Flash drive. The detective couldn't have been any more specific when he gave Goku that information? He obviously had no idea just how many flash drives a retired lawyer with a lucrative career possessed.
Chi-Chi growled in frustration as she pulled the drive from her latest search from the USB port of her computer, before harshly chucking it into the plastic bin with all the others that had proved useless. Fortunately, her father was working beside her on another computer, doubling their efforts. He reached for another unexplored flash drive as he smiled reassuringly at Chi-Chi.
He was always so positive. Chi-Chi firmly reminded herself to remain positive, too. Her growling and temperamental slamming of her father's technological devices couldn't be making him feel any better about this endeavor. With a resettling sigh, Chi-Chi reached for yet another flash drive in search of this elusive evidence against Majin Buu that they had yet to uncover. The opening of a door behind her alerted Chi-Chi to another approaching presence as she intently narrowed her eyes at the data on her screen.
"How's it coming along?"
"It's not." Chi-Chi found herself bitterly replying to the innocent question.
She winced at the harshness of her own tone while casting a sideways glance at her father's notable grimace. So much for that positive temperament she wanted to exude. This was just all so frustrating, on so many levels. Her frustration seemed to increase exponentially when he walked into the room. The tense silence in her father's office was getting to Chi-Chi, but she stubbornly refused to apologize or even look at Goku when he finally replied.
"…Oh. Can I get you something?"
"A glass of water would be nice." Her father replied as he broke his gaze from the screen to swing his arm over the back of his chair and turn to smile at that gorgeous, kind, stupid, forgetful man standing behind them. "Thanks, Goku."
Chi-Chi bit back the frustrated grumblings that threatened to emerge from her lips as she stared harder at the screen, while listening to the shuffling of Goku working around in the kitchen behind them. She heard the clinking of glasses before the running tap water, and she would be damned if she could pay enough attention to her task now to get past the first word without having to re-read it for the hundredth time.
"Chi-Chi?"
"What?!" Chi-Chi snapped as she pushed violently from the screen to turn and face him.
Goku stared innocently back at her, raising an empty glass in the air before he frowned warily and glanced at her dad. "I was just offering." Goku shrugged before placing the empty glass back on the counter.
Chi-Chi closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She needed to breathe. She needed to relax. But how could she do that when Goku was breathing down her neck constantly?
"Chi-Chi, why don't you take a break?" Ox offered as he patted a gentle hand on Chi-Chi's shoulder. "I've got this for a while. You should go out on the balcony. Get some fresh air."
Chi-Chi smiled momentarily, before seeing Goku's attentive gaze. When he smiled meaningfully back at her, Chi-Chi knew she had no chance of going out on that balcony alone.
"Come on, Chi-Chi." Goku coaxed her with a teasing smile, as if he knew exactly the reason for her reluctant expression, "Ox is right. Some fresh air sounds like a good idea." Goku headed to the balcony, clearly expecting Chi-Chi to follow.
Chi-Chi crossed her arms as she staid firmly planted in her chair, frowning petulantly at Goku's back until a massive hand pushed her out of that chair.
"Go on, honey." Ox coaxed in his smooth, deep timbre. "Goku's going with you. There's nothing to worry about." He said that as if it was reassuring.
Chi-Chi sighed as she reluctantly met her father's gaze with a forced smile. She didn't want him to think she was scared, because she sure as hell wasn't. Angry, maybe, but scared, no. "Thanks, Dad." Chi-Chi defeatedly replied before turning to drag her feet towards her father's balcony, where Goku already waited.
He was standing with his hands braced against the railing, his neck stretched towards the sky and his eyes closed as his hair flew subtly around his face from a gust of passing wind. Goku looked so content, so at peace out there, with the subtle fall breeze and the calming duskiness of the early evening sky surrounding him. Chi-Chi did have to agree, as she stepped onto the balcony beside Goku, that the breeze and fresh air felt nice. Maybe if she ignored Goku, she could relax out here.
To her pleasant surprise, a good few minutes passed in silence. Goku wasn't fidgeting, or trying to make conversation with her, and she didn't even have the gnawing sensation of his eyes on her like they had been the past two days. Another breeze swept past Chi-Chi's face as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, Chi-Chi hesitantly turned her head to look where Goku had been standing, but he was nowhere to be seen. Chi-Chi furrowed her brows in confusion at his sudden disappearance as she turned around to search for his whereabouts indoors. She could see through the glass doors that her father was busy with his eyes fixed on the computer, right where she left him, but Goku was nowhere to be seen. Her father's unflinching concentration had Chi-Chi thinking that he hadn't been disturbed by Goku's return to the penthouse.
Chi-Chi quickly turned again, expecting to find Goku standing on the sparsely furnished balcony right beside her after she realized he hadn't gone inside, but he didn't magically reappear beside her. He was just gone.
"Goku?" Chi-Chi asked hesitantly as she quirked a brow and frowned at the vacant terrace, before looking out towards the expanse of open air and neighboring buildings in the distance.
"Chi-Chi!" Goku called out, surprising Chi-Chi as she still didn't see him anywhere.
Chi-Chi placed a hand to her chest as she stumbled back in shock, before turning her head frantically to search for his whereabouts. His voice sounded so close. She could hear him audibly grunting with exertion before Chi-Chi sighted movement near her feet. A pair of hands grasped the railings tightly, inching their way up with each grunt that followed. Chi-Chi gasped in shock as Goku's spiky, ebony locks seemed to rise from the air outside of the balcony. He pulled himself up further, revealing himself fully as his hands reached the top of the railing, before he pulled his legs into his chest and swung them over the railing to gracefully land beside Chi-Chi.
"Chi-Chi, are you okay?" Goku asked between heavy breaths as he visually scanned the area as if expecting to find danger nearby.
Chi-Chi clenched her fists tightly in frustration. She was out here to calm down. He just scared the hell out of her with that stupid stunt, and he dared to ask if she was okay?
"No, I'm not okay!" Chi-Chi screamed at him as she felt the pressure of her fingernails digging into her palms. "Are you crazy?! What the hell do you think you are? A monkey?!" Chi-Chi felt her chest tighten from the stress of witnessing Goku's near-suicidal act, even though he was brushing it off as if it were nothing.
He frowned deeply at Chi-Chi's furious reaction before uneasily rubbing the back of his head. "I still need to keep up with my training, Chi-Chi." Goku glanced indicatively towards the quiet penthouse where Ox continued his work on the computer. "I can't do much in there without disturbing your concentration."
Chi-Chi glared incredulously at Goku. There was too much she wanted to say all at once, so she didn't know what to say. Finally, she settled on the most obvious question that kept repeating in her mind as she raised a hand to massage the ache that was forming in her head. "So you decided to hang from the balcony?"
"Yeah!" Goku chuckled briefly before quickly frowning once he realized Chi-Chi found no amusement. "I do it all the time, Chi-Chi." Goku shrugged. "It's safe."
"Safe?" Chi-Chi repeated skeptically before pointedly leaning over the balcony to view the distant city street below. "We are fourteen stories off the ground, Goku!" Goku winced guiltily as Chi-Chi continued. "If you fell, you would've been killed!"
"Yeah, but I never fall." Goku bragged proudly, actually having the gall to smile at Chi-Chi in the middle of this ridiculous conversation. "Really!" Goku added adamantly, as if Chi-Chi actually needed to be convinced that he hadn't ever fallen off a fourteen-story balcony before.
Chi-Chi scoffed at Goku before turning around to retreat to the penthouse as she shook her head in defeat. "You are such a jerk."
"Wait!" Goku called, wrapping his fingers firmly but gently around Chi-Chi's arm to hold her in place. Chi-Chi rolled her head back as she reluctantly stilled. "Why are you so angry with me?" Goku asked softly.
"You mean besides you jumping off the balcony and scaring the hell out of me?" Chi-Chi responded facetiously.
Goku stepped closer to Chi-Chi, causing her to meet his intense gaze. "Yeah. Besides that."
Chi-Chi looked away from his piercing gaze, at nothing in particular. She just couldn't look at him when he was looking at her like that, asking that question. She considered telling him. She had thought so much about how she would tell him, but now that the moment was here, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Chi-Chi furrowed her brows briefly as she worked to suppress her feelings, before turning to face Goku again.
"I'm not angry with you, Goku." Chi-Chi admitted solemnly. She attempted to walk away after that dismissive statement, but Goku tightened his grip around her arm.
"But something is wrong." He retorted knowingly. Chi-Chi lowered her gaze to the ground as she felt a lump rising in her throat. Goku's grip around her arm softened until he finally released her. "If I did anything to upset you, Chi-Chi, I'm sorry."
Chi-Chi's eyes widened in surprise before she raised them from the ground to meet Goku's sincere gaze. She really wanted to stay angry at him. She was holding onto that anger like a security blanket that would protect her from being hurt. She knew it wasn't his fault if he couldn't remember what happened between them, and even if he did, she was the one stupid enough to promise that it wouldn't mean anything. And now here he was, sincerely apologizing when he didn't even know what he did wrong.
When he didn't even do anything wrong.
Chi-Chi felt her eyes brim with tears as she smiled weakly back at Goku's concerned visage. Trying to explain things at this point would be so complicated, and she was sure most of it would go right over his head. Chi-Chi couldn't express in words what she wanted to say, so instead, she settled for reassuring Goku that all was alright between them through action. She hesitantly placed a hand on his shoulder, before rising up on her toes and leaning forward to give Goku a gentle peck on the cheek. She took a deep breath after pulling away from Goku, reveling in feeling the sensation again of his warm skin against her lips. Goku's lips slightly parted as Chi-Chi retracted her hand from his shoulder and Goku stared speechlessly back at her. Chi-Chi felt her lips curl into a coy smile before she turned away from him, re-entering the penthouse, feeling much better than she felt before heading out to the balcony.
"Is everything okay?" Chi-Chi gasped in surprise at hearing her father's voice. He sounded concerned as he leaned forward from his chair at the computer desk, lowering his glasses to eye Chi-Chi carefully over the frames.
Chi-Chi smiled again and shook her head dismissively at her father. "Yes, Dad. I'm ready to get back to work now." Chi-Chi approached her father before taking her seat at the computer again. Chi-Chi plugged a flash drive into the computer, shifting in her seat with a determined huff as she focused her gaze on the screen.
"Sure everything's okay?" Ox asked dubiously, prompting Chi-Chi to lift her gaze from the computer to scrutinize his expression. "Goku looks a little lost." Ox pointed a finger towards the balcony and raised his brows tellingly at Chi-Chi.
Chi-Chi glanced over her shoulder to follow his gaze. Goku was standing with his hands on his hips, staring into the distance with his brows furrowed in awe…or concentration. She really couldn't tell. But "lost" was a good description. Maybe that kiss made more of an impact on him than she originally thought. She smiled to herself with that thought before meeting her father's questioning gaze.
"He'll be fine." Chi-Chi said as she perched her hands in preparation for typing.
"Good." Ox responded as he plopped his massive hand atop Chi-Chi's, easily covering both of her hands and the keyboard. Chi-Chi knitted her brows in confusion as she looked questioningly at Ox. "You don't need to bother with that. I found the files we need."
"You did?" Chi-Chi beamed as Ox smiled proudly.
"Right here." Ox indicated his computer screen with a presentational gesture. "Remember my Red Ribbon case, about four years ago?" Ox asked as Chi-Chi slid her chair closer to his, leaning forward to take a closer look at the files on screen.
"Yeah."
"It just so happens that Red had some dealings with Majin Buu back then. The evidence is all here on the files I kept around from that trial."
Chi-Chi's jaw dropped as she perused the file, which was loaded with evidence that could be used against Buu. "This is great. How come we didn't know about these before?" Chi-Chi muttered in disbelief as she quickly made note of the files that would need to be presented to the detectives on the case.
"Well," Ox explained with a sly smile and a guilty shrug, "these are my files, and let me remind you, I worked criminal defense, dear."
Chi-Chi met her father's gaze with a reprehensive scowl. "You never turned this evidence over to the prosecutor."
"And," Ox added immediately without bothering to refute his daughter's accusation, "Majin Buu was relatively unknown back then." Ox shrugged disinterestedly as he leaned back in his chair. "If it had been Babi Dee on those files, I would have turned it over to the prosecutor. But this guy…" Ox trailed off with another dismissive shrug as the sliding door from the balcony disrupted their conversation.
Chi-Chi turned to look at Goku, who opened his mouth to speak, before rethinking what he was about to say and closing his mouth tightly as he curiously eyed the situation happening between Ox and Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi smiled smugly as she turned to remove the flash drive from her father's computer. "We've got it, Goku."
"You got it?" Goku questioned jubilantly as Chi-Chi pocketed the drive and turned to smile gloatingly back at him. "Alright!" Goku smiled at Ox before looking at Chi-Chi again. "Does this mean we can celebrate over dinner?"
"It's a little early for celebration, Goku." Chi-Chi sternly informed him, immediately feeling guilty for her change in tone as Goku's elated expression melted into one of disappointment. "We still have to arrest the guy, then put him on trial, and he needs to be found guilty in a court of law." Chi-Chi explained, wishing her explanation somehow lessened the blow of her earlier response.
"Still," Ox interjected as he smiled at both of them, "dinner sounds nice. Don't I get some reward for helping?"
"For helping find the evidence that you've been keeping to yourself all along?" Chi-Chi scolded as she wagged a finger at her father. Ox frowned deeply in guilt as Chi-Chi rolled her eyes and smiled at her father, "Of course."
"Yes! I'm starving!" Goku exclaimed as Chi-Chi headed into her father's kitchen.
Chi-Chi snorted in amusement at Goku's unnecessary announcement as she set to work in the kitchen. She would cook a great meal for those two tonight. After all, her father was being so supportive, and helped find the vital evidence that would finally progress this case to trial. And Goku…he deserved a good meal after that whirlwind she probably put him through with that heartfelt kiss.
Dinner was great, as it usually was when she cooked it. Chi-Chi didn't like to gloat, she wasn't the type. But she knew when she was good at something, and cooking was one of those things. Now she was feeling extremely satisfied.
She was at her penthouse with Goku again, having found what she set out to find, and having her mind settled in regards to her relationship with her bodyguard. She felt like she could move on now. She could carry on in his presence without the discomfort of secretly having to be plagued by memories of their drunken night of passion every time she looked at him. Soon, Majin Buu would be behind bars, and her life could return to the way it was before.
Chi-Chi smiled to herself as she turned on the faucet to her shower. She would wash away the day and head to bed in preparation of visiting the precinct in the morning to work out the details of Majin Buu's warrant with the detectives. She couldn't wait to see the furious expression on that murdering, scheming bastard's face when he'd be locked up behind bars.
Chi-Chi nearly chuckled in malicious glee as she began stripping herself of her clothing. She stepped out of them as the warm bathroom began to fill with steam from the running shower. Chi-Chi pulled the purple vinyl curtain back to step inside the spray of water just as the handle to the bathroom door jiggled. Chi-Chi jumped hurriedly into the shower at the sound, squeaking in surprise as she grimaced expectantly at the opening bathroom door. Her breath caught in her throat when Goku walked through the door, his gaze searching for something in her bathroom, as if it didn't matter that Chi-Chi was standing naked in the shower.
"Do you have any extra shampoo in here, Chi-Chi? I'm all out."
Chi-Chi wrapped the shower curtain tightly around her body and peeked her head out to glare at him. "Goku! What do you think you're doing in here?"
Goku raised his brows disbelievingly at Chi-Chi as he stepped right in front of her. "I just told you."
"Get. Out!"
"Ah! There." Goku said with a pleased smile as he looked past Chi-Chi and brazenly reached his hand into the shower, skimming right past Chi-Chi's naked shoulder to snatch the shampoo off the shelf.
Chi-Chi inhaled sharply at the ghosting touch of the fine hairs of Goku's arm skimming against her moist, tingling skin. When she found her breath again, Chi-Chi gritted her teeth tightly and let out a heaving exhale. "Goku, this is so inappropriate." She attempted to play the whole thing off coolly as she closed the shower curtain tightly to completely hide herself from his view.
"It's not anything I haven't seen before." Goku nonchalantly commented from behind the curtain.
Chi-Chi's eyes bulged in alarm. "What?!"
"I mean…" Goku chuckled guiltily as Chi-Chi pulled the shower curtain back widely to glower at him.
His cheeks visibly tinged pink and his eyes widened as they drank in her appearance, but Chi-Chi was too angry now to worry about being conservative any longer, and apparently Goku suddenly decided to be a gentleman as he refocused his gaze on the door behind him.
"You've seen one naked woman, you've seen them all, right?" Goku glanced at Chi-Chi with another nervous chuckle as he snaked a hand back to grasp the doorknob.
Chi-Chi growled irately when Goku opened the door. "Goku!"
Goku slipped through the door, closing it behind him with a few muffled words that Chi-Chi couldn't make out through the closed door, over the roar of the shower stream. Chi-Chi seethed through her teeth as she pumped a huge glob of soap into her hand.
As she proceeded to violently lather her body, Chi-Chi replayed that entire bathroom conversation in her mind. Just when she felt settled in regards to Goku, he had to make a comment that had her doubting herself all over again. She would finish her shower quickly, and when she got out of there, Goku had a lot of explaining to do.