Chapter 7
FOUR YEARS LATER
"Now look at me," Piccolo said reassuringly as he squatted down to meet the panicked boy's eyes. "I'll be here when you get out. I promise."
Goten sniffed, his chubby hands clasped together under his chin with his child eyes as wide as they could go with fear. As he looked at the boy, Piccolo felt a pang of regret. This preschool thing was your mother's idea, kid. Not mine.
Chi Chi had tried to comb down the boy's black, spiky hair, but naturally, on the flight over it had sprung right back up. She had also painstakingly dressed him up in a long-sleeve button up shirt with blue slacks to offset it. When she wasn't looking, Piccolo just up and removed that ridiculous bow tie under the kid's chin. He was only four-years old for crying out loud.
Goten's bottom lip quivered, and then opened in a cry. "I don't want to go!" Before Piccolo could get out of his way, the kid had tackled him, clinging heartily to Piccolo's rib cage under his armpit.
"Agh…Goten…"
"YOU didn't go to preschool!" He muffled into Piccolo's vest. Piccolo clutched at the kid, but the grip only tightened.
"I didn't have a mother," Piccolo countered in vain. Finally he was able to pry the boy loose, and held him out in front, pegging Goten with a consoling gaze. "If you go, then I'll take you to see Dende this afternoon. Deal?"
Goten sucked his bottom lip in between his teeth, and searched Piccolo's face for sincerity. "Really?"
Piccolo sighed and nodded. This boy was more emotional than Gohan ever was. You know, it's a good thing your older brother broke me in before you came along, kid, or else I would have been a lot less understanding and lot more mean.
Suddenly, the teacher came out. She was a young, frail woman with a pleasant smile and friendly demeanor. She looked at Piccolo and winked, having met him at one of Chi Chi's school board meetings. It was Chi Chi, after all, that had implemented an elementary school in their small town. She'd become quite entrenched in the politics of the community and was already making considerable changes.
The benefit was that people knew who Piccolo was now, and treated him with respect instead of fear. An entire town. It blew his mind.
"Goten! I'm glad you're here!" the woman cried out in one of the cheeriest voices Piccolo had ever heard. "Come on. You'll like the activities we've got planned for the day." She came up and gently steered Goten away from Piccolo.
The warrior found himself resisting a sudden urge to snatch the kid back and fly away. Goten took three hesitant steps with her, and then looked back at Piccolo.
It pained the namekian to see the forlorn expression on the boy's face. "Go on. I'll be here when you get out," he said again.
Goten stuck his finger in his mouth looked at the lady, and then back at Piccolo. He suddenly broke free and lunged at the namek, wrapping his tiny arms around his thick, green neck. "I love you, Piccolo!" he cried. Then he hopped down and bounced through the preschool doors, teacher en tow.
Piccolo rocked back on his heels, feeling as though someone had just grabbed his vital organs, and squeezed them. Your mother taught you to say that… His eyes stung. Hell, Chi Chi. You might break me, yet… Before his vision could blur any further, he sprung off the pavement into the sky, heading home.
He hadn't been flying for a minute before Chi Chi saw him from the town hall below. She waved at him to wait, and he hovered there until she finished talking to her co-workers.
He smiled internally as he watched her. Without the stress of poverty and single parenthood hanging over her head, Chi Chi had transformed into a stunning woman. And Piccolo couldn't help but feel a bit proud. That once-rare smile that always sent his heart thumping was now an almost permanent fixture on her face. Granted, she was still a spitfire, but now it was balanced out by charisma, drive, and self-confidence.
She had started working part time for the town in an effort to organize a local school district. And now that she had gotten that ball rolling, she left it in the hands of others so that she could run for mayor - something she'd put off until Goten had started preschool and Gohan enrolled in high school.
Chi Chi. In politics… The thought had horrified him, as it was one of the most abused structures of the human society. Yet she seemed to bring integrity to the system. It was her niche.
And his niche was with her, and her sons. The family that Goku had left behind had filled a chasm in his soul that he never wanted to admit was there. And even though he could never bring himself to say it, Piccolo knew his feelings for them ran deep. Very deep. He could tell by how peaceful and complete he felt in their presence, and how fiercely devoted he was to their well-being.
Chi Chi smiled brightly as she flew up next to him. Her shiny, black hair was cut in one of those full-bodied fashions, obsidian ringlets dangling about her neck and face as she bobbed in the air. Piccolo chuckled inwardly. Flying was something she'd learned with difficulty, never having mastered the art. She was clumsy in the air, but the woman could care less. It got her from point 'A' to point 'B', and that's all she needed it for.
"So how did it go?" she asked.
"Now I know why," he paused when he noticed a group of men down below gawking up at them. It struck him as odd, considering that everyone in town had seen them flying around by now. Then his eyes followed their gaze and fixed on Chi Chi's attire.
Hn. Typical. … The laced camisole was made modest by the blue suede jacket wrapped over it, but her skirt on the other hand was a little too flattering. It hung a several inches above her knees, showing off her shapely legs to him, and a great deal more to those below…
He snorted, stifling a quick urge to decimate the voyeurs where they stood. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her after him, and at her confused stare, he smirked, "Your devout co-workers are looking up your skirt."
She gasped and her face flushed in embarrassment. Then just as quickly it darkened in anger. "Those pigs…" She tried to fly back, but Piccolo tugged her onward.
"Just be more cautious of who's on the ground next time you ascend," he said, and then looked ahead. "It's not like you can blame them," he added quietly, under his breath.
"What did you just say?"
"Nothing," he mentally thwacked himself, wondering how in the hell she hadn't figured out his secret in all these years. It's not like he was capable of hiding it very well, like he used to be. They spent too much time together.
But for all the moments she'd caught him staring, or giving uncharacteristic compliments, or hanging around in the evenings just to spend an extra half hour listening to how her day went after the kids were asleep, the woman never caught on. It was something that both relieved, and frustrated him.
It's not like he had any idea what to do about it. He was a fighter, and fighting was all he knew how to do. At times he'd even considered seeking out the Don Juan of them all, Yamcha, for advice. He shuddered, wondering how quickly the rumors would have started, had he followed through. Thank heavens I changed my mind about that idea.
"So how did your early morning meeting go?" he asked in an effort to stop thinking about little things, like how her neck angled in a perfect 'L' against the soft curve of her jaw line, or how the wind pressed her skirt against her thigh, delineating the muscle underneath.
Chi Chi shrugged, the earlier offenses forgotten. "We mapped out the campaigning for the next couple of weeks. It won't be too demanding, considering the town is so small." She looked at him anxiously then, her arms stretched out before her in flight. "Enough about me. How did it go with Goten?"
Piccolo snorted. "I know why you wanted ME to do it," he grumbled. "That boy is too pampered, Chi Chi. He's fighting separation anxiety when Gohan, at that age, was fighting full-grown Saiyans."
Chi Chi grinned, her eyes glistening slightly. "Maybe he's more like his mother, that one," she said wistfully.
"Hn." That would explain why I'm nuts about the kid, then, Piccolo thought soberly.
They arrived at the house, and descended.
.
"Come inside," Chi Chi said to him when they landed. He eyed her suspiciously.
"If you want me to do the dishes, then you can forget it. I already paid my dues today when I took Goten to preschool this morning," he called after her. "That wasn't easy, you know, sending him off like that…" Despite the gruff tone, he'd followed her inside anyhow. She shut the door behind him.
"I know," she said, and couldn't help the smile that split her face as she looked at him - upset because saying goodbye to the little cherub had been tough on his emotions. You were so callused, once, Piccolo, she thought, remembering the perpetual frown he once donned. Perhaps all you needed was the opportunity to love. "Well, that boy is crazy about you, just like Gohan was when he was little."
"Hn."
She chuckled inwardly. That's right, big man. I know you're smiling on the inside. She walked over to the table and started to sift through the week's mail.
He sighed heavily behind her. "They're both…growing up so fast," Piccolo said quietly. Something in his tone made her eyes water, just then. She looked up at the warrior who had become much more to her family that Gohan's trainer. His wistful gaze was resting on a picture of Goten and Gohan on their living room wall, his mouth part open as though to somehow express his thoughts without voicing them.
But you don't need to voice them. I know you by now. She took him in in his entirety. He was wearing a white, straight-legged pants and matching vest that Chi Chi had tailored for him and to everyone's surprise, he wore them more often than not. And hanging on a leather strap around his neck was an ugly, misshapen bit of clay that Goten had given to him last year that was supposed to be an image of Gohan.
She smiled, and then she wondered where they would be now if Piccolo had let her scare him off all those years ago. I'd still be a miserable old hag, she conceded. And Gohan and Goten would have been raised in dysfunction.
Chi Chi shook her head in wonderment, as she for the first time ticked off a mental checklist of all the positives Piccolo had brought their family. You pulled us out of poverty, even though you never needed a job to survive, you've been a committed father figure to both my sons - spending quality time with each of them, schooling them in attributes they could never learn from a book…
And you've made me into something worthwhile, an ornery widow that would have fed you to the dogs had she the chance. And you've given me your friendship, which is almost as precious to me as my children…
"You're staring at me…" his baritone voice startled her out of her reverie.
Her vision focused and she was indeed staring at him, but instead of flushing and turning away, she smiled at him as her eyes blurred with tears. It's time you thanked him, Chi Chi. "You know Piccolo," she said in a choked voice, "I think the best thing Goku ever did for this family…was to send us you."
He blinked, and his expression froze as she chewed her bottom lip between her teeth. Ugh… Never could be grateful without getting emotional… "Thank you," she breathed. "For everything."
She half-expected him to dismiss her gratitude. It's what he would have done several years ago, but instead he gazed at her, eye ridges lifted in emotion as his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. He wanted to say something. She was sure of it.
"You don't have to say anything back, Piccolo," she said in an effort to break the tension. "I'm just thanking you. It's something I should do way more often-"
"Chi Chi," he said, his voice almost a whisper. "There's something I…have to tell you," he swallowed. "About me."
Whatever inner conflict Piccolo was experiencing was evident by quick breaths, twitching hands, and a strained face. Chi Chi had thought she'd never seen his expression so open and honest. She stepped towards him, taking his trembling hands in her own.
"Piccolo, what is it?" she asked, concerned. "My word, you look terrified…"
He shook his head, and Chi Chi suddenly felt winded. The intensity in his eyes sucked the breath from her lungs. "You remember what I told you about Guru, and how he replenished our kind?"
Chi Chi nodded, and her gaze dropped. She thought she could see the heart palpitations in his chest right then.
"Do you remember the…restrictions…he put on his sons?"
She frowned, recalling the sexual dampener bred into the namekian race. "Yes…"
"My sire..." he paused to take a deep breath, "...escaped Namek before the disaster."
"Okay..."
"He was a whole namekian, untouched by Guru's magics..."
She studied him, more than a little alarmed. What are you battling Piccolo, that's making your palms sweat, and your speech stuttered?
He pursed his lips and searched her face for understanding. Not finding it, he stammered on, approaching whatever 'it' was at a different angle. "I said to you once that I didn't understand what Goku saw in you," he whispered, locking her in his gaze. "Well now I do," he breathed as he lifted a hesitant hand up to trace a talon along the curve of her jaw. "I understand…everything."
The gesture hade her heart lurch, and Chi Chi felt her eyes start to widen as her mind whirled up in a mental tumble, picking up bits and pieces of his conversation, clue after clue, and smattering them up on a psychological collage. One thread lead to another and then she saw it in the way that he was looking at her, the way he was breathing, the way he was touching her face. My word. Is he trying to say-
The phone rang.
.
Three seconds. Piccolo held his tongue for the three unbearably long seconds it took for the light of comprehension to ease her expression. But no sooner had her visage changed than the offending, bleating sound of the phone cut through the moment like a hacksaw.
Piccolo silently cursed it. No, dammit! Not now!
Chi Chi stepped back out of his reach, not taking her eyes off him. She almost looked as if she'd been doubting the moment they'd just had.
It was real, Chi Chi! I meant it! But for all that he thought it, the words couldn't make it past his throat.
The phone rang again, and with one final awkward glance in his direction, she picked it up.
If there was ever a moment when Piccolo wanted to destroy civilization, then that was it, if only to do away with such invasive objects.
His ears picked up Gohan's voice, but the teenager's words were too muffled in Chi Chi's ear to decipher them. Piccolo clenched his fists. Agh, Gohan! You and I are going to have an extra rough sparring match this afternoon, kid.
Suddenly, Chi Chi gasped, and a hand flew to her mouth. Her eyes were wild and staring. She slowly hung up the phone, looking for all the world as though someone had died. Or worse…
"What is it?" Piccolo asked.
She met his eyes, nothing but naked shock in her expression, "It's Goku," she said weakly. "He's coming back."
