Chapter 7, Goodnight And Go.


Not that he forgot that distinct feeling that comes from riding nimbus in good spirits, but as his beloved cloud surges with him and Chi-Chi atop him, Goku is easily reminded of why he's always loved going on adventures so much. The feeling that he always got from flying up and down, at top speed or mellow speed, (depending on how he felt like) readily washes over him while they ride to Chi-Chi's home.

As they ride on, he is too busy enjoying the feeling of being on his cloud once again, that no real thought of talking to her, occurs to him. The thing is, it was three years ago that he rode his Nimbus, that he just wants to cherish this first ride with his cloud. Although, now that they're reunited, it doesn't feel like that much time passed, yet, he still needs to enjoy this, that he hasn't done in three years. Nimbus is one of the oldest friends that he has, and as he feels about all his friends, especially seeing them after a long time of not, he feels for Nimbus too.

And so, because he missed Nimbus, he quietly enjoys the ride, without speaking a word to Chi-Chi, or looking back at her, until they get to her home.

Looking at her home from a foot's distance now, he swears that he remembers her home being a castle. And because of that memory, he's pretty sure that he shouldn't be marveling at how grand it is. However, when he contrasts this castle that he's looking at, to Kami's castle, he can't help it be amazed. For one thing, he certainly doesn't remember it being this huge when he was younger, and for another, how is it so huge like this?

Maybe, he starts to think, back then, when he was younger, he'd just been in too much of a hurry to notice its actual size. That could be the only logical explanation to the big difference in size. Or it could not be the only explanation, he argues with himself. He could just ask Chi-Chi, to find out if it's always been this huge.

'Hey, Chi-Chi-' he turns his head to look at her, only to find that she's no longer behind him on the cloud.

He should've guessed that the minute that her home came in to view for her, she would take the opportunity to immediately get off Nimbus. After all, she had been insisting that she wanted to come home; she must be glad to be back home from the Tournament. He knows that he'd be glad to be back home too.

He's about to ask her (for confirmation) if she's glad to be home, when he notices her dusting herself off, like she's getting ready to leave. The words that were to form the question, die in his head, before they can make it out of his mouth. What makes it to his mouth –his lips, rather- instead of those dead words, is a soft smile. For her.

On his cloud, Nimbus, on his power pole, and on his precious uniform, he can't believe that he didn't notice it before, but it suddenly hits him, that she's a girl who really knows her goals in life. During the times that he was opposing everything that she said to him, he didn't get to take in just how determined and decided she is. Now, however, seeing her dusting herself off, and getting ready to leave him like she's been pressing to do all this time, he's beginning to realise just how determined, and stable to her word she is.

Oddly, he likes that about her.

Truly, he does.

And truly, the thought makes his smile grow wider, that when she finally finishes dusting off, and she looks at him with ready eyes, she instantly frowns at him.

'What?' she wonders.

Although she's giving off the air of being distrustful of him for some reason, that doesn't make him feel bothered enough to lose the smile on his face.

'I'm just happy that I'll see you again tomorrow, that's all,' he answers her.

It's no use, he's decided. In the short time that he came to the conclusion that he likes her stable firmness, he spontaneously decided that it wouldn't do any good to keep struggling with her on getting married. If he thinks about it, he also needs to eat and rest after the day that he's had, so it won't be a bad thing if he just says goodnight to her, and then goes home to rest. The sun's already starting to set anyway.

His statement apparently, he notices as he waits for her, isn't enough to get a response from her, because all she does, is look at him with an expression that he hasn't ever seen on anyone before. He wouldn't go as far as to name her expression annoyed, and yet… It looks to him, like she wants to say something to him. No, it actually looks like she's burning to say something powerful to him, but at the same time, she doesn't want to speak to him at all.

That's strange, and contradicting.

He muses that, also deciding on the spot, not to push it. Tomorrow's still a day that's going to come, and he can push it all that he wants then.

'Well, okay,' he begins to lift his left hand, to wave at her, 'I'll see you tomorrow then.'

'Wait,' leaves her mouth is hasty rush.

Because he didn't expect her to speak, much less tell him to wait, when all that she's been doing is telling him to leave her alone, his eyes enlarge, to stare at her properly. What did she really say?

'Huh?' he drawls, sounding as puzzled as he is.

'It's just...' she starts, and then pauses to sigh, before picking up again, 'if I fought with you right now, would you still come back tomorrow?'

The way that she paused to sigh, he thought for sure that she was going to say something that she would regret later on. If suggesting a fight is all that she was hesitant to say in the beginning, then she shouldn't have worried in the least. She should know that a fight with him, is sure to be fun, of course.

'Yeah,' he jovially answers, his previous smile returning to his face.

Frowning at something, she asks, 'But what if I said that you can't come back here?'

Well, he thinks about it, she can tell him not to come back here, but he hopes that she doesn't do that. He did promise her a few things, so not coming back here to her wouldn't make sense.

'But I have to come back,' he tells her seriously.

'Goku!' she scolds him, her eyebrows making a 'V' when they meet in the space separating them. 'You don't take anything seriously, do you?'

'Yeah, I do,' he tells her.

'Then take this seriously,' she announces, her arms crossing in irritation. 'I don't want you to come back here to me.'

She's so stubborn, he thinks, starting to feel a sizzling buzz in his head. She's starting to get angry too, but she's so stubborn! What she's asking him, is something that he can't give her. She obviously doesn't know it, but he really takes pride in keeping his word. Honouring his word, is something that his Grandpa taught him, and he can't ever let it go. Letting it go, would mean that he doesn't value what his Grandpa taught him.

'But what about my promise to marry you?' he tries.

Almost instantly, her face lights up like she just saw something that she really likes. Curious to see what it is that she saw, he looks behind him, but he doesn't find anything there. Strange, he would've thought that whatever made her face turn like that, was behind him. Only, there's nothing there.

When he turns to her again, he still finds that same look on her face, the only addition, being a smug smile. Whatever she's excited about, he's sure that he's up for it, because if she's this excited, to the point of smiling like she already has victory, it must be that exciting.

'What is it?' he questions, her excitement starting to creep into his skin.

'Tell you what,' she says to him, dragging her eyes from his head to the end of Nimbus. 'I'll have a little fight with you, and when I win, you're free to break your promise. Deal?'

A fight? A real actual fight with him? That's what she's excited for? Oh yeah!

Now he's super excited. So much so, that he effortlessly jumps off Nimbus, to stand before her and look down at her with a mirroring smug smile on his face.

She has no idea what she's saying, that she'll win against him. True, they've never fought before, but she said it herself, she wouldn't want to fight someone who won the Tournament. She really has no idea what she's getting herself into, and that's his reason for smiling like the winner that he is.

'And when I win?' he tests with an arrogance that he doesn't usually like to display.

As if the thought of him winning didn't cross her mind before, the smile on her face disappears, to be replaced by a thinking expression.

'If you win,' she says doubtfully, 'then you can court me, I guess.'

He can't believe that she actually doubts his ability to defeat her. He shouldn't be keeping count, because keeping count is like holding a grudge, but she already doubted him back at the Tournament. This new doubt of hers, he will not let her get away with. It's a doubt too many, when added to the pending doubts of her.

He may not know about this courting thing, because he's never heard of it, but he can't have her doubting him like his fighting skills are common to every person. He's made a point to get stronger and be the strongest, as it was proved by the Tournament that just ended, so that should say something to her.

'Deal,' he smoothly says, holding out his hand for her.


26Chapters


'Chi-Chi,' he cries, boredom getting the best of him, 'this isn't working.'

When she said that they would fight, he actually believed that they would be going toe to toe, punch to punch, and hit to hit against each other. However, all that they've been doing so far, is gripping each other's hands fiercely, while the front ends of their feet fought to keep steady on the ground beneath them.

In normal combat, intertwining fingers with the opposition, to hold their hands still in a steady grip, while their feet aimed to push the opposition back with all of their might, would be a determining move. A move that would be designed to see, which of the two sides would cave to the pressure of being pushed against. Here in his 'fight' with Chi-Chi, though, since this move is all that they've been doing since they started, he's starting to get bored.

From what he knows, fighting isn't boring. Fighting is fun, and fills him with so many wonderful and not so wonderful feelings.

As with his other fights, here with Chi-Chi, he wants the thrill of dodging and ducking attacks. He wants to feel goosebumps rise on his arms, when he realises that he just narrowly escaped a blow that would've hurt him. He wants to see the reactions from her, when he does something expected. He just wants that fighting excitement!

'Giving up already?' she taunts him, using more strength to push against him. 'It's only been ten minutes at most, Goku.'

First of all, he frowns, he doesn't like that tone of hers. It's like she's challenging him to give up, when he agreed to her rules. And secondly, she's lucky that he's holding onto the hope that they will have an exciting match after all, and that's why he's not using all of his strength to push her to break away from him. If he didn't have hope for a real fight, this hand holding thing of theirs would've been over in the first second.

'I'm not giving up,' he answers anyway, 'but this is boring Chi-Chi. Can't we just have a real fight?'

To apparently answer him, she loosens her grip without letting go of his hands completely, and then carefully steps into him.

'You agreed to this,' she tells him. 'You agreed to a fight, where the first person to let go, loses-'

'Yes, but,' he interrupts in a whiny tone, 'I didn't think that we'd be fighting like this.'

Had he known that they'd be fighting a fight that's almost exactly like arm wrestling, he wouldn't have made the deal to a match with her in the first place. This is so boring, especially considering that he can end it all, when he chooses to.

Although, he supposes that he should have already ended it, but he really wants that fighting rush with her. He's thought it before, that he's never really gone toe to toe with a girl before, and that's why the thought of ending this senseless match too quickly, will rob him the chance of getting what he wants.

'Well we are,' she says firmly, leaving him no room to protest otherwise.

'I could easily win, you know,' he tells her as a way to challenge her to bring a different kind of fire to the fight.

Slightly shaking her head, like she's dismissing that statement, Chi-Chi only looks at him, and he takes that as his chance to prove his point to her.

He acts quickly, by pulling both of her arms to come around his back, but in a way that he has complete control of her arms. He did his best not to twist her arms in any way, as he pulled them around him, but if she struggles, or tries to free herself, he'll twist them just the slightest, to show her that he can force her to surrender that way.

'Cheap trick,' she mutters defiantly, as her face comes to land flat on his chest.

A slow triumphant smile spreads over his lips, as he imagines the sceptical look on her face. Even now, he thinks, even now that she's in a vulnerable position, this close to losing to him, she's still being stubborn against the fact that he'll easily defeat her.

She's quite... something.

Oddly, he likes that about her. He truly does.

'Cheap trick, huh?' he asks with a disbelieving, yet amused laugh in his voice.

At the same time that he questions her, he turns both of her arms just a little bit in the opposite directions, while he pulls the both of them off their feet with his energy. In a soft breeze, after quickly scanning the area, he moves them away from the spot, to push her against the nearest tree with force.

He shoves her into the tree just right, so that she feels the distinct sting of the sudden contact, but not hard enough to seriously hurt her. With her arms somewhat safely behind him, he didn't have any fear of hurting them in the process.

'Ah! she complains at the surprise contact.

Her complaint, is muffled, thanks to the fact that her face is still pressed into his chest, and so, he moves back just a little, to give her speaking room.

He must admit that when he challenged her to add more fire to their fight, he didn't think that it would result in something like this; like him somewhat 'forcefully' showing her that he does have power that excels above hers. In any case, whether he anticipated it or not, he finds it refreshingly interesting and desirable. So this is how fighting with a girl is like...

He likes it, he thinks with a happy smile. He really likes it. It's different, of course, completely different from what he knows, but he likes it.

'You see how easily I attacked you?' he brags smugly, keeping her firmly pressed to the tree with his knees. 'I could just as easily win this fight.'

Quite unlike he expected, Chi-Chi shows him a minimal softly sly smile. Because he knows that there's nothing that she can do to him with her hands and feet, he doesn't feel even a little alarmed at her sly smile. Although her smile speaks volumes of someone who has been waiting for the perfect moment to strike with the perfect ace, he doesn't feel threatened to think that she actually has an ace to attack him with.

But then... He isn't all too sure how it happened, but he finds himself flying as far away from Chi-Chi, as distance would allow him.

All right, he's clear of how he'd been looking at her in challenge, while she smiled her non-threatening sly smile, but as to what happened after that, and how exactly it happened, he can't say that he's clear on.

He can say that he saw Chi-Chi leaning her head somewhere close to his neck, but after that...

The warm fuzziness that suddenly occurred on his neck in seemingly delicate and deliberate circles, and the strange sensation of heat appearing on his cheeks, not forgetting the feeling of lips, maybe, on his neck, that caught him by complete surprise as they happened –if they happened-, he can't in any way speak for.

All he knows, is that he felt that foreign fuzziness surrounding his neck, heat in his cheeks ,and lips, maybe, touching (pecking, maybe) his neck, and he only thought to release himself. He only thought to get away from that alien thing, that has never happened to him before, that he forgot that he was supposed to be holding Chi-Chi, in order to win their little match.

Eventually, when he gathers himself enough to realise what he's done, how he's lost, it's to find her standing before him with a cocky grin, and her arms crossed in victory.

'What were you saying about easily winning?' she asks smugly.

Aw man, his spirit drops for his loss. He really believed he was going to win and marry her, but he lost... He guesses that he won't marry her after all. How disappointing that he's not going to keep his word after all.

'He-he-he,' he nervously laughs to cover up his fallen spirit. 'I guess I lost.'

He wishes that he didn't lose, though.


Chapter 8, Human Nature.