"Look, look!" Goku laughed brightly, pointing down at the canyon beneath them. "This is so neat!"
Kagome was glad that the boy had gotten distracted and she didn't end up having to give him The Talk, but it was starting to dawn on her that he might seriously benefit from some ADD medication. She looked down anyway, just to humor him, and felt her own eyes widen as she took in the landscape below.
"Wow," she breathed.
She had seen a lot of things, especially after becoming a diplomat for the West - but she had never seen something like this. It was barren, it was desolate, it actually reminded her a whole lot like the Southern Lands... but looking down at it from above, it was beautiful. She felt a wide grin part her own lips, a lightness filling her heart that hadn't been there in years. When was the last time she had just relaxed and looked at the scenery? When had she just let it all become something so commonplace?
The priestess promised herself then and there to never do something stupid like that again. Life, without the simple pleasures, was no real life at all.
Neither of them saw the rock jutting out of the cliff face until it was too late.
Kagome yelped as they were both knocked off the cloud, her arms flailing for a moment. If she was at full strength, this wouldn't be a problem - she would just throw a barrier around them to absorb all the impact when they inevitably hit the rocks below.
Sadly, she was nowhere near even 3% power right then. Damn Suzumiya to the deepest pits of hell.
Goku screamed as they plummeted and she reached out, grabbing him quickly by the arm and pulling him close. She was the adult in this situation, even if she was currently weaker than the average human. It was up to her to try and get them out of this alive.
She reached into herself, trying to find even the tiniest shred of reiki. Just one little spark, that was all she was asking!
Goku's cloud swooped to catch them, reminding her that it was there - and apparently sentient. That was handy. It missed them on the first pass, getting the boy's bag instead, but it managed to grab them on the second and they were off once more as if nothing had even happened. Her heart pounded and she stiffly let her pint-sized protector go, almost feeling the need to smack him when he started laughing not two seconds later.
"That was great!" he announced. "Oh, hey look! Cows! Ooooooh, fruit trees! Snack time, snack time!"
Damn. It would be easier to stay mad at him if he wasn't so innocent and... cute.
She'd always had a weak spot for innocent and cute.
xxxx
Goku bounced excitedly as he found a dragon ball on the radar, hoping beyond hope that it would be his grandpa's. It was fun explaining what the balls were to Kagome, just like it was pretty fun hearing her explain some of the things that had confused him since leaving the mountain - he was really glad to have made a new friend, and it was strangely relieving to know that she was willing to go with him.
"I hate wishes," she'd admitted to him quietly, "but I understand why you want to find this thing. I'll help you."
He didn't really get what was wrong with wishes, but that was okay. The girl was weird, but he'd already decided that he liked her anyway. Three days in her company had only made him more and more sure about that choice.
"Yay! We're getting close now!" he cheered after what felt like forever, stopping and staring down at his stomach when he heard it growl. "I'm hungry..."
Kagome chuckled lightly. "Goku, I'm starting to get the feeling that you're always hungry. Let's go ahead and land; I can make us some lunch."
He grinned and did just that, thinking to himself that he really did prefer it when she was happy. It made him happier in turn, and a smile definitely suited her a ton better than that frown that she'd worn all the time right after they'd met. "Hey, there's a puddle!" he pointed out eagerly, urging Nimbus to get closer to it. He knew that his new friend had said they were called 'lakes' at that size, but he still liked saying 'puddles' better. "Fish!"
The girl's laughter rang out again, but she turned and started walking into the trees as he went ahead and began taking his clothes off. "You get us some fish, then, and I'll go find some firewood so that we can cook it."
He grinned and nodded, stripping down the rest of the way before diving in. He swam around for a bit, trying to decide where the best place to dangle his tail would be. The boy found it quickly, his eyes sparkling when he saw some of the fish trying to hide from him in the cracks of the lakebed, and darted back up to the surface. He grinned and swam around for a couple more minutes, enjoying the feel of the water. Kagome would probably want a turn in it too, after they had finished eating - if he'd learned anything in the last few days that they'd been traveling together, it was that she was a good cook and she really liked taking baths.
Finally, he climbed out with a laugh. "That was refreshing!" Now he just needed to get dressed, since his new companion seemed kind of uncomfortable around him when he was naked... He looked around. "Hey!" he yelped. "Where are my clothes!"
He caught a strange scent and took to the air quickly on Nimbus. He needed to hurry, before Kagome came back with that firewood.
"Sure is breezy up here," he remarked to himself, letting out a sneeze. "I need to find my clothes... and my Power Pole!" As soon as he said that, he got an idea. Looking up, he grinned. "That's it! Power Pole, extend!
He repeated the order a few times until it rose up into the sky near him.
It was easy enough finding his stuff after that, but the radar was gone. That was a real problem - he needed it to find his grandpa's dragon ball! He found a shoe, recognized the smell from the lake, and picked it up. Maybe if he followed the scent, he could find the thief... Oh, but he needed to go back for Kagome first! She had told him off for leaving her behind a couple of times already, and he really wanted his lunch more than another scolding.
He quickly flew back on Nimbus, spotting her looking for him from above.
"Kagome!" he called out, dropping to the ground beside her. "Kagome, someone took my stuff and I managed to get it back but they made off with the dragon radar and we really really need that so that we can find my grandpa so I came back for you but we have to hurry before his scent can fade!" he cried out all in one breath, hoping to himself that she wouldn't ask a lot of questions or get mad at him for trying to rush her.
She blinked at him twice, seemed to understand what he was saying, and dropped the wood to climb up on the cloud next to him. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Well, that'd been surprisingly easy.
xxxx
The priestess sat back as Goku tracked the scent of the thief, thinking to herself that she really did always end up attracting the animalistic ones. She waited for him when he confronted the kid, frowning to herself at the sight of slight corruption in the other boy's aura. It hadn't even occurred to her before, but... Her new companion's didn't have even a little bit of taint. Seeing the contrast now, the light shining just a little more brightly as he gave the child that had stolen from him a couple of the apples that he had been saving for later, she could hardly believe that she hadn't caught it sooner. He was like her at the beginning of her journey through the past. He saw only the good in people.
She smiled a bit to herself as he hopped back up on the cloud next to her, directing it quickly to the nearby town. He wasn't human, but he was a pure soul. That certainly helped to explain why she felt so comfortable around him.
They reached the shop that they'd been told of in no time, both of them hopping off their transport to begin searching for the radar. Maybe the gods were actually smiling down at her on this quest, because they found it almost right away; Shikon shards had never come that easily. She almost hoped that maybe her help wouldn't be needed to fulfill their task, after all. With how low her powers still were, she wasn't sure if she could even hold up a barrier at this point.
A little blue guy walked out of the store with a tall woman behind him and a purple box in his arms. For some reason, he and Goku seemed to know each other - and not in a good way. They both started screaming the second they saw one another.
She twitched when the tiny bastard called her companion a monster, not really hearing the rest of the exchange as she reared her leg back and kicked him right in the face.
"If anyone's a monster here, I wouldn't be pointing fingers you little freak!" she shouted after his bouncing form as it rolled down the street, the tall woman gaping at her for a moment before running off after him and yelling something about 'Emperor Pilaf!' Kagome just scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. "Honestly!" she spat. "Some people just don't have any kind of sense!"
The boy stared up at her for a long moment, slack-jawed and wide-eyed, before slowly giving her a bright grin. "Thanks, Kagome. But we really should have gotten that dragon ball from him before letting them go."
She raised a brow at him. That certainly hadn't felt like some powerful jewel with the ability to grant wishes (and really, if anyone knew what that felt like, it would be her) but if Goku was that convinced... Well, it wasn't like she had been in this dimension for very long. A lot of things were already really different here, so maybe this was just another.
"I wonder how many stars were on that ball," he sighed, slumping over.
"Four," a rather annoying voice spoke up in response. "Four beautiful stars are on that ball, son."
Goku's face fell. "That's Grandpa's ball!" He rushed off immediately after the two.
Kagome hesitated to follow him for a second, really disliking the amount of corruption in the shopkeeper's aura, and felt her eyes narrow when he offered to show her around and give her a good discount because she was pretty. For some reason, she was getting a distinct sense that the creep had just screwed her little friend over.
Following her instincts, she punched the old man in the face and ran off in the direction that Goku had. While it was satisfying to hear the jerk cry out about delinquents and unprovoked violence and whatnot, she still got the feeling that she should have hit him again.
Kami, she'd spent way too much time around dog demons.
xxxx
When he called for Nimbus, he hadn't really expected it to pick Kagome up first. He was glad that it did, but still surprised as it came to a stop beside him, his new friend letting out a shrill squeak and clinging to the yellow fluff for dear life.
"There you are!" he grinned, hopping on beside her and pulling her up a bit straighter. "That way, Nimbus!"
They flew off quickly, his friend letting out another squeak and grabbing his shoulder to steady herself. "What on earth is going on?!" she shouted over the rush of the wind. "Your cloud just appeared and scooped me up out of nowhere!"
"That's kinda odd," he announced thoughtfully, his head tilting to one side for a moment before he grinned. "Nimbus must really like you!"
She made a face at him and he laughed brightly, pulling out the radar and pausing.
"I don't get it," he told the girl uncertainly. "They have Grandpa's dragon ball in there, but the radar says we're still getting father away from it! I guess it's broken..."
"Let me see?" she requested, holding a hand out for the device.
He handed it to her, not really sure what she was going to do with the thing. It wasn't like they really needed it anymore anyway; the goal was already in sight!
"Goku, I think we should maybe turn around," she informed him with a frown.
His eyes widened. "What? Why?"
"This just doesn't feel right," she sighed as she clicked the button on top a few times. "That shopkeeper seemed like a real jerk, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if he'd tried to trick us. You said that this has worked for you in the past, right? I say we listen to it before we listen to strangers."
He blinked at her, a little uncertain about what she was saying about the nice man that had told him that the ball had four stars - but then she showed him that there were still six other lights showing up on the screen. "Hey!" he yelped. "That guy did try to trick us!"
She nodded in agreement and they turned around quickly, the flying fortress doing the same and proving that they'd had the right idea.
Goku pouted a bit, but jolted when the girl took his hand sympathetically.
"It's alright," she murmured. "There's no real hurry here, huh? We know where they are, and we'll get there when we get there." Seeing that her words didn't really effect his mood, she gave a sigh before smiling at him. "How about we pick up a snack on the way? I'm getting kind of hungry."
His stomach growled in response and he brightened at the prospect of eating something. Kagome really was getting pretty good at reading him, wasn't she?
He grinned at her and nodded eagerly, squeezing her fingers in silent thanks.
xxxx
They sat up in an apple tree, Kagome still munching on her first of the fruits and Goku on at least his tenth. She mused in the back of her mind that she might have been horrified by his eating habits if she hadn't had some companions with even worse table manners back in the day, but as it was she just took it in stride.
The boy finally sat up after a couple more apples, glancing around and peeking through a clump of leaves.
"What is it?" she questioned, throwing away her core and moving over to his branch.
"That's my friend Chichi," he told her, pushing the bough away so that she could see better. "Her dad's the Ox King. I wonder what she's doing out here."
Kagome stared out at the girl for a moment, thoughts flashing back to Rin. "It looks like she's picking flowers," she told him, unable to fight off the soft smile that came with thinking of her adopted niece. Kami, she hoped that they didn't miss her too much...
"Hey, Chichi!" Goku shouted, getting the girl's - oh gods, that was not enough clothing for a kid that young! - attention. "It's me, Goku!"
The child looked around uncertainly for a moment, the boy finally jumping out of the tree to greet her. The immediate brightening of her eyes and the wide smile told the priestess all that she needed to know: her little friend was apparently a bit of a ladykiller. She chuckled to herself and dropped down as well, brushing herself off and coming to stand next to her companion.
"Hi," she greeted easily, watching the girl to see how she reacted. The kid would have most definitely preferred to have some time alone with Goku, but it would have just been plain awkward later on when the boy tried to introduce them.
Because this was Goku, and he would have done so. He just didn't know the meaning of the word 'subtle', not even when it came to interpersonal relationships. If he felt a certain way or thought a certain thing, he would just blurt it out for all the world to know... After Inuyasha, she actually kind of appreciated that - but this probably wasn't the place.
The girl's eyes narrowed as she took the woman in. "Goku?" she chirruped sweetly, eyes falling on the boy and decidedly dismissing the intruder. "Who is this?"
Kagome twitched, definitely not liking the dark cloud that swept over the kid's aura.
The boy grinned brightly, completely unaware of the danger. "This is Kagome! She's my friend, and she's helping me find my grandpa!"
"I see," the kid nodded. "It's awful nice of you to invite her to be a guest at our wedding."
Say what now?
"What's a wedding?" Goku questioned, turning up to meet the priestess's eyes.
"Oh, Goku!" Chichi laughed, blushing and bringing her hands up. "You're so goofy!"
Kagome, on the other hand, frowned. "A wedding is a union between a boy and a girl," she explained, returning the favor and dismissing the kid as her pint-sized guardian listened raptly. "Getting married is like a promise to always be together with the one that you love."
He nodded slowly. "And... love is really big like, right?"
"Sort of," she chuckled. "It goes a little deeper than that."
"Oh. And it has to be between a boy and a girl?" he checked curiously.
"Most places," she affirmed. "It does if you want to be able to have children together."
The boy nodded again. "So parents are married people with kids?"
Ah, that innocent naiveté. She smiled. "Not always. It's kind of confusing, but things are a lot easier on parents if they are married."
"Oooooh... I still don't get it," he admitted.
"Okay, so you know how animals take mates?" she suggested, deciding to try a different approach. He nodded. "People do, too. Having a wedding just means standing in front of a bunch of people and making a vow to be paired for life."
The boy thought it over and frowned. "That sounds kinda stupid. Why do you have to tell anyone else that you're gonna be with someone until you die? Shouldn't you just be worried about telling them?"
She couldn't help but laugh. That mentality was so demonic that she could just cry. "It's not for everyone, but society-"
"STOP IGNORING ME!" the girl finally exploded, throwing her flowers away angrily.
Shit. Kagome grabbed her little friend and pulled him out of the way quickly as the other child pulled the blade off her helmet and flung it at them.
"Oh, gosh!" she yelped when she realized what she'd done. "I have to be more ladylike!"
Because that was really the thing to be worried about right now. Sure.
"Wait!" the girl jolted, grabbing the blade and returning it to its place when it swung back around to her. "No, let go of my Goku!"
The priestess really didn't feel that lasers were the answer here, but quickly dodged. She hadn't even realized that she was still hanging on to the boy, for kami's sake! To make matters worse, Goku still didn't seem to have any idea what was going on as she hurried to avoid the barrage of attacks that were sent their (her) way, and she didn't have enough leeway to explain it to him.
A loud explosion caused the girl to stop, Kagome finally slowing down and struggling to catch her breath as she set her little friend down. Honestly, being so lightheaded from something as little as this... Damn, but she hated that stupid pheasant right then.
"Papa!" the caped child called worriedly, her eyes on the looming mushroom cloud rising up over the horizon.
Goku's expression shifted and she knew exactly what he had in mind. She'd once had a pretty bad habit of always rushing to the rescue, too... And, well, not even Sesshoumaru had been able to train that out of her. The only real problem she saw was that she was worse than useless at the moment. It wasn't a stretch to say that the boy could handle most anything that was thrown at him, but she refused to be a liability. Never, ever again.
"Go," she panted, trudging over to the apple tree (whose trunk had been sliced halfway through) and plopping down to lean her back against the bark. "I'll wait here."
The girl immediately brightened, but Goku deflated.
"But, Kagome... You always say never to leave you behind," he pointed out.
She smiled at him tiredly. "I'd just get in the way right now. Go."
He called the Nimbus uncertainly, and the priestess waited until they were out of sight before she allowed herself to pass out.
And she hadn't even used any reiki. Talk about unfair.
xxxx
Goku was worried about Kagome, but he knew deep down that she was right. He had to go help the villagers, and it was obvious enough that she needed to rest. He just wished that he knew why that had taken so much out of her. Was she sick or something?
"Really, Goku, who is that lady?" Chichi demanded from her place behind him.
He sighed. "She's Kagome," he repeated. "She's my friend."
"Just a friend?" she growled darkly.
The boy frowned, not really liking the way that she was acting. She'd talked about having a wedding with him and stuff, and he was really pretty sure that he didn't want to after what his older friend had told him. Also, it made his tail twitch to think that the girl was trying to put some kind of claim on him without even asking. "Well, no. She's also my traveling partner," he admitted. "Hey, why do you not like her so much? She's really nice."
"That woman is trying to take you away from me!" she squeaked angrily.
He let out a low grumble, his decision not to want to marry her only becoming firmer when they got blown off the Nimbus not once, but twice - Nimbus really did like Kagome, after all, and he was getting the feeling that it was going to really dislike Chichi after this - and she even grabbed his tail. He hated it when people grabbed his tail.
At least there was a fight to be had; that was something. The way that the girl cried when she got attacked kinda annoyed him, but he guessed that maybe he shouldn't think that all girls were supposed to be like Kagome and Launch. Maybe it was the other way around.
They freed the Ox King quickly, and Goku wasted no time getting back on Nimbus after finding out what had happened and eating something really quickly. He was in a hurry - his friend was going to be expecting him back before it got dark. Once he had his grandpa back, he was going to take her to Master Roshi's. He just knew that Kagome would get along with everyone, and she really did need a good place to rest if she was sick.
"Wait!" Chichi called, hurrying after him. "Goku! What about the wedding?!"
He paused and frowned a bit when she came to a stop in front of him. "I don't remember ever saying that I wanted to get married," he pointed out.
She gasped. "But - but of course we have to get married! We-!"
"But Chichi," he interrupted, frowning even more. Now he was starting to get irritated as well as confused. "We don't love each other. Kagome said that you have to love each other, and we don't... Besides, I don't think I like the sound of this wedding stuff anyway. It seems like a lot to go through just to tell other people that you wanna be someone's mate."
Her face paled and she stumbled back a step, eyes filling with tears. "But - but-"
"I'm sorry," he apologized sadly, urging Nimbus to start taking off before she could start crying. If she started crying, then he was going to start crying - and there wasn't much time to waste. "I really am glad that we're friends, though."
He felt guilty when he heard her begin to wail behind him, but it'd had to be done. If he didn't want to marry her, then he didn't want to marry her; he wasn't going to lie to anyone.
The boy sniffled and wiped his eyes. He needed to ask Kagome more about this kind of stuff when he got back... He shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind for the moment and pulled the radar out to start tracking down the dragon ball.
xxxx
A/N: Alright, so for everyone who's going to be upset because I didn't portray Chichi in a very positive light - I don't really see how she can be in this situation. I don't straight-up hate the girl, I just don't see her purpose in the storyline other than to give Goku a convenient mate - and to anyone who read my last A/N, I've already stated that he's going to end up with Kagome in this story. I'm not saying that Chichi will get cut out entirely, she's still a DB character and I'm doing my best to follow through with the storyline every way I know how. But with the added character and the lack of 'Oh, I'm going to marry Goku!' obsession, she's going to be forced to see things a bit differently and, hopefully, grow up a bit.
There are so many females in the DB universe with potential to go on and become strong, independent women, and I would by lying if I said that it didn't irk me that the vast majority never really seem to live up to that. This is AU. Things are going to be changing more dramatically as time goes on, what with the extra influence of someone who's already been there, done that along for the ride.
Sorry for the rant. Hope you're all enjoying this as much as I am!
Edit: 7/01/16