The Derailed Date

"So, Goku…" Chichi trailed off as she hung the last sheet up to dry on the clotheslines. "We have the house to ourselves all evening. What do you want to do today?"

I shrugged.

Gohan decided to go spend the hot summer day with Videl and Goten left for a sleepover with Trunks soon after Gohan. It really had been a long time since we were truly alone in the house together.

Chichi folded the last piece of dry laundry into the basket and carried it inside. But not before throwing me that look – the one with her eyebrow slightly raised and wearing a small smile and her teeth tugging lightly on her lower lip.

I swallowed, a little bit of heat flooding my cheeks as I followed her inside and upstairs to our room where she proceeded to sort the clean laundry into stacks for each of us. When she was through with that, she gave me orders to put each stack of the boys' laundry on their beds for them to put away when they returned.

That gave me a little time to think of something to do for her. Just the day prior, I had sold another huge load of vegetables to the local market and came home with a lot of money.

When she opened that envelope, a huge smile lit up her face and before I could blink, she was on her tiptoes, pressing her lips against mine, but for only a brief moment since the boys were watching.

Her good mood carried into the next day and I was determined not to destroy it.

We had the money. Maybe a night out was a safe bet – even though she didn't normally like having money spent on her. But sometimes she'd make an exception.

She hummed a happy tune while she dusted some pictures on our dresser and headed downstairs to dust the rest of the house.

"What do you think of going out tonight, Chichi?"

She stopped dusting and turned toward me with an eyebrow raised. "Out?"

I squirmed on the spot. "Well… yeah. I was thinking we could get dinner…?"

Her skeptical look brightened into that same smile she wore when she opened that envelope. "That would be lovely, Goku! I'll call that new sushi restaurant and make reservations."

She kissed my cheek as she breezed past me and carried on with her dusting.

Before I knew it, it was early evening and time to get ready. Chichi liked it when I wore something other than my gi so I pulled on jeans, a black button up shirt, and black tennis shoes, leaving Chichi to get ready alone.

About an hour later, she finally came down stairs. And my jaw dropped.

Her hair was half down, half up and tumbling over her shoulders in glossy, loose curls that covered the thin straps of the ice-blue dress that ended just above her knees. She was a little bit taller all of a sudden and I looked down at her feet to see strappy, light pink high heels.

She giggled and waved a hand in front of my face. "Ready, Goku?"

I swallowed and nodded as she left a quick note for the boys on a side table. We stepped out into the warm air of early evening.

"COME TO ME, FLYING NIMBUS!"

Funny. My voice broke a little bit there. Probably something to do with the way she looked.

A moment later, the little yellow cloud zoomed in for a landing, stopping neatly right in front of us.

I helped Chichi get comfy and hopped on in front of her so she wouldn't get cold. It was a warm night, but Nimbus liked to fly high. Sure enough, she leaned into my back and sighed contentedly.

My face heated up a little bit.

We flew in silence toward Satan City, seeing the first distant lights after only about forty-five minutes. We flew in low over the outskirts and Chichi shifted so her chin rested on my shoulder.

"We should land here, Goku. The restaurant is close and I don't want to make a scene."

I agreed and moments later, our feet touched cement and I waved Nimbus off.

I glanced up and down the mostly empty street. One direction marked the entrance to a quiet neighborhood, the other brightly lit and bustling with activity. Chichi took off at a fast walk toward the bright lights and loud noises of the city and I kept pace behind.

A block or so down the road, she pointed across the street at a fancy looking sushi restaurant. We crossed the street and stepped inside where the hostess greeted us with a smile and took us to a table for two.

Flipping through the wide selection in the menu, the restaurant obviously specialized in sushi but had all kinds of other stuff, too. Including a very yummy looking teriyaki plate.

Chichi looked at me with an eyebrow raised. "Let me guess. You're going to order everything."

I chuckled. "How'd ya know?"

She peeked at me over the top of her menu, dark eyes crinkling. "I'm your wife. I know everything."

I laughed again.

Our server walked up to us with a smile. "Welcome! What can I get you to drink this evening? Miss?"

"Iced tea, please," she said.

"And you, sir?"

I glanced up at him. "Make that two. Thanks."

The server jotted down our drinks on his pad and left.

I looked around at the expensive looking decorations while Chichi flipped through the menu once more and set it down.

"What are you getting, Chichi?"

She smiled at me. "Sushi."

A moment later, the server returned balancing a tray on one hand with two glasses of iced tea.

He handed one to each of us, set the tray down on an empty table next to ours, and took out his notepad. "Have you both made your selections?"

Chichi nodded with a polite smile and placed her order and handed her menu to the server who then looked at me. "And what would you like, sir?"

"The teriyaki plate–" I ran my finger down the list "–plus all of this, please."

The server looked baffled, to say the least.

"Seriously. I want all of this," I repeated.

His eyes grew wide. "But… sir… that would feed a table of…" He trailed off, factoring everything together and continued, "At least eight!"

I chuckled as I handed my menu to him. "Yeah. I know."

He tucked it under his arm and frantically scribbled in the rest of my order in his book, and walked away shaking his head.

Chichi raised an eyebrow. "Eating lightly, I see."

I shrugged. "Guess so. I'll eat all that and see if I still want some more later."

She shook her head and sipped her tea.

About ten minutes later, the food began arriving. Chichi's colorful sushi plate was placed in front of her first and then my teriyaki plate was placed in front of me, a line of servers delivering the rest of my order and piling it on a larger table next to us. I supposed it was lucky they weren't very busy that night.

In the time it took Chichi to eat what she wanted of her sushi plate, I was starting on my fourth course, a very fancy looking sushi plate of my own. She passed me her leftovers and I grinned at her.

She giggled and shook her head.

It wasn't long after that I finished off the last plate and decided I'd had enough. I wasn't stuffed, not like I'd normally be at home with her cooking. I was just satisfied.

The server returned and handed me the check – and it was then I noticed the small crowd of slightly frazzled looking restaurant staff standing off to the side and watching us with wide eyes. "Um… here you are, sir. Is there anything else I can get either of you tonight?"

Chichi shook her head and smiled at him. "No, thank you. We're quite finished."

They all looked relieved.

I paid our bill – Chichi reminding me to tip them – and we left.

I glanced down at her as we walked deeper into the city. "So… now what?"

"Well, why don't we walk around a little bit and see what we see? I'd like to do a little bit of shopping, too."

I shrugged and nodded.

I followed Chichi as she zipped in and out of bright and colorful storefronts, constantly adding to the growing stack of boxes and bags in my arms – while I was still trying to figure out how her feet weren't killing her from all that walking in those shoes.

After a long while – and the umpteenth store – she yawned and checked the time. "Oh, it's getting late. Let's go home."

I nodded. "Okay. I'll be right back. I gotta go pee."

She frowned. "Goku! You can't just announce that!"

But she followed me to some public restrooms where I stacked our stuff out front and rushed in.

While washing my hands, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end and my senses instinctively reached out for Chichi. Her energy spiked and I ran out of the bathroom to find her in a ready stance and surrounded by five huge thugs.

Skimming their minds, I bared my teeth at the horrendous thoughts they had about her and at their lust and anticipation. The unspeakable things they imagined doing to her made Master Roshi look like the picture of innocence. The only outward signs of their intentions for her were their sickening smiles and how they ogled her like she was a piece of meat.

My hands clenched into fists and a low growl slipped out before I could stop it.

I had half a mind to jump in and rip them a new one before they had any chance of attacking her just for so much as thinking about her like that.

But Chichi looked focused and confident. It was her confidence and skill – and their sloppy postures – that held me back.

They had maybe three minutes. Tops.

I grinned. No one had noticed me so I ducked into the shadows.

And then – on some unspoken signal – they lunged for her and she bounded into the air, sailing over their heads, their outstretched hands grasping at empty air before they collided with heavy thuds as Chichi landed lightly a short distance away.

The thugs disentangled themselves and stared around, confused.

She kicked off her shoes with quick flicks of her ankles and crossed her arms. "Come on, boys. Get it together, now."

One pointed at her. "There she is!"

Chichi's taunting smirk as she slid into another stance several strides away from them had my heart racing.

They charged like so many angry bulls and Chichi just looked bored. She shook her head and darted forward, taking them all by surprise with her superior speed and agility, hair fluttering about wildly behind her as quick, powerful blows landed hard in their guts, using their own momentum against them. The one furthest back in the group saw her coming and cocked his fist. But Chichi's finely honed reflexes kicked in and she went down, shooting a leg out and tripping him up.

And once again, all five goons were a confused tangle of limbs on the sidewalk as she brushed loose strands of hair out of her face.

I wiped away the bits of sweat beading on my forehead with the back of my hand. Nights got cooler. Not hotter. I undid a button on my shirt as the biggest of them all recovered first and charged her, his eyes burning with murderous rage and hatred.

Chichi took several steps back and took a quick, calculating glance around, her eyes flashing when her fingers met the solid brick wall behind her.

Her hand went to her mouth in mock fear. "Oh, no! I'm trapped! What's a woman to do?"

I bit back my chuckle as the thug grinned wolfishly and kicked in a burst of speed, sure he had her cornered. But she was ready. With perfect timing, she sidestepped him, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, and pivoted, driving him into and through the brick wall with every ounce of her weight adding to his momentum. Chunks of brick flew everywhere.

He was down for the count and I cut off my cheer by biting down on my fist.

Chichi smirked, tossed her hair over her shoulder, and motioned for the others. "Next!"

Only, their attention was no longer on her.

I followed their gazes, catching a glint of metal from a pitch-black alley. I locked onto Chichi's energy as the bang reverberated through the area and plucked the bullet out of the air. Chichi gasped after the fact as I let the bullet fall harmlessly to the ground and I jumped to the shooter's location, snatching the gun out of his hand.

Clenching my fist, I crushed it into an indistinguishable ball of metal – the only hint of what it was being the tang of gunpowder and the acrid bite of singed metal hanging in the air around it. I turned my attention to the gunman, whose blood drained out of his face, his eyes wide as I handed the hunk of metal back to him.

"Y-you-you're not human… are you…?" he stuttered.

I smirked and shook my head. "As a matter of fact, no, I'm not."

And then – holding back because I didn't want to kill the guy – I knocked him out and threw him at his friends. The group scattered, ditching their downed comrade as they took off in five different directions.

I raised an eyebrow and jumped to each one, knocking them unconscious one at a time, too. I gathered their limp bodies and threw them in an unceremonious dog pile next to their friend and placed myself right back at Chichi's side.

The thugs taken care of, I grinned at her.

She glared at me – her arms crossed and her left eyebrow twitching away, a vein pulsating in her forehead. "I know you've been watching me."

Busted.

I winced. "B-but… you had it under control. They weren't any match for you! And I even stopped that bullet!"

Her eyes narrowed further.

I swallowed, grasping around for something to say that wouldn't set her off. The fight replayed in my head – along with the way she expertly used the one huge goon's weight and momentum against him.

I grinned and winked at her. "You were incredible, babe!"

Her frowned softened just a little bit as she whipped out a handkerchief and pressed herself into me. "Ugh, Goku… you're drooling." She reached up to wipe it across my mouth at the same time I put an arm around her and slid it down to her backside.

She glared at me again, so I kissed her.

When I pulled back, her frown melted away into a little smirk, her cheeks slightly flushed.

I released her. "Let's go home."

I hollered for Nimbus, gathered our stuff, and took off.

Chichi moved out into our yard lit only by the dim light from the windows. She motioned for me to join her, and shifted into a stance.

I grinned, my heart galloping wildly in my chest and settled into a stance a few steps in front of her. "You may have brought down those thugs easily but you'll never touch me, babe."

She raised an eyebrow. "We'll see about that."

And then she surged forward, long hair flowing behind her, eyes focused and calculating, knife hands shooting for the crook of my neck. I hopped backwards, easily side-stepping her every hit, blocking others with my forearm and still she was relentless and never lost her cool.

Twisting to the side, I blocked her kick, her ankle locked in my grasp, ready to yank her off balance. Her eyes widened when she realized her error. But then the breeze shifted, her delicious scent distracting me – until the air whooshed out of my lungs from her well-placed kick to my gut, which she followed through with sweeping my legs out from under me.

I stared up at her from flat on my back in the dewy grass of our front yard. She grinned smugly down at me, her face flushed and breathing hard. I was, too, but for an entirely different reason.

"That was careless, Goku."

She looked very proud of herself, her arms crossed and her chin held high – as if using her scent against me was her plan all along.

I smirked and – moving far faster than she was capable of tracking – reached up to grab her wrist and pulled her on top of me. Her startled yelp echoed through the trees and we were nose to nose.

She glared at me. "Now, that wasn't fair!"

I grinned, an eyebrow raised. "And using your scent against me was?"

I had her there. She pursed her lips and I chuckled and leaned up to kiss my clever wife, getting another good strong whiff of her one-of-a-kind, irresistibly sweet scent, my hands moving to explore her strong body on their own.

She gasped when I pulled the dress up enough to expose her butt, yanked it right back down with a red face and hissed, "Goku! Gohan will be home very soon!"

I chuckled and murmured, "You started it. But okay, let's take this somewhere else."

We did, finding a secluded pond we had visited a few times before. It was definitely a night to remember.