Those Left Behind ...
She was outside the small cottage, looking into the sky, her arms filled with laundry. Eyes squinting against the bright sun, she craned her neck in an unconscious effort to see beyond the clouds, past the moon ...
Suddenly realizing what she was doing, she mentally shook herself and sighed. Foolish woman, she thought tiredly, no one's coming home yet - it's too soon. Squaring her slight shoulders, she walked across the grass toward the cottage again, shaking her head. Let's see ... I'll fold and put this away ... and since I'll be upstairs, I can redo the closets in the bedrooms ... when was the last time I reorganized them? three - no, four months ago? And by then it'll be time to start lunch for me and Dad ... I think we have a little bit of meat left over from last night's dinner ... Still musing, she trudged to the side door, automatically watching her step across the flagstones, and carelessly kicked a small object out of her path. Her eye followed it as it landed in the grass, a little figure carved to look like a samurai warrior. Several other brightly painted figures could also be seen where that errant one had landed, feet sticking up in various undignified positions. Oh, Gohan, she thought irritably, I told you to clean up your toys - why don't you ever listen to me?
How can he listen to you, a silent voice admonished, when he's not even here?
Pain hit her with that thought, but she ignored it. Making a mental note to pick up the playthings, she fumbled for the latch on the door, found it, and pushed it open with her shoulder, struggling not to drop the laundry in her arms. I'll deal with that later, she decided, moving into the porch and kicking the door closed. Next time I go outside.
Chi Chi was a planner; that is, she was the designated person in her family whose job it was to keep everyone else on track. She couldn't remember a time when she wasn't a planner; after her mother's death and the fire spirit that fell on their mountain, her father had changed dramatically. Instead of the happy, roguish king she had known, he had turned into a frightening, monstrous ogre, challenging any and all that crossed his land, paranoid that they had come to steal "his" treasure. He was so busy making sure that no one would ever steal his hoarded treasure that he forgot some of the more mundane features of living, such as food and shelter and caring for his family, such as it was. It was left to Chi Chi to plan the meals, find the food, do the cooking, wash and mend their clothes, and keep their shelter clean and dry. She had grown up quickly living at the base of Fry Pan Mountain, learning more about herself in a year than many people did in their entire lifetime.
She walked from the porch through the kitchen to the stairs leading to the second story, the laundry still clutched in her arms, her face tight with suppressed emotion. Thoughts of Gohan and his well being were trying to push their way into her mind, but she was fighting back as hard as she could. Not now, not now, she chided herself, you still have so much more to do today ... don't forget the closets, they're absolutely filthy - you have to do them now, while you're upstairs ...
Walking into the bedroom she shared with Gokuu, Chi Chi dropped the laundry on the bed and flexed her arms. Automatically she started sorting and folding each piece, matching socks, putting her father's clothing over to one side, hers on another, towels and sheets at the bottom of the bed. A soft breeze brushed by her cheek from the open window, bringing scents from the nearby woods into her home, reminding her of another time she had been near the woods. Her mind spiraled backwards while her body continued its work.
She and her father had been on a picnic when the fire spirit fell on their mountain. It was a beautiful hot summer's day, and was also the first time in a long time that they had been able to escape their castle together, with no retainers or guards to bother them. Chi Chi chose a quiet spot by a small stream, deep in the forest that surrounded their lands. She spread a blanket on the ground and unpacked their basket, taking care to cover everything from the myriad ants and small bugs trying to find shelter from the heat. The Ox King decided to show off a bit in front of his daughter, which in itself was unusual. The stream gave him an idea; he started catching fish with his bare hands, lying still as stone on his stomach, hands dangling over a mossy bank. As Chi Chi watched her father in this undignified position, amused, his hands flashed down and out, snaring an unlucky silvertrout and tossing it on the bank. A grin of triumph split his face, his rumbling laughter carrying through the meadow, her girlish giggles chiming above. Turning, she saw Pleasant Mountain rising above them, and thought it was the most beautiful and perfect picture she had ever seen.
And then ... No! That's enough! she thought furiously, her gaze refocusing to the laundry on the bed. To her surprise there were no more wrinkled, tossed pieces of clothing; everything was neatly stacked, folded and sorted, waiting to be put away. "Ahh - no more daydreaming!" she muttered to herself and walked over to the small chest of drawers, yanking the drawers open so hard that she almost pulled the entire cabinet over on its face. Scowling, she turned back to the bed and scooped up several piles at once, then turned and dropped them into the waiting drawers. Make sure you get everything, now, she scolded herself, reaching for the next stack, and stop thinking. She continued this exercise several more times, until the piles of her clothing were no longer sitting on her bed.
"Well, that's done," she said and slammed the drawers closed so hard that the bottles she kept on top of her dresser almost toppled over. Her eyes fell on a photograph of Gokuu and Gohan sitting squarely on the dresser, Gohan mugging for the camera, Gokuu smiling his goofy, off center grin. She picked up the photo and stared at it for long moments, her eyes softening; then she placed it gently back on top of the dresser, whisking invisible dust motes off its face.
"Come back to me," she murmured to the photo, her eyes burning. "I need you. Come back to me soon."
Taking a deep breath, she turned her head away from the photo and saw the closet at the opposite side of the room. Blinking, she readjusted her sight and realized that the door was open.
"Hmm ... I don't remember doing that ...," she said aloud, walking over to peer into its depths. "But ... it IS the next thing on my list ..."
Chi Chi's "list" was one of the most important things in her life; with it, invisible or written down, she could keep the rest of the world at bay. Armed with her list, she was able to vanquish hordes of hungry Saiyans and other warriors, keep her house neat and tidy, insure the education of her son and care for her father, all at the same time. Problems such as 'the imminent destruction of Earth' and 'alien invasions' did not exist for her, because ... well ... those problems just did not make it to her list. Someone ELSE could worry about those problems, she reasoned, because they must be on THEIR list - they certainly aren't on MINE.
She leaned headfirst into the closet, pushing her clothes to either side and looked at the neatly stacked and labeled boxes behind them. Good, she thought, satisfied, it's already done. She nodded her head and then, holding her breath, attacked Gokuu's side of the closet. She shoved the many copies of his orange gi aside as she plunged behind his clothes. Her breath came out in a hiss and she groaned, "Oh, Gokuu!" as she saw the patent disarray on his side. Some boxes were opened, some were empty, few were labeled, and there were single shoes, hats, belts, and various other things strewn about the floor.
Sighing, Chi Chi sank to her knees and dug into the mess. She immediately started sorting things, automatically putting hats with hats, belts with belts, trying to find matches for single shoes, plus pulling the open and unlabeled boxes from the back of the closet to the front. As she yanked the boxes forward, one closed and unlabeled box refused to move. Frowning, Chi Chi reached back and pulled at it again with one hand, but it still refused to budge.
"Hmph!" she snorted, annoyed. She tossed everything else she was holding down to the floor, grabbed the edges of the box with both hands and wrenched at it with all her might. It flew backwards into her body and struck her in the stomach with a solid *thump*. She huffed slightly as she sat down on the floor, surprised that the box wasn't heavier.
"What's in here that causing me so much trouble?" she wondered, turning the box over in her hands. It was relatively small - not more than half a meter in any direction - and whatever was in it was padded well, as the object didn't slide from side to side when the box was rotated. She cut through the tape holding the edges closed with her fingernails and pulled the halves apart to reveal, a small, silver helmet, with a silver piece that looked like a shark fin lying underneath it..
Chi Chi sat there, her mouth agape, staring at the helmet in her hands. "I don't believe ... I don't remember ... how ...?" she sputtered, a slow smile starting to pour across her face. She traced her fingers across the top of the helmet, into a large groove that seemed to split it in two and over a ruby red jewel underneath the groove. She grinned now, turning the piece around in her hands, examining it from every angle. Reaching into the box, she carefully took out the 'shark fin' piece and snapped it into the large groove, feeling the weight redistribute, and then placed the helmet on her own head.
She felt a soft hum radiate through her head as the helmet settled down, one that she recognized from many years ago. She clambered to her feet, quickly massaging the feeling back into her legs and knees, and turned to catch her reflection in the mirror behind her. The woman looking back at her had dark, sparkling eyes and an expression that, for a moment, Chi Chi didn't recognize - then realized, with a jolt, that it was joy and expectation mingled together.
I can ... I can do things with this, she thought exuberantly, gingerly touching the top of the fin. I don't need anyone's help at all ... ah, it's still as sharp as ever, she thought, quickly snatching her exploratory finger away and thrusting it into her mouth, stopping the bleeding from a small cut. And the focus probably still works ... She concentrated, squinting her eyes at the mirror; a slight *shhhkkk* sound and a small red glow at the jewel told her all she needed to know.
She smiled at her reflection in the mirror, remembering how she used her helmet when she was a girl; the giant lizards that roamed around the base of Fry Pan Mountain, the hundreds of mercenaries that tried to steal treasure from her father, all had fallen to her talents with her helmet. How proud her father had been of her - and how proud of herself she had been! She felt powerful, independent; and as those thoughts flicked into her mind, she abruptly recognized someone else in the steady gaze from the mirror - Gohan.
My little boy, she thought, amazement and fear vying for her attention, my little boy looked exactly like this when we picked him up from the battlefield. His eyes were the same ... Her mind pushed days ahead, when he had proclaimed in the hospital that he was going with Bulma and Kuririn to Namek, forcefully overriding her protests, saying that he " ...had to do something ..."
His words rang in her mind, the fierceness of his tone echoing: "Mom ... now ... now's not the time to be saying such things ... Everyone ... we all fought for the Earth ... we have to bring those who died back to life ... and fight the Saiyan again ..." And the way he looked at her when he said that - so powerful, so independent -
Regret and astonishment at the obvious assailed her from all sides. My little boy, she thought ruefully, removing the helmet from her head, is just like his father - and his mother. He's not little anymore, and hasn't been for quite a while. Silently mourning, she thought, I just didn't want to admit it ... but he's strong now, a warrior ...
Taking the blade from the top of the helmet, she carefully placed it in the bottom of the box, wrapping it in its original paper. As she put the helmet on top of the blade, she swallowed - the thought you're packing away your independence again came unbidden to her mind - and resolutely put the lid on top of the box. My independence doesn't depend on a hat, she thought scornfully. I am who I am with or without that thing. Dipping into the pocket of her gi, she pulled out a marking pen and wrote, "Chi Chi's Old Hat" on the side of the box, then stuck it in the back of the closet, on Gokuu's side. He won't mind, she thought wryly, and I know now where I can find it if I need it again. If I need it.
Sighing, she looked at the other debris littering her floor and said aloud, "All right - let's see how we can arrange this mess ..." A short time later everything had been picked up, straightened, labeled, and neatly put away, giving no sign that anything out of the ordinary had happened there that morning.
She was downstairs in the kitchen preparing lunch, skillfully slicing the vegetables she had chosen, the rice simmering on the stove, the meat from last night's dinner waiting its turn next to the skillet. She smiled at her father as he came into the kitchen from the porch. "Hey, look, Chi Chi," he rumbled, opening his great hand, "I found these right outside the door. Looks like they're Gohan's." He chuckled then, a reverberating sound in his throat. "Poor little guy forgot them, he was so quick in packing to go to Namek with Kuririn and Bulma." He was silent as he watched her take the figures from his hand and arrange them on her kitchen windowsill. "I wonder where they are now? How long is it supposed to take them to get there and back?"
"I don't know, Dad," Chi Chi replied, turning back to the stove. "I just know that I'm hoping they come home soon and in one piece - that's all."
"Gohan'll be fine," the Ox King said, watching his daughter cook and snagging an unwary mushroom from the cutting board. "He's grown up an awful lot over the past year. He can take care of himself now."
Chi Chi looked at her father and sighed. "I know, Dad. I know." Turning to the windowsill she touched one of Gohan's samurai and silently said come home soon, my little warrior.