Two – The tale of the old witch Baba

The tea Chichi got to drink tasted terribly. Sticking out her tongue she set the cup back on the table while she made herself comfortable in the chair she was sitting in. Goku beside her, the witch Baba in front of her. Chichi felt as if she was a member of a circle…a witch circle, or something like this. The glass-ball was in the middle of them.

All of it seemed very mysteriously!

Goku looked seriously at the old woman while Baba concentrated on the ball before her. What was happening now? Don't tell me she tries to read something out of this ball? Is she a seer?, Chichi asked herself and watched how the old face wrinkled in concentration, while she formed weird forms into the air with her hands and arms. Chichi leaned over to Goku and was about to ask him what she was doing – although she knew he wouldn't understand her anyway. But all he did was bring his finger in front of his lips.

So Chichi held her mouth shut and waited. After a few minutes Baba breathed out exhaustedly. So…that was it already? It obviously was, because the glass-ball flew on its own to a purple pillow, where it landed quietly and stayed. Baba directed her speech to Goku. And they started to talk and glanced here and then to Chichi, who didn't understand anything. It depressed her, somehow. She really wanted to learn their language as fast as possible.

"You found her in the Black-valley?" Baba asked Goku while Chichi analyzed her surroundings. She didn't understand anything they were saying anyway, so she needn't pay attention to them. Goku nodded. "Yes, just like you saw it in your glass-ball. She fell from the sky, I saw it. She floated down slowly. And…she looked so helpless. Baba, this girl is only seventeen, I guess…how can she be the girl of legend?"

"Age doesn't matter in terms of prophecy. She could be any age. Five, twenty, sixty or…seventeen."

"But she seems so weak…"

"Well, therefore you were created, Goku. Your only purpose in life is to help this girl, protect her with your own existence…you understand that, don't you?"

"I do…I was trained for this. It's my destiny…but I wonder: Can't you change destiny?"

"You can't. It is what is supposed to happen, and it will happen. All you suffered until now was for this one purpose. Help her, Goku. Only you can…"

"I know…"

"Good boy. Now take her with you. The best thing you can do is bring her as fast as possible to Bulma. This girl can help you more now than I can. But if you may need my help, the only thing you have to do is call my name."

Goku nodded and took Chichi's attention back to him, when he said her name. Startled about the sudden change of topic Chichi looked at him surprised. She almost looked as if she did something bad and they witnessed it. "What is it?" She asked him in wonder. He did, as if he didn't hear her and stood up without a word bowed to Baba while saying "Eybdoog, Baba." and left for the front door.

Chichi hurriedly bowed too – a rather lousy bow – and bit her tongue while saying "Eybdoog, Baba!" before she ran after Goku, calling his name.

Baba watched them with a light chuckle on her lips. Oh, if they only knew, if they only knew…, she sang to herself while she sipped on her tea and stuck out her tongue. This brew really tasted horribly…

Chichi walked beside Goku who didn't say anything anymore, and it made her worry. Here she was, feeling out of place…was she already a bother to him? Did he want to…leave her alone now? Did this witch tell him something about what could happen if he stayed near her for too long? Or why didn't he say anything to her? Although she wouldn't get what he meant, he still could try to make her understand, couldn't he?

It wasn't her doing landing in this kind of place! It wasn't her wish to be some sort of heroine of a stupid tale! No wait a minute! How could she say to herself she believed in this stupid tale anyway? She just wanted to go home! Ah, this was confusing her! Ruffling her hair, she tried to calm her mind down. She never wanted to be special…in any way. She just wanted to quietly live her life as good as she could.

And now she wasn't allowed to! When her head snapped up and she wanted to say something to her companion she noticed that she lost him. Turning around she tried to find him, but she only saw other faces, that didn't bother to notice her either. "Goku?" she half cried but nobody made a sound as if he felt himself being talked to. "Goku?" she tried again and walked slowly around.

It just had to be her bad luck that only today there was a market. A very big market with lots of people! Chichi felt her hope being shattered to pieces when she bumped into a big man, who looked at her with narrowed eyes and grabbed her by her arm. "Yssim, luferac!" he roared in a deep voice that matched his face just perfectly. Chichi lightly shrieked and tried to get away from him, but she couldn't loosen his grip at all!

Ah, if only she would understand him! Or if only she would speak their language, then she maybe would have found a way out, but like this…it was impossible for her to do anything. So she just wiggled herself out of his "embrace", panic rising inside of her; she screamed Goku's name over and over again.

Until she heard her own name being called by a familiar soft voice.

Relieved about Goku's reappearance she ran over to him and hid behind his back, her little hands fisting into the material of his blue overall. The big guy looked at her and started to laugh out loud before he turned his gaze to Goku. "Is she with you?" the big guy asked him and Goku only nodded. "She's not from here, is she?"

Goku's heart skipped a beat. Nobody should be able to tell! But then again, she really didn't speak their language. "No, she's from a far island and she's all alone. I found her when I was travelling the forest the other day. Since then she became very…trusting to me you could say." Goku hoped his lie would work. He never was good with lying. Chichi looked between him and the big guy. What were they talking about?

Said big guy nodded understandingly. "Sorry for scaring the little girl. I thought she looked lost, wanted to help her out though. But I guess I scared her more than she already was before!" He laughed again and turned around while waving his big hand as a goodbye. Goku looked at Chichi who sniffled a bit, as her hands were still trembling. Goku sighed. This really was harder than expected…he just hadn't to protect her, he had to take care of her very well…

"Dnah." He demanded softly from her while he stretched his hand out.

"Dnah?" she repeated and sounded clearly irritated. What was he talking about? Goku smiled and grabbed her hand with his. "Dnah." he said to her again and only then did she clearly understand him. It would be some troublesome work to show her his language, but it was the only thing he could do while they travelled together.

And so her learning journey began.

It was new for her to travel around with nothing but the smallest things, like a bit to eat and nothing else…sleeping in the opening – alright, now that really took some time until she got used to it – searching for clear, fresh water…hunting…and all of it with a man, she barely knew. And whom she couldn't talk too much since she only started to learn his language.

She knew he was a kind one. Strange, crazy and weird but kind above all. There was so much to learn for her, she didn't even have the time to miss her normal life.

And that she might wake up from a nightmare…well, that thought left her long ago. She knew she wasn't dreaming, but why she was here and what she had to do she didn't know either. She just knew one thing for sure: she had to stay strong and do the best she could do.

It took her two months to finally feel comfortable with her "new life". Two months in which she learned things like fishing with only your hands or searching tracks of different animals…it was all in all…very exciting! And Goku had…much patience with her. Luckily.

Well, after these two months she was sitting with him on a big clearing, watching the cloudless starry sky.

"Those things." She asked him and pointed to the stars. "What name?"

He looked at her with his black eyes growing in wonder. "You mean the stars?"

"S-stars?"

"Yes, that's right. Stars."

She smiled brilliantly at him before her gaze wandered back to the sky. "At home we have them too. Stars…moon…sun. Looks like here. Many things the same…" and she went silent again while Goku looked at her profile in amazement. Did she miss her own world? Did she want to get back? He pitied her somehow…she didn't know what her purpose here was…and she didn't know that he never wanted her to know. Although Baba told him he couldn't change destiny and she had to fulfill it on her own…he didn't want Chichi to.

He thought to himself, the best thing he could do is let her live a peaceful life here, as good as she could!

And it had to be without him.

Although it would probably break her, he thought it was for the best she never saw him again. And because he had no idea how to send her back to her own world…she should try to live a new life here. While he would find a way to fulfill her task on his own…

In those two months she….she grew dear to him, he had to admit. But it shouldn't be like this. It never was supposed to be like this!

"Goku?" Chichi asked him with a small voice that sounded very tired all of a sudden. His head snapped to her. "I'm tired…" she added and he frowned. When her concentration failed her she always spoke in her native language and he just didn't understand her at all…

He hoped that in the one month they would travel together until they reached their current destination, she would be good enough with his language to be on her own. And by then, he could finally tell her that she never should mention the place where he found her. It would be her doom if anybody, who shouldn't, knew.

He ruffled her hair affectingly and stood up before he helped her up. "Let's go to sleep." He told her and she just nodded smiling at him. "Sleep…" she repeated. "Sleep is good…"

Luckily for Goku, Chichi spoke with him almost fluently three weeks later! Unfortunately they crossed some travelers and while they decided to travel with them, the last evening didn't went how it was planned at all…They were talking with each other, and Chichi tried to talk as much as she can, as she was determined to understand everything…Until they started to talk about the girl of legend…

They were eating fruits around a small fire – strange green little things and Chichi didn't know how to open them up – while one of the men asked the question. "Ever heard of the tale of the legendary savior?" The crowd whistled or gasped as they knew, the story would follow soon after…

Goku gulped and looked at Chichi who still watched him, how he opened the fruit. Once he opened it, he gave it to her. "Thank you!" she smiled at him and another one of the travelers grinned brazenly at him. Goku felt himself blush but didn't say anything, as he watched Chichi's reaction to the story. "What tale is it?" she wanted to know excitedly while she bit into the sweetness.

"Listen carefully, girl! It is said, that a legendary fighter – a girl – lands every once in a while in the Black-valley. Nobody knows when it happens, it just happens. There goes a saying, that this once special girl reunites the dimensions for one time, in order to save them all. If her task isn't done, the universe will crumble down, and the darkness will rule all of it. But if she has success, everything stays normal, and she disappears as abrupt as she came…" the traveler paused while everybody looked at him with interest showing in their eyes. Chichi turned to Goku and looked at him.

"Black-valley…what about the place you found me, Goku? The grass was bla -!"

"Don't believe everything you hear, Chichi!" Goku snapped at her and hammered his fist into the ground, hard. Chichi's eyes shot open in surprise and she lost the fruit that she held between her hands. "Sorry, I was wrong…"she whimpered.

The travelers looked at them and some of them laughed while one patted Goku's back and told him "Don't snap at your wife like this! The sweet girl didn't want to anger you!"

"W-wife?" Goku stammered. "She's not my wife…" he added while Chichi looked at him in confusion. Efiw? I don't know what it means, but I'm too scared to ask, Goku doesn't look happy…and he is mad at me anyway…although I don't know why…maybe I should ask him tomorrow…

"Well, you guys. She should go to bed now. It's late and tomorrow we will finally reach Telia. About damn time…" the leader of the small group told them and brought their attention back to their situation. The crowd nodded in agreement and they slowly disappeared into their tents while Chichi looked at Goku who looked far away, with his gaze lost in something she couldn't spot. Tomorrow they would reach Telia. Tomorrow was his last day with Chichi…and she was scared of him because he snapped at her. God, he was such an idiot.

When they separated from the others, Chichi and Goku took their own way to town. They hadn't spoken anything with each other and it hurt Chichi. He was like…everything to her. He rescued her, he helped her, he taught her what she had to know…he never was that angry with her. What was she supposed to do? "Goku?" she whispered after some miles and he stopped with his back to her. "I'm sorry…" she said with a small voice. "I…did I understand wrong? I didn't want to make you angry…I just thought the Black-valley was the place we met…Did I get that wrong?"

Goku sighed and turned around to her, her big black eyes piercing right through him. "No you didn't…But you have to promise me, to never ever tell anybody that I found you in that place, hear me?" She just nodded. His voice sounded serious, it frightened her.

And when he took two steps in her direction and brought his arms behind her back and pressed her into his chest, her heart stopped beating. "I'm sorry too. But you really have to promise me to never tell anybody about it. Chichi?"

She pressed her little nose into his chest and nodded her head. Something about his embrace felt utterly sad. Utterly and completely sad. It almost broke her heart.

If she had known it was his try to say goodbye, she definitely would have started to cry…

She would have cried.

Until there were no more tears able to come out…