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Piccolo kept his eyes closed, hovering a few inches above the ground and trying to meditate. Of course, it wasn't very successful.

"Kami's harmless, kid. You got nothing to worry about."

Gohan settled on the grass, on his knees as he looked up at his mentor, face scrunching up in distaste,

"He's the Guardian of the Earth, Piccolo! He's got all sorts of power, Bulma says so. And anyways, what does he want with me?"

He frowned in mild irritation, opening one eye to give Gohan a warning glare that clearly said, 'Don't bother me.' Not that he expected it to work. It never had in the past. He closed his eyes again, straightening his shoulders.

"Go see him and you'll find out," he said evenly, adding as an afterthought, "and if you're so worried about it, it's probably not a good idea to keep the Guardian of the Earth waiting."

Piccolo's glare kept Gohan quiet for a moment before he rocked back, and then forward, tugging at the green sleeves of his coat (not all unlike the coat he had worn when kidnapped by Raditz, but now branded with Piccolo's symbol).

"But, Piccolo. I don't want to." he admitted, a panicked twang in his young voice.

Sighs and uncrosses his arms, eyes opening, finally giving up on his meditation. Stays hovering the air, however, leaning his elbows on his knees.

"You can fight Frieza but you can't go and talk to Kami?" He asked, raising a brow.

There was a pause as Gohan considered this. "Yes, Piccolo. I can fight Frieza but I can't talk to Kami-sama. Frieza was a jerk and needed to get taken on, but Kami-sama is....Kami-sama! He's gotta be all old and wise and...regal, right?"

And then, carefully, he added. "I mean, you're regal and wise. They wouldn't let anyone who was under-qualified be Guardian, would they?"

"Do you really want my opinion on that?" Piccolo asked, his tone a little sharper than usual. He had no patience where talk of that old man was concerned.

"And stop trying to butter me up, Gohan."

Gohan stuck out his tongue though and dug in to claim his own abrasive tone. "You're being bitter again, Dad --" Ooh, he'd said that out loud, hadn't he? He skimmed along it, carefully, as if expecting Piccolo wouldn't notice anything had been out of place if Gohan didn't let on.

"It isn't good to have that much bitterness in you. Why can't you just shrug it off?"

There was that word again but, like Gohan, he didn't react to it further than a minuscule widening of his eyes. Something he hoped would go unnoticed.

"It's my job, same as it's his job to be a pain in my neck," he said seriously.

Gohan didn't notice is and etched in the dirt, some mathematics problem to solve as he spoke.

"To be bitter? You'd be much better off if you just saw you as separate as everyone else did." Gohan reasoned, playing with his sleeves.

"Is Kami-sama that annoying?"

"Not really helpful when he's in my head," Piccolo replied, stretching his legs and standing.

"Yes. Well ... maybe not to you." With that he began to walk, trusting that Gohan would either dismiss the conversation or follow.

"You can't turn him off? Is like when you split yourself off?" Gohan inquired.

"Do you two just have really different personalities? So it clashes instead of compliments? Like how Daddy and Vegeta's personalities make them rivals but yours and mine make us friends?" Gohan hurried to catch up with his teacher's long steps with his tiny legs and skid to walk beside him.

"Not really," Piccolo replied, crossing his arms. "It's more he pops in whenever he feels like it."

He simply kept walking, his pace quickening slightly (which, to the human eye, would have been a lot). "I guess you could say that," he shrugged.

"Does he want to pop in on you often?"

"Piccolo! Wait for me, Piccolo!" Gohan told him, moving to quicken his pace. "What would YOU say?"

"More often than I'd like."

He kept moving, his speed evening out and remaining constant. He didn't answer Gohan's question, hoping to keep him distracted as they essentially jogged. It wasn't something he often indulged in. He much preferred flying, after all. It was much more convenient but ... this was not a matter of convenience.

"Well, that's weird." Gohan announced.

They were jogging and Gohan wasn't sure if Piccolo was playing, trying to lose him, or training. He matched his mentor's pace, with only a bit more effort given his tiny legs. "What are we doing, Piccolo?"

Piccolo kept running before leaping off the cliff they had come upon and shooting upwards. He didn't say a word.

Gohan skid to a complete halt and looked up after Piccolo, as if forgetting that he had the ability to fly for a moment before he shot up after his friend.

"What are we doing, Piccolo?"

"You're going to see Kami," he replied simply without looking back.

"No!" Gohan said. He was getting into one of his moods, where the sheltered child of Goku and Chi-Chi shone through. "You can't make me! And neither can Korin or Yajirobe! I don't wanna go by myself, no-no-no!"

Piccolo froze in midair and spun to face Gohan, looking down at him, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

"Gohan," he said warningly.

"Piccolo?" he put on his best innocent voice and watched his mentor before pausing.

"Come with me."

Piccolo only gave him a look, turned and kept flying, quickly climbing upwards.

Gohan shrunk from his mentor's look a bit before he urged his body up, looking upwards as they climbed. "Wow, we're really high..."

Above them, Kami's Lookout came into view.

"Keep up, kid."

His breath seemed to catch in his throat and he hesitated before pushing to keep up from his mentor. "...Whoa."

Absently he began to pull at his sleeves and smooth his shirt as he flew, as if trying to make sure he was presentable.