Disclaimer: as a fanfiction writer I do not own, nor ever will, any part of the Dragon Ball franchise. The only thing I can lay claim to is my own imagination and occasional typos.
What I Never Knew Could Be
Chapter 1
Goku
The journey back to earth passed in a flash of light and Goku blinked, finding himself at Capsule Corp once more.
He chuckled, slightly uncomfortable, as Bulma threw herself at Vegeta and, looking around, he was slightly surprised to see Mr Satan and Dende rising from their seats at the small, round table.
The large man shot a glance over the group before meeting Goku's eyes, the worry - perhaps even terror - of the last hour clear on his face.
"You- you won?" He stammered out, not looking away for even an instant, face fearfully hopeful. "We made it?"
Goku grinned, rubbing tiredly at the back of his head and nodding.
"We- I mean- Of course we did!" The world Champion fell back into his usual boastful style as the fear faded from his eyes. "I never doubted that we'd win! I'm the World Champ and I know a winning team when I see one!"
Goku chuckled uncomfortably once more, before breaking into a yawn.
"Oh, of course!" Dende exclaimed, eagerly stumbling forward. "Please, let me heal you all." He looked around the group to see who needed his help the most.
Krillin and Master Roshi soon started quibbling as the old master refused, insisting that the senzu bean he'd already consumed had been enough. Finally they managed to agree on who would be first and Dende got to work.
When it was his turn, Goku smiled as the aches, pains and fatigue lifted off him and he quickly fell into a series of stretches, releasing the tension and stress of the last hour.
Dende made quick work of healing the others and they were soon ready to go their separate ways. Whis and Beerus were the first to leave, with a promise to return in a couple of days, once everyone had rested.
Rather than flying to 17's island, Goku decided to use instant transmission, taking the cyborg with him and returning with the three exuberant children.
Unsurprisingly the boys were curious about the 'party'. Goku had to admit, he didn't envy Bulma and Vegeta the task of dealing with Trunks on this. Goten was lively, flighty and easily distracted and the suggestion of heading home for dinner was enough to distract him. Trunks was a different matter altogether. Already he was shooting suspicious looks around the place, noting the absence of anything that would suggest a party, eyeing up the torn and dirtied clothing of the remaining fighters. He was almost as lively as Goten but, aside from their love of fighting, that was where the similarities ended. Trunks had a sharp mind and a knack for getting what he wanted, partnered with a stubborn streak to match either of his parents.
Deciding it was better to leave before Trunks could voice his suspicions, Goku took his youngest son by the shoulder and, with a wave and a "See ya later!", used instant transmission to take them home.
"Bulma called while you were gone."
Goku looked up from his almost empty bowl.
"She did?" He didn't know where this was going but the fact that Chichi had waited until Goten had left the table, along with her flat tone of voice, was a clear indicator that he was in trouble.
"Yes, Goku san!" Chichi answered shortly.
They fell into an uncomfortable, tense silence as she waited for him to come clean about what he'd done and he waited for her to lose patience and tell him what his latest misdemeanour actually was.
"She seemed surprised that you'd tried to keep it secret from the others that the fate of the universe was hanging on this tournament." She finally supplied, leaving unsaid the fact that she, too, hadn't been told that particular fact.
"Well, uh-"
"Did you not think that I had a right to know?" She cut across him, clearly angry.
"Chichi-"
"No Goku san! You disappear time and again, you hardly ever earn anything for this family to live off, you neglect your son's education," she paused momentarily to draw breath, pointing her finger at him in anger, "and now you hide from me that the universe may get destroyed and you take our son with you to fight?"
"I'm sorry Cheech…" Goku really didn't know what to say. It had been Gohan's idea that the threat to the universe be kept quiet, not his - and he'd trusted his son's judgement. But he didn't know how to explain that now.
"Oh, you'd better be sorry! What if the universe had been erased? What would have happened to Goten? To Pan?"
Not knowing how to answer, he decided to stay quiet.
"I bet you never even thought about them, about their futures!" She continued. It was hardly the truth. Admittedly, the details hadn't been at the forefront of his mind, but he'd understood the importance of winning.
He knew he was partly to blame for the tournament but how was he to know that the fates of the universes were going to hang on the outcome of a competition. They hadn't, as it had turned out, but saying that wouldn't help his situation right now.
"Well, I don't care that we won. I don't care who did what. You lied to me and don't you think for one moment that you're sleeping in this house tonight!" With that she pointed at the door, waiting for him to leave.
Goku stood, grasping for the words to say but coming up short. Her mind was clearly made up and continuing the conversation was only going to dig him in further.
At least he'd gotten dinner.
Kale
Kale sat on her sofa, an unexpected pizza in her lap, and tried to stop her hand shaking as she drank from the can of beer Caulifla had given her.
She'd not even been home two hours when the doorbell had rang and she'd found her friend at her door: pizza boxes in one hand, a supermarket shopping bag in the other and a great big grin on her face. Kale had never been one for surprises and she felt uncomfortable at the sudden intrusion, but she couldn't deny that the food was welcome, as was the interruption to her stunned state after arriving home.
"Aren't ya hungry?"
Kale glanced up at her friend, tearing herself out of her thoughts to find Caulifla had already started on her second slice.
"I ain't gonna stay long." Caulifla went on, unperturbed. "But I had to go past anyway, and thought you'd be just as hungry as I was, so I thought I'd drop in."
Kale nodded, picked up a slice of her pizza and took a bite. With a groan of pleasure she sat back on her sofa as she chewed. When she looked back to her boss, the older woman was grinning at her.
"Nothin' like pizza and beer after a hard day!" Caulifla exclaimed, mirroring Kale's movement as she settled back into the sofa and took a long drink.
Kale searched for a response but came up blank. Instead she smoothed her pajama top, trying not to look self conscious. She wasn't good at small talk and the day had left her too raw. She often envied Caulifla's confidence; the way she could always find something to say.
Kale could never do that.
"So what do you think of what Vados said? About the training?" Caulifla asked as she started on her third slice of pizza, shooting Kale a sideways glance.
"Do you think she means it?" Kale asked hesitantly. She'd found a measure of confidence during the tournament but now, back home under the glare of a bare light bulb and the not so welcoming surround of old furniture and peeling paint, that confidence felt like a foolish thing.
"She'd better!" Caulifla steadied the box in her lap as she folded a leg up under herself and turned to face Kale more fully. "Now that I've seen how strong saiyans can be… Just think how much stronger we'll be with training! Vados said those guys've been training with her brother for a couple of years now and we held our own. Just imagine what we'll be able to do with the same training!"
Kale could already see the excitement in her friend and a shadow of her earlier confidence and excitement stirred inside her, but it quickly faded under a flood of exhaustion and her constant companion - self doubt.
"I- I don't-" Kale shrunk in on herself as her words failed her once again. It wasn't that she didn't know what she wanted to say, but the words seemed stuck in her throat.
"Stop worrying, Kale!" Caulifla leaned over, swapping two of their slices. "You were amazing! Just you wait. Once we start training you'll see."
Caulifla's smile was bright, her posture eager but comfortable. At ease in her own skin, that's what Caulifla was. It hadn't mattered what the tournament had thrown at her, Caulifla had never doubted herself.
And Kefla…
Kale was still reeling from having been fused. The experience had been unlike anything Kale had ever experienced and for a second Kale felt overwhelmed at the memory, her chest tightening at the flood of conflicting emotions. But in those same memories she found a vestige of the easy - even overwhelming - confidence Kefla had felt. Forcing herself to breathe, Kale calmed herself as much as she could and forced herself to pick up the next slice of her pizza. Sometimes the pretense of normal was the best she could manage.
"Here."
Kale startled slightly at finding another can in front of her face. She hadn't even noticed her friend leaving the room, but she accepted the drink gratefully. "Arigatō," she murmured, cracking the can and taking a long drink. Then another.
Beside her, Caulifla did the same, getting herself comfortable on the sofa before starting on her second beer.
The two of them fell into a comfortable silence as they ate, moving on to the ice cream Caulifla had also brought with her, once they finished the pizza. They made quick work of the beers too.
At some point she must have fallen asleep, though Kale had no memory whatsoever of doing so, but when she woke in the morning she found herself in her bed, Caulifla long gone.
GOKU
Goku liked nights like these. It was fresh but mild, with barely a cloud in the sky to obstruct the view of the stars.
He'd gone for a swim and a bath in the river, and now sat on the bank in front of a crackling fire, simply breathing in the cool night air.
This was his favourite spot in the whole area. It was only minutes from the house and there was a steady supply of fresh fish. The fire was built on a patch blackened by decades' worth of fires and it was rare for more than a couple of days to pass without a fresh one being built here. Even before Goku had landed on earth, Grandpa Gohan had been coming here for years, and now Trunks and Goten often made their way here on hot, sunny afternoons.
But at night it was all his.
Laying down on the soft grass of the bank he let out a contented sigh. He was glad this place was still here: his family, his universe. And the other universes, too.
He'd been eager to fight with the other competitors, eager to win, too. But the threat of erasure and the knowledge that anyone he defeated would be erased along with everything they cared for… It had been horrifying to the point where he hadn't been able to let himself think about it as he'd been fighting.
But it had all been fixed.
They were all still out there, somewhere in space. Or however it worked with universes.
The thought made his blood heat: so many strong fighters, so many with potential and so many more that he had yet to encounter. It made a grin spread across his face.
"Goku san?"
He'd nearly been dozing off when his wife's voice broke through the near silence of the night.
With a jolt Goku sat up, turning in her direction.
"Chichi…?"
There were tear stains on her cheeks and fresh tears welling in her eyes as she entered the circle of firelight.
It took less than the blink of an eye for him to get to his feet and cross the short distance between them. But he didn't know what to do once he was there. She never came looking for him and rarely ever let him see her emotions. Comforting her as he wanted could be completely the wrong thing to do. But what else could he do?
Carefully, with infinite gentleness, he pulled her into an embrace.
It terrified him; just how breakable she felt in his arms.
They'd been married for over 25 years and in that time they'd grown close, and then grown apart again. Goku couldn't even remember the last time he'd held her like this or the last time they'd been this close.
And, after fighting the strongest men, women and whatever else from around all the universes, her fragility seemed even more clear to him. Even the two tiny saiyan women, both considerably smaller than his wife, hadn't had that feeling of vulnerability about them.
"What if we'd been erased?" Chichi finally sobbed into his chest, her tears wetting his chest where his missing gi had left it bare.
"We weren't." It was the best answer he had. He wasn't Gohan with his intellect and a way with words, or Vegeta with his brusque anger, nor even Piccolo; pensive to the point of near silence. He didn't know what it really would have meant to be erased - he didn't think it would matter since no one would be aware of it happening. But somehow that didn't seem like a comforting answer for his wife.
Sometimes he wondered just why he was so very different to everyone else he knew.
"Please, Goku san, please tell me you're done with all of this. That you're done with all the fighting."
Goku was speechless for a long moment. Were they really having this conversation again?
"I'll try…" He eventually forced the words out. Again, it was the best he could manage.
He'd tried, before: to do as she asked, to make her happy. But he loved fighting, lived for it even. And just because he stopped, that didn't mean that the universe was done with him.
Time and time again a new challenge had appeared. A stronger foe. A bigger danger.
Couldn't Chichi see that had Zeno truly wanted to erase the universes, simply not taking part wouldn't have saved them? It would have meant their end, without them having any chance of saving themselves.
Was that really what she wanted him to do?
With a final shuddering breath she pulled away from him.
"You don't have to sleep out here." She said with a small, shaky smile, meeting his eyes. He met that smile with one of his own, trying to ignore how very forced it felt.
AN: and you've made it to the end of chapter 1! If you're still interested in where this is going, I have a few comments to make. I've currently got 2 Google docs maxed out with this fic and a third well on its way there, but I'm not sure if I want to include everything I've written or if I want to stick with my end goal. When I started writing this, Caulifla in particular was extremely unpopular and I know that this is only ever going to appeal to a niche group, but I'd like to think she's grown in popularity since then.
This will end up as a Goku/Caulifla fic, and an explicit one at that, but relatively slow burn. What parts I do or don't post is pretty much up to you readers, as is whether I post more. So, let me know what you think, now or later, because for all that I wrote this for me, I'm sharing it for you.
