First Dragonball Z fic. I was listening to Skillet's Open wounds at night, and this was-to-be songfic just hit me in the head. However, I realised the lyrics don't fit here at all, so I decided to leave them out (they're forbidded, anyway. :-P). And between 0:30 and 1:00 AM this fanfiction was born. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own nothing, not the universe, not the characters… Just this fanfic.

Arigato, minna

(Oneshot, by MikoKriszty)

It's been three months now. I failed to notice, but a full season passed by. A season without him.

A season since his death.

Son Goku, Super Saiya-jin, savior of the Earth.

My father.

I'm not depressed about him leaving us, Okaa-san and me, alone. He had to make this sacrifice to save millions of people on the Earth.

The people I failed to protect.

Sometimes thoughts like that invade my mind, but I don't mope about them too much, because I know Otou-san wouldn't like it.

I don't mope about it. I don't cry.

At least not while my Okaa-san could see it.

She's one of the reasons why I hadn't gone mad, I guess. After seeing her breaking down and crying at the news of Otou-san's death, I knew that I mustn't allow myself to see her like that again – or I would break down myself. So, unconsciously, I wowed to be strong for her.

Whenever I see she's kind of sad, I would always try to cheer her up. I have developed a good technique – her soft spot is studies. I just have to ask something difficult from her, and she forgets everything else.

However, for quite a while now she's been rather cheerful. It's like she has a secret that she won't tell anyone but it gives her strength. I find it amazing how quickly she recovered after the loss of her husband, I also envy her. I wish I could sleep as peacefully as she does.

Quite often I have nightmares.

How he gets beaten up by Raditz to save me... How he gets enraged seeing Kuririn die on Namek... How he suffers from his heart-disease...

How he fights THE monster... How he tells me to try and beat him... How he tells me to finish him...

How he tells me goodbye...

I always wake up swimming in my cold sweat, stuffing my fist in my mouth in order to stop my scream.

But it's too late to stop the tears.

These nights I don't sleep at all. I just lie in my bed till the thoughts in my head calm down, and the visions stop racing in my head, then I get up, have a quick shower and get everything else out of my mind by studying. And when Okaa-san wakes me up and calls me to breakfast, I do as if nothing happened.

But since that day it has all changed, I guess.

That night I had another one of those nightmares. I awoke with tears soaking my face, and I couldn't go to sleep anymore of course.

I was sitting on the edge of my bed, trying to stop the images flashing in my mind and trying to stop the tears, when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. Surprised and scared I looked up, and saw Okaa-san's watery eyes.

"Oh, Gohan..." That was all she said before pulling me into a hug.

"Okaa-san..." I wanted to say something, to calm her, to comfort her, to be strong for her… However, she just brushed through my hair with her hand, and that single act of care broke me down; I stuffed my face in her chest, and cried.

After a very long time the tears stopped. Okaa-san noticed this and gently put me back into my bed. She covered me with my sheets, sat down on the edge of my bed where not so long ago I had been sitting and looked at me. She saw that I didn't want to sleep, and with a sigh she spoke up.

"Gohan… There's something I have to tell you."

I looked at her curiously. What on Earth could it be that she wants to tell me? Could it be… Maybe she decided to tell me that secret of hers that kept her from breaking down? Or maybe she would tell me that she blamed…

Me?

"Gohan, I'm… I'm pregnant"

I just stared. My mind went blank. I must have had a very dumb face because Okaa-san started giggling.

"Gohan, I'm going to have a baby. Your father left a piece of himself here, not only in our heart, but also… In his sons."

I understood and smiled. Okaa-san kissed me and left to sleep. I lay down myself, too, thinking about my little brother who would be here as a third member of our little family, with whom I would play, and whom I would teach and train so he would be a great fighter just like his father was.

And I would be a father for him, so he would never feel like he missed something from his childhood.

For the first night, I was able to sleep after having a nightmare.

Ever since that I had never had trouble with dealing my nightmares. And I never had to act strong for Okaa-san any more. I realized something that night.

While I had tried to act strong for her, in the end it turned out that it was her who was strong for me.

Arigato, Okaa-san. Arigato, Otou-san. Arigato, Otouto-chan.

Arigato, minna.

TRANSLATIONS:

Arigato, minna - Thank you, everyone

Otou-san - Father

Okaa-san - Mother

Saiya-jin - Saiyan

Kuririn - Krillin

Otouto-chan - Little brother (thanks for Shru for correcting this (-: )