Chapter 4:
"Hope you don't mind of we make a pit stop at my house," Goku said. It was the first words that were uttered since they had left Capsule Corporation.
"Not at all," Chi-Chi responded, she was just happy to be with Goku again, alone. He could have said that he wanted to take a quick stop in hell and she would have agreed.
They drove down the streets in silence for a while, with only the humming of the music to make up for the sound barrier. Chi-Chi couldn't stop smiling. She had to physically make herself not look at Goku. She was so happy to be with him again. 'This is the way life is suppose to be. Just you and me Goku,' she thought.
Goku took his eyes from the road for a quick second to look over at Chi-Chi. He caught her staring at him, and he smiled. "Is there something on my face?" He asked kindly.
Chi-Chi grew red from embarrassment. Even with her attempts to stop herself from looking at him she couldn't. "No...nothing," she said nervously, and looked away trying to hide her embarrassment. She was determined not to look at him. Goku chuckled. "You know, Amaya, you don't have to be nervous around me. I'm a cool guy, I swear. My friend once told me that I'm so cool, I could make ice cubes look hot," he told her, and they both laughed. Chi-Chi remembered telling him that a few months back. She had gotten it off a sitcom, and thought it fit him perfectly. They laughed back then too when she told him.
Once they had stopped laughing, she told Goku what was on her mind. "I'm not nervous around you Goku, its just that …." She trailed off as she thought twice about saying what she wanted to say.
"Just that what?" Goku asked curiously.
"You remind me of someone, that's all. Someone really important to me," she said, changing what she originally planned to say at last minute. "Oh," Goku responded, and smiled warmly at her.
There was another moment of silence as Chi-Chi began thinking of how much she adored Goku. She had almost said that such thing. She wanted to tell him it wasn't nervousness that was making her act like that, it was the fact that she was in love with him, and the thought of being with him drove her happy crazy. But saying that would have cause a lot of problems, and awkwardness. She didn't want to hear his rejection, at least not in the body she was in at the moment.
"I hope I don't remind you of Vegeta," Goku said breaking the silence between them, and throwing Chi-Chi out of her thoughts.
"WHAT!" Chi-Chi said a little louder than she needed. Her outburst scared Goku a little and her swerved to the right a little, nearly crashing into the car next to him. He aligned himself back to the left and looked at Chi-Chi in shock and puzzlement.
"Vegeta. You said I reminded you of someone very important to you, and I just sort of figured you'd be talking about him," Goku admitted.
"How could anyone think to even consider Vegeta as an important person to them," Chi-Chi said remembering the previous day where he had begun by insulting her, and then earlier that morning where he kicked her with his shoes to wake her up, yelled at her for cleaning the bathroom, wanted to kill her for trying to get his attention my pulling his arm, and then couldn't wait to get rid of her.
"Your being too hard on him Amaya, he really isn't that bad, he could really help you out when you really need him," Goku said defending him. Chi-Chi thought hard about Goku's words, and couldn't help but agree with them. Her memory lead her back to when he had risked his own life to save her. Suddenly she felt like the scum of the earth. She realized her outburst was not needed and uncalled for, she wanted to apologize to Goku. But before she could do so, he spoke up first.
"Besides, he seems to think your important," Goku informed her.
Chi-Chi's interest peaked after hearing that. "What do you mean," she questioned. She was confused to what Goku could mean by his statement.
"In all the years I have known Vegeta, I have never seen him with a girl. He could barely tolerate the girls that are friends that he has, much less be in the room with one alone for more than 3 minutes. He brought you over to meet us. It means something." Goku said.
Chi-Chi had lost interest halfway through Goku's explanation. There was reason behind everything Vegeta did for her. Goku just didn't know that. He had put up with her because he had no other choice, not because he wanted to. He made that clear when he declared that he couldn't wait to be rid of her. But Chi-Chi wasn't going to just kill Goku's theories, she didn't want to be heartless, so she just nodded her head and pretended to agree with him.
Goku drove up to his driveway and parked his car. They both got out, and Goku made his way to the front door. Chi-Chi stood and took in the familiar surroundings of the four way intersection. Whereas Bulma lived in the center of town, Goku lived on the farthest end of town, in a two bedroom townhouse, on the left corner of a four way intersection that was rarely ever busy. Chi-Chi looked at the stop sign across the street, and a feeling of familiarity swept over her. She thought hard for a reason why that spot would strike her in such a way.
In the background, Goku had gotten his front door in and looked around to see where Chi-Chi could have gone. When he spotted her on the lawn, he called to her.
"Amaya, you can come inside." When she did not seem to hear him, he made his way towards her.
Chi-Chi stood on the lawn feeling light headed. Her breathing had become labored as she began finding it hard to breath. Her heart raced, and she began to have cold sweats. Memories started flowing through her head like water flowing down a river. She heard voices, and felt surrounded by a crowd of people. Chi-Chi closed her eyes to shake the feeling, and she opened them back up she was across the street at the stop sign laying on the floor, a crowd of people surrounded her. She couldn't move, or talk. They were all talking though. There words were jumbled up together, but every once in a while she could make out a few words.
"Oh my Kami."
"That poor child."
"Make room people, the paramedics is here."
Two men in a white uniform come up to her, and examined her body. Once they were done one man took something out of their bag.
"CLEAR," the man said, and a shock wave went surging through Chi-Chi's body. She passed out after that.
Goku watched as Chi-Chi's knees went weak, and she began to fall. He ran to her side quickly, and caught her before she could hit the ground.
"Amaya!" Goku said with a worried voice. "AMAYA!"
Chi-Chi could hear someone calling out to her. She forced her eyes to open. She fluttered her eyes open, and through the blurriness, swore she was looking up at the face of Vegeta.
"Vegeta," She said in a small whisper.
"No, it's me, Goku," Goku informed her. Chi-Chi's eyes regained its focus then, and she looked into the worried face of Goku. She smiled at him.
"Hi," she said. He smiled back with his famous smile that could break hearts all over the world. "Hi," he said back. "Are you alight?" He asked concerned.
"Yes, just fine," she proclaimed, and hoped that, that moment in his arms would never end.
"Are you sure?" He asked. Chi-Chi nodded, and Goku helped her back to her feet. "Alright, let's just go inside real quick, and then we could be on our way."
"Okay," she said with a half smile.
Goku began walking towards his house again. Chi-Chi watched as he walked away. She turned to take a quick look across the street again before taking a step towards the house. She stopped before taking another step.
"Goku."
Goku was already at the front door when he turned around to find out what Chi-Chi wanted.
"Where's the nearest hospital? Because I think we need to go," she told him.
The hospital was packed with people standing around with complaints and wounds. Doctors and nurses rushed by, but had no time to stop and talk. It had taken a little over an hour to get there. Goku had gone inside his house for less than a second, and then they were off to the hospital.
Goku and Chi-Chi made their way through the crowd of people and finally made their way to the information desk. The man behind the desk was rummaging through papers and taking call after call. When he finally put down the receiver, he turned his attention towards Goku and Chi-Chi. He was tired, and signs on his face gave away his lack of sleep.
"Yes ma'am and sir, how may I help you today?" He asked them.
"Hello, we're looking for a Chi-Chi Mai," Chi-Chi told him. Her heart was racing and she was holding in her breath.
The receptionist went through his computer and after a moment shock his head and faced them again, "Sorry, but we have no records of anyone going by that name in the hospital database."
Chi-Chi's heart sank, and she could feel the tears in the back of her eyes. She forced herself not to shed a tear.
"What about Jane Does, any of those came in here in the past few days," Goku asked.
The receptionist went through the computer again, and this time came up with something. "You're in luck, a young lady came in here about 2 days ago with no identification. You can go see if you can identify her. She's in room 413 on the 4th floor."
They thanked the receptionist, and went down the hall to the elevator. In the elevator Chi-Chi could feel her hands shaking. She was anxious, and wanted so desperately to see her body. The doors opened and Chi-Chi ran down the halls to room 413. She stood outside of the door and took in a deep breath. Goku came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulders.
"We can do this," he whispered. Chi-Chi nodded, and slowly turned the knob to open the door.
The room was white and cool. The window was opened and a light breeze was flowing through. They entered the room and found the curtains mostly drawn, and only covered feet at the end of a bed could be seen. Chi-Chi rushed over and pulled away the curtain.
All sound was drained and only the loud thump of Chi-Chi's heart beat could be heard. Her hands were shaking as she released the curtain and looked at the near lifeless body of herself.
"Chi-Chi," Goku said in such a whisper, only he could hear it.
Chi-Chi's body was hooked up to a bunch of machines that monitored her every move.
"I need to call everyone and tell them that we found her. I'll also inform the nurse of who she is, you just stay here and watch her," Goku told her; excitement could be heard in his voice.
He left the room and Chi-Chi just stood there staring at her body. She couldn't take her eyes off of herself. She looked just as she had remembered herself. The nurses had even left her in her own clothes. Chi-Chi moved a little bit closer to her body. She wanted to touch it, to feel how smooth it was, to try and remember what it was like to be in her own body again. She stroked the right cheek of her body. It was soft and smooth.
"Mind-blowing, isn't it."
Chi-Chi took her hand away quickly, and looked up at the window. Usire stood on the window sill.
"I'm amazed you made it this far," he continued speaking once he had gotten Chi-Chi's full attention, "So what do you think? I've taken good care of your body if I don't say so myself."
Chi-Chi opened her mouth to speak when footsteps could be heard just outside. Chi-Chi turned around to see who could be coming, Usire disappeared during that time. Bulma came rushing through the doors, tears already flowing down her face. She pushed past Chi-Chi and plopped herself on the body.
"Oh Chi-Chi," she said between sobs, "don't you worry, I'm taking you home with me so you can get the best care money can buy."
A few minutes later Yancha, Krillan, Tien, Lunch, and 18 walked into the room. They all made their way past Chi-Chi and over to where Bulma lay resting on the body. Then Goku strode in with 6 cups of coffee. He made his way over to the crowd and blended into the mix of people. There were laughs and cheers, and pleasant words exchanged. Chi-Chi stood in the corner feeling for the first time, like she didn't belong. She looked on at her friends looking on at her body, smiling, and enjoying each other's presence, and all she could feel was discomfort. Not wanting to feel awkward and misplaced anymore, Chi-Chi made her way slowly out the door, looking back at her body once more before she left.
Outside of the room the halls were quiet and calm. The sudden chill of being in the hospital that Chi-Chi always had came rushing down her spine. Feeling the need to be outside she made her way down the elevator, through the crowded first floor, and outside of the hospital. There, leaning against the hospital, Vegeta stood staring off in the distance.
"Vegeta," Chi-Chi said as she walked up to him. He didn't bother to look her way, he just sighed in frustration.
"What are you doing out here?" She asked him when she was close enough that they may have their own private conversation.
"Did you see the woman?" He asked, changing the subject.
"Yes, everyone is with her now."
"Good, I can go home now," he said and started making his way to the parking lot.
"Hey, wait," Chi-Chi called after him. He stopped, but didn't bother to turn around. "What is your problem Vegeta?"
He still did not turn around, but instead continued walking. Yet, before he was completely out of ears reach Chi-Chi could hear him mumble something under his breath. She couldn't hear anything he said clearly, but she was sure he had mentioned her name.
Chi-Chi just stood there watching him leave. A part of her wanted to go with him, so she would no longer have to be near the hospital, but she knew she shouldn't leave her friends side, not when they needed her.
'But did they need me?' The thought disturbed her, but made her think of a true statement. As she was right now, they didn't need her at all, in fact, it almost seemed like they didn't even want her. They had their own happy pack surrounded by her body. As far as they were concerned there whole group was back together, and they weren't looking for any more new members.
Chi-Chi looked back at the hospital, felt the chill flow down her spine once more, and turned back to watch Vegeta's body slowly disappear in the distance. She closed her eyes and said a quick prayer to Kami to look after her body then she ran after Vegeta, screaming his name as she went along.
When she finally caught up to him, she was sweaty and out of breath. Her dress clung to her body in the most uncomfortable way. Vegeta had stopped right in front of his car, and had the keys in his hand ready to get the heck away from the whole place, when he had head Chi-Chi calling to him. He stood now, staring down at her as he tried to catch her breath.
"What is it now woman?"
"Vegeta…" she said between breaths, "Can you…please…take me home. I want to go home."
He grunted, and made his way over to the driver's side. He got in his car without answering her, and started the car. Chi-Chi stood there in confusion, not really knowing if that was a yes or a no. She got her answer, however, when Vegeta honked his horn loudly, and turned to look at her with his usual scrawl. She smiled at herself, and made her way into the passenger's seat.
Chapter 4 everyone! Hope you enjoyed it. I'm starting to wonder how many pages this story is going to turn into. I think i'm up to 26, and we're only on chapter 4. Thats so rare for me. It makes me proud. lol. Anyways, I know it seems like Vegeta and Chi-Chi have this weird interaction, where it's like, "OMG, how the heck are these two squares suppose to get together?" I honestly have no clue yet. I want to make it something epic, but nothing is coming to this noggin. So we'll say where the wind will blow and gow everything will turn out. :) Thank you to my readers, for alway sticking by my side 3