Chapter 3, Beautiful Crime.

Chi-Chi knows her husband, she knows her husband very well. She knows what his vantage points are, and she knows how to interpret the things that he does, as well as the words that come from his mouth. She knows all there is to know about him, but best of all, she knows the parts about him, that other people can only dream to hope to understand about him.

Huh, she supposes that's why she's Goku's wife, and not somebody else's wife.

She knows her husband more than she knows her way around the kitchen. She knows what sets him off and what extinguishes his internal flame, but more than that, she's an expert in detecting, following and interpreting his energy readings when he's near her. Unlike everyone else, she doesn't need to have her eyes open and squarely set on Goku to know his state, or his thoughts.

That's why, even now that her back is turned on the pair in her kitchen, she knows that Goku's partly dancing around Whis, feeling three fractions higher than his average curiosity. While she is preoccupied with carefully preparing a bag for Whis, her senses are keenly aware of Goku standing close to Whis, just waiting for an answer.

'Leave Whis alone, Goku,' she calmly tells him, not taking her eyes off her work.

Of course, there's no way in the world that Goku will listen to her. She could've yelled it or she could've tried to coerce him into listening to her, but the way she knows him, it's a sure thing that he wouldn't have listened to her; he is Goku after all.

'But Chi-Chi,' he protests, 'I want to know what Whis is doing here.'

Just like she thought, she thinks. For sure, it'll only be one of two things that will happen now. Either one, he'll ignore her and start to beg Whis to take him along to Beerus' planet, whether he gets an answer or not, or two, he'll pester Whis with different versions of the same question until he gets an answer that satisfies him. Personally, her money's on the second option.

'I was here for you,' Whis dulcetly answers him, saving her the trouble of saying something else to calm him down.

Had Whis not answered, she would've had to repeat herself, only with more vigour the second time around. Really, the amount of patience and willpower it takes to be married to Goku, is something that no other woman –not even Bulma- would've been able to master.

'For me?' Goku asks, his energy tones spiking in the same surprise as the tone of his voice. 'Wait,' he adds more thoughtfully, 'did Lord Beerus send you to me?'

Still with her back to them and still busy with gathering the last of Whis' ingredients into the bag, she's perfectly able to detect the tinge of excitement radiating from Goku's body. That's her Goku, she thinks with a small appreciative smile, he is who is, and she wouldn't change any part of him.

But, as it's usual (and highly exciting) for her to do, she has to act annoyed and threatening, because it rises both of their energy activities. They long ago mutually agreed to this type of action and reaction cycle, that they can't stop it now if they wanted to. At this point in their marriage, they're sort of dependant on arousing such high hormones in each other, that it goes without saying that she purposely reacts as though she's annoyed. Goku loves it, and she loves him, so what he loves, she happily supports.

'Goku…' she warns, leaving his name to trail off into seemingly infinite silence for a better effect.

In the time that it takes her to fully conclude Whis' package, there's absolute silence in the kitchen. To this day, it still makes her skin sizzle that she has an unusual power of dominance over Goku. Not enough people can proudly admit that they have that kind of power over him. But what surprises her, is Whis' silence.

Whis hardly strikes her as the type to fall and bow down, and yet here he is, as silent as Goku, not making any single comment during the silence. She expected him to say something to Goku, but he calmly allowed her the freedom to dictate the order of things in her house. If she can, she might even say that he's properly giving her the authority that duly belongs to her in her own house, regardless of him being stronger and more important than them.

Whis is a man with his priorities in order, she decides on the spot as she turns around to start walking to the two men, and that's why she seems to have taken an unexplained liking to him suddenly.

'Here you go, Whis,' she hands him the bag when she reaches them. 'Be sure to follow my instructions precisely.'

Stretching out his arms to receive his package, Whis accepts it with a slight nod and a pleased smile. If she were to guess what his smile is about, she would say that he's imagining the recipe that she told him about.

'Thank you, Chi-Chi,' Whis says, keeping his eyes on hers. 'I can only hope that Lord Beerus allows me the time to prepare it.'

The way he says it, she observes, she detects that whether Lord Beerus accepts it or not, he'll prepare the recipe anyway. Heaven knows, if the roles were reversed and she had to make a meal for an impatiently hungry and nagging Goku, she'd do it anyway. See, this is probably why she likes Whis, he's similar to her…

But then, without warning, Goku squeezes himself between her and Whis, coming almost nose to nose with her and disrupting her thoughts.

'Hey,' Goku drags in wonder, 'what are you giving him?'

'Aren't you going to eat?' she asks him, not giving importance to his curiosity.

'I want to know what Whis is here for,' he insists, sounding very serious this time.

'Why,' she takes a step back from him, 'so you can ask me to go with him?'

'Well,' Whis saves her again when he turns to Goku, 'as I said, I was here for you, and while it would be prudent to leave with you, I rather prefer that you remain behind. That way, I have a reason to return here. Until then…'

Whis winks at her, and they share a smile at the silent promise, but then Goku looks from one to the other, seemingly observing their smiles to each other. From what she can tell, he looks to be considering their smiles, in the end, he looks at her with narrowed eyes.

'What?' she wants to know, and Whis chooses that very moment to tap his staff on the floor, making him instantly disappear.

As sudden as Whis' departure is, she's more concerned about Goku's unusual stare. It's not like him to look at her like that, like he's thinking more than he has to be, to figure a puzzle out.

'What was Whis doing here?' comes out of his mouth.

'He just told you, didn't he?' she answers his question with a question.

One would think that he hadn't been listening when Whis spoke. Really, Goku sometimes…

As though she didn't speak, Goku maintains his stance, still asking, 'But what was he doing here?'

'Goku,' she frowns, 'he said what he wanted.'

'But while he was waiting for me,' he corrects, making his energy activity flutter in a strange way, 'what was he doing?'

Something is not right, she thinks to herself. Not only is Goku's energy dancing around in a new way that she's not familiar with, and on top of that, she can't read what it means. Nonetheless, there's an urgency in his energy spikes that she can't ignore; she has to answer him.

'He was eating,' she tells him.

It's like her words abruptly shot a ball out of a canon, that unceremoniously hit Goku, because he emits a long, 'Waaaaaaaaaah!' as he jumps back as though in fright of something.

'Eating?' he screams out, his eyes shooting out with more than just surprise. 'Here?'

Really! What's this? What's wrong with Goku that he's behaving like he was just told the most incredible thing in the world. Is there really a need for him to go to such extremes all because Whis ate here?

'Yes, here,' she answers, keeping careful watch of him.

'But he usually eats with Bulma!' Goku sputters. 'Why did he eat with you?'

Another person with Bulma!

'Because Bulma doesn't cook and I do,' she replies in a snap.

There are things she can tolerate, but being compared or likened to Bulma in subtle or explicit ways, is not something that she appreciates when it concerns food. Bulma can afford the best food yes, but she is nowhere near close to knowing what loving to cook does to the food.

'But I prefer that Whis eats with Bulma, not you,' he says as though defeated, his face falling with his words too.

He's not serious! What's this, he doesn't want Whis to eat with her? He's really telling her that he prefers that Whis doesn't eat with her, when it's his fault that she likes to feed people?

He's the one that came into her life, and then married her, consequently bringing her into a life of seeing him eat the way he does. And then, as if that wasn't enough, he gave her two sons with almost exactly the same appetite as him, further adding onto the household's eating habits. He's the one that got her to develop an insatiable passion for preparing food and soon addicted to seeing people eat, so he shouldn't be surprised that she wants to feed every and any person that will have her food! Whis just happens to love food, so where is she at fault if she wants to feed him to satisfy his wants?

She seriously wonders what his problem is. But, if this is honestly the way that he wants to play it, she'll turn the tables on him.

'And I prefer that you don't run off all the time,' she says, 'but we can't get what we want now, can we? Now, are you coming to eat or not?'

Transparently sulking, he answers a quiet, 'I'm eating.'

Now that's what she likes to hear, she thinks, forgetting all about his previous strange behaviour. She lives to see her beloved husband eating to his heart's content.

Chapter 4, Better Than Me.