enough to give even the bravest man nightmares. "How can you stand it?" he asked. He never had before. Goku was fine in the dungeon, a little pale but fine. How could such a softhearted man withstand the sounds let alone the images?

"It's a long story that I'm sure you don't want to hear." He smiled shakily and waved his hand as if clearing the negativity from the air. "Ten and I are old friends."

Vegeta waited, a patient expression on his face. Eventually, Goku sighed and continued his story.

"It was my first year in college and I was majoring in the culinary arts. I used to watch Iron Chef a lot as a kid and it was my dream to earn the title. Anyway, I did martial arts in school and had a natural talent that earned me a full scholarship. There was a tournament near the middle of my freshmen year that forever altered my life."

He'd won the title of champion and made more than a few enemies. His final opponent, a man named Tenshinhan, had taken his defeat a lot easier than the others. They'd shook hands afterward and Goku felt no hostility from the older man.

"It was my pleasure to lose to someone as great as you," Ten had said and Goku blushed modestly.

"Iie," he said, "I owe my win to luck."

Ten frowned. "Many martial artists harm themselves by underestimating their talent. It would be a tragic loss if you became one of them."

They parted ways to change clothes and that was when the trouble began. As Goku was slipping on his shoes he was jumped by at least six guys, all angry participants of the tournament. He tried to defend himself, but was caught off-guard from the very beginning. They dragged him off to an unknown location and kept him locked in a small, oppressively dark room, a blindfold over his eyes and earplugs inside his ears. It was sensory deprivation at its finest.

Hours passed in the silent darkness, each one losing its sense of time. Goku had no idea how long he'd been there and was tired from trying to free himself from the strong bonds. So he gave up the struggle and lied upon the cold floor in abject misery.

In what seemed to be years, he felt the air currents shift beside him. Rolling away as best he could, Goku put as much distance between himself and the unknown intruder as possible. It didn't get any closer and he felt that he was safe -- for the time being, anyway.

"I won't hurt you," the voice whispered. "In just a moment you'll be free." In the darkness the person did not realize that Goku could not hear him. The man kneeled and reached towards him, only to encounter a fierce struggle from the captive. They wrestled for a moment until the man found the earplugs and removed them. "Goku, it's me!"

The voice froze him. "Tenshinhan?" he whispered, deeply grateful for the rescue attempt. In the same tone he asked, "What the hell are you doing here? Are you insane?"

"You're my friend," he said as he removed the blindfold and the rope. "I knew something was off when you didn't emerge from the locker room so I went looking for you. Those cowards took you halfway across town and into an abandoned building. I observed for few hours and then came in."

Goku stretched out with a groan and the feeling returned to his body in a painful rush of prickling needles. For a moment he lay in relieved silence, then the two men heard a key in the door.

Ten sighed. "Here we go, then. Have to give them the customary warning, first." He said the last bit as if he, himself, needed reminding. The door opened without a sound and he counted three people, most likely men. "Hello there," he greeted. "I must warn you that I'm trained to kill when threatened."

The lights suddenly flared to life, momentarily blinding the former prisoner and his rescuer. One of the men stepped forward and they heard a low laugh.

"You're not in a position to be threatening anyone," he sneered before the group charged them. Hearing the commotion, four more joined their friends with pitted seven thugs against Goku and Ten.

The younger man knocked two of them unconscious and spent the next two minutes watching his new friend beat the others into submission. Three of them were down with several broken bones, one most likely had a concussion, and the last one, by the looks of the angle of his head, probably wouldn't ever move again. Goku found himself staring at the dead man, wondering how anyone could murder another human being for any reason.

"You're okay, right?" Ten asked as he wiped his bloody fist on one man's shirt. Of course it hadn't been any of his blood, one thug's nose had erupted like a geyser when it fist connected with it.

Shaking his head, he pointed at the man with the broken neck. "He's dead."

"Hai, I know," Ten answered. "I meant to only incapacitate him, but oh well."

"Oh well?!" Goku's voice was high-pitched with disbelief and shock. "How can you say that? You've just killed a man!"

He looked at him with a mixed expression of pity and understanding. "When it comes down to life or death you often have to make quick decisions." Ten looked down upon the man's body. "I have no regrets."

The two of them left the building and never spoke of that night again.

"He dropped out of college soon after that and joined Harano-oui's court. I didn't hear from him for a few years, but he eventually contacted me and told me of his appointment. I admit that I was shocked, at first, then I realized that it called to his soul." Goku shook his head. "Anyway, I accepted his choice and he invited me to call him whenever I required his services."

"I see," said Vegeta and he did.

***

The next day Gohan went to school and wished that he hadn't. Videl, Satomi, and the members of the YRS were the only students who didn't cast thinly-veiled looks in his direction. Apparently most of the local news stations aired reports about the recent arrest of Yamashira-san. His name had been mentioned several times and most of Tokyo now knew a vast majority of his personal business.

"It's not that bad, believe me," Videl said at lunch that afternoon. "Could be worse."

Gohan looked at her with disbelief. "How can it be worse? People either look at me like I'm either a criminal, a pervert, or a weird combination of the two."

She smiled. "No one's going to bother you because they saw Yamashira-san state on camera that you kicked his ass."

"I didn't mean to," his voice was small. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't believe he nearly killed a man. If Vegeta hadn't been there.... Well, it was best not to think about it. "The only good thing that's come from all of this is that they've disbanded CAMI."

"Isn't the leader still out there somewhere?" Videl asked. "I haven't heard of an arrest."

Satomi nodded. "They rounded up everyone except a man named Yonagi Ebezo. Otousan's keeping kaasan informed of everything. The trial is next month, but I don't think I'm going to be there."

"He's your otousan, Satomi," Gohan said. "You should go because you love him."

"How can I love a man who tried to hurt someone because of who they are?" she asked. "How can I love a man who tried to kill one of my friends?" She lowered her face to her hands. "It wouldn't hurt so bad if I didn't love him. Why did he do this?"

Videl just looked at her, unable to comfort her friend. Instead Gohan put his arm around her and let her cry. "People hate for many reasons, Satomi. Knowing that your father has the capacity for it doesn't erase all of the good memories you have. If he didn't have any goodness inside, you wouldn't have any love for him."

She nodded, her head buried in his shoulder. "How can you even look to me knowing what my tousan did?"

"Listen to me, you had nothing at all to do with this. It might take some time to believe this, but it's the truth."

The PA on the cafeteria wall suddenly crackled to life. "Son Gohan, please come to the main office. Son Gohan, please come to the main office."

"This can't be anything good," he muttered to himself. Louder, he said, "I'll see you guys later."

Turns out he had a phone call. The only two people with a reason to call him were his father and Vegeta, but only when it was an emergency. Who else could it be? As if the thoughts were a clue, he started feeling a moderate sense of depression coming from his connection with Colby.

"Gohan, I have something to tell you." No panic filled Colby's voice, but the resignation in it made Gohan's stomach clench and his heart beat faster.

"It's bad news, isn't it?" Gohan moved away from the listening secretaries. "You don't sound very good."

"Mariko-obasan saw the news yesterday night and basically put two and two together. She knows about our friendship, Gohan."

Gohan couldn't understand where he was going with this. "I'm not following you."

"She's shipping me off to my uncle in Italy who's gonna put me in a boarding school!" His voice broke on the last few words. "I probably won't ever see you again so I called to say goodbye."

"Goodbye...?" Gohan was having a hard time processing his words. "You're moving to Italy."

"I'll write you if I can, okay? Sayonara, Gohan. Ai shiteru."

"Wait!" Gohan shouted into the phone as he brain began to function again, forgetting where he was. "Wait a minute!" There was a female voice shouting in the background and then all was silent.

Gohan felt numb all over. Colby's words felt worse than anything he'd ever experienced before, even worse than the beating by the hands of Ashida. Halfway around the world... 'That woman separated us,' he fumed silently. Aloud, he said, "I'm leaving."

One of the secretaries raised an eyebrow at him. "Of course you are, it's time for class."

He shook his head. "I'm leaving school. See you whenever."

"Walk out that exit, young man, and you will never return." The assistant principal intervened with a threat he was sure wouldn't work. Sure enough, Gohan merely rolled his eyes and left the office.

At first he thought that he could catch Colby before he left the house, but it wasn't possible. His aunt lived at least fifteen minutes away and that was on foot. With the amount of traffic in Tokyo, that trip would probably take nearly twenty minutes more. He could, however, meet him at the airport.

"I'm coming, Colby! Don't leave the country before I get there!"

***

"What did you just say?" Goku couldn't believe the words he heard coming out of Tenshinhan's mouth. It was... very odd.

"They're dead, Goku, and I didn't kill them. In fact, they were already dead when I got there."

Goku sighed. "How did they die?"

"Who do you think I am, the coroner?" he asked amusedly before responding. "It was probably the evisceration that did them in, but it also could have been the blood loss from the amputation of their limbs. I doubt it was the injection."

"What the hell *didn't* they do to them?" The question was purely rhetorical, but he received an answer anyway.

"The heart's still there, I've seen scorned lovers that have done strange things with them. Also, the eyes aren't missing. That's a retribution thing. You know, an eye for an eye and all that. I've got Chaozu searching for the murderer, but these jobs looks too professional for anything to surface."

There was no use wondering about it. "Was Yonagi among the deceased?"

"Hai and so were at least twenty other members of CAMI, the ones that weren't arrested anyway. A few have been spared and no one seems to know why."

"Hm. Domo arigatou for trying, Ten. I'll talk to you later. Ja."

It was hard to believe. A mysterious assassin comes out of nowhere and murders over twenty people in a single day. What was the reason behind it? Did it happen because of vengeance or was the killer just insane?

Thirty minutes later Vegeta found Goku still sitting there, thinking. "What's wrong?" he asked as he took a seat beside him.

"Many members of CAMI are dead," he responded.

"Isn't that what you wanted for the ones that hadn't been arrested?"

"Ten didn't do it, someone else did. I told him to just kill them, no torture whatsoever. The mystery guy tortured them excessively and that's what they died of."

Vegeta contemplated this. "You feel guilty about this? Goku, even if you hadn't asked Ten to kill them it probably would have still happened."

"Guilty, no. But I do feel sad. Despite their evil ways, most everyone doesn't deserve to be tortured. Yonagi is excluded from my previous statement. He purposely set out to hurt Gohan therefore he should have been purposely hurt as well."

"He was, Goku. It was a lot worse than what happened to Gohan, but I can only imagine how many other people he's hurt in similar ways. There's no use in thinking about it, though. What's done is done."

Goku knew that it was best to not think about it, but he couldn't get the murders out of his mind. Well, the sadness would at least fade over time he hoped.

***

After asking the woman at the information booth where the flight headed to Rome was going to depart, he had to head to a terminal that was pretty far away. When he made it to the gate, Colby was no where to be found.

'I beat him here,' he said to himself with some relief. Then he saw a familiar pale blonde head about to hand over his ticket. "Colby!" he shouted as he pushed his away through the throng of people. "Wait!" He made it just as Colby was about to move out of his reach.

"Gohan?" he asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"I can't let you go," he said, tears sliding down his cheeks. "I won't let you go."

Colby moved them out of the way of the other passengers who were starting to get annoyed with going around them. "Neither of us have a choice in this. As much as it hurts, I have to go."

"Damn your aunt," Gohan whispered before embracing his first love. "We will meet again, Colby. Count on it."

"I will. It's the only thing that's holding me together."

When the final boarding call came over the PA, neither boy wanted to let go. To be separated was cruel and unusual punishment, the bond would make it so. Colby kissed him gently on the lips and boarded the plane.

Gohan pressed his face against the window and watched the plane take off. Completely unaware, both boys were thinking the same exact thing as the distance between them grew greater: 'There goes the other half of my soul.'

***

No one suspected that he was behind the recent string of murders and no one ever would. He was the harmless one of the group, the idiot that would follow every order without question. Well, he might not be the smartest person in the world, but neither was he a complete dullard. He completely understood what Yonagi had been trying to do to the world and felt that it was up to him to stop it. None of his actions could not be traced back to the source and the final result was very pleasing. It had been his best performance.

The entire plot against Son Gohan could be traced back to Ashida Ryuichi who was the son of Yonagi's daughter, Achiko. Influenced by his grandfather's prejudiced behavior, he took it upon himself to rid his school of those who were different. Since the incident after gym class, Gohan had become the main target of the CAMI president. Yonagi wanted to expose him in the worst possible way to the country and incite a worldwide movement to kill everyone who didn't fit into a certain mold.

Now he was gone and their crusade died before it had a chance to really begin.

Why did he kill them in the first place? The answer is very simple. CAMI was responsible for the death of his younger brother, someone who he had been responsible for. His violent action was a combination of grief and vengeance, both potent ingredients for murder. All of the members who weren't arrested for trying to kill Gohan were killed by him. The ones he spared had become members after his brother's death. At first he was going to take his time, but when he discovered the mental anguish Gohan was going through he sped things up. He could not allow another boy to go through what his brother did.

Who was the person responsible for so many deaths? He was Matoke Tatsuya, otherwise known as Gidayu.

~OWARI~