Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Dragon Ball/Z/GT. The phrases in bold related to dream belong to the Sailor Moon Supers anime.
Eleventh Chapter
Son Gohan's home — Present.
Trunks didn't know what to think. He was almost sure that the black-haired teenaged girl had been about to say 'Kakarot'; but that was imposible, wasn't it? He cursed his father for repeating the name day in and day out. That was probably the reason why no one could say even something close to the first two syllables without Trunks thinking of Goku's saiyajin name.
It was somewhat funny.
On another account, Trunks could really tell Marron was fascinated with the girl. The thought made him grin affectionately in his mind. Of course, he knew Marron deeply admired Videl secretly, and that admiration sometimes extended to things related to her. He could see Marron was thrilled at meeting Videl's younger cousin, particularly because of her blood relation to Gohan's spouse. He had a feeling Marron had often wished to become a strong and skilled, yet beautiful woman like Videl Son once she grew up, and was happy at the prospect of acquiring a similar role model, closer to her own age, in this Hikari; but Trunks doubted this cousin would truly be able to serve for that purpose: she didn't seem all that that alike to Videl. For starters, she was a lot shier and more childlike and awkward than he remembered Videl being at that age. To Trunks, it was obvious this girl was nothing like the old SayiaGirl they knew, at least personality-wise.
Besides, there was something odd about this girl. Something that nagged at him.
He just couldn't put his finger on what it was yet.
Trunks smiled at the girl, Hikari. "Never mind", he said. "I thought you had said something else".
For her part, Hikari was more than relieved. 'I thought I had really messed up just then!' she thought to herself.
At the Son home on Mount Paotzu, Chichi Mau-Son decided she's already done enough moping. It didn't change anything and, besides, that wasn't really the kind of person she was. There was really no use in letting herself fall nto depression like this, was it? It wouldn't help her save her fractured marriage.
Besides, she liked to think her sons, though all grown up, still needed her, as well as her grandchild; and that she needed to be strong for them. If she fell apart, who would watch over and make sure to keep Videl and Pan company when Gohan was away for work for several days? Who would watch out for Goten to ensure that he, though a bachelor, took proper care of himself and ate right?
Chichi smiled thinly. She didn't intrude on other people's business, not even her children's; but she had to admit she did have a tendency to baby everyone. Perhaps it was her way to make up for the absence of Goku.
She let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't all that upset anymore.
She got up from the chair she was sitting on and went to do some of her daily chores. The rest of the day went on very quickly. She was busy outside hanging some washed wet clothes out to dry when she received an unexpected visit. To her, at least, it had been unexpected.
When he left the night before... she hadn't expected she would be seeing him again so quickly after the argument they had had.
"G... Goku?"
Crystal Tokyo — The Future.
"He has real strong feeling for you, you know"
Vesves, also known as 'Sailor Vesta', didn't look up from the chess game she and Sailor Juno were playing.
"I'm talking about Goku Junior, I mean"
Vesves didn't seem to have heard; so she tried another tactic.
"I mean, I know I'm not Cerecere, and she's usually the one you both like to confide in, but since Ceres doesn't seem to be doing anything about it, and you have been ignoring him lately, I thought I would—"
She wasn't certain how she wanted to continue.
To Junjun's annoyance, Vesta seemed to be ignoring her this time, so she exploded. "Are you even paying attention to me!?! I said 'Gee Jay' has—!"
"I know what you said," Vesta cut in a dead-pan tone.
Juno huffed and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "I say you are just as cheeky as Geta Junior, Ves. Just like Gee Jay likes them...I don't know why the two of you haven't gotten together yet"
"If you paid more attention to the game, rather than to my 'cheekiness' or lack-there-of," Vesta said with her lips in a thin line, "You wouldn't have lost so spectacularly," she finished as her pawn took down her friend's king. "Checkmate"
Sailor Juno was regarding the chessboard with incredulity. "Have you been taking lessons from Diana? I thought only she and Reenie had been the only ones to ever take lessons from Ami-san"
As always, the mention of Chibiusa's name for a while rendered them both silent. Even after all these years, the loss of their princess and friend still deeply affected them.
It was only until after a few moments later that one of them dared to resume the conversation again.
"No," Vesta said in a pretend-to-be-bored tone. "It's just that you're a very crappy player, Jun," she smiled.
Juno appeared surprised. "Am I?" she pointed to herself; also coming off of her own short moment of remembrance. "I never knew you could play that well. Had I known, I would have brought some back-up"
Vesves raised an eyebrow. "If you're speaking of Pallapalla, ironically she can't play to save her life, either, so I doubt she would've been of much help." She smirked, "And this isn't our regular battlefield. It is dishonourable to bring a third party to a one-on-one board game"
When all Junjun did was stick her tongue out at her, she laughed. "I see I am playing against Pallapalla-chan in a sense after all"
"Don't push your luck," Juno scowled, even if she too was laughing. She shook her head slightly and leaned over. "Seriously, though. Is there something wrong going on between the two of you? Have you and Gee Jay fought? You don't seem to hang out together as you normally like to do"
Vesves narrowed her gaze at her. "Jun... don't talk about Junior and me like we are a secret couple, because we're not," she looked away with a mixture of decision and sorrow. "And there is no hope that we will ever be"
The green-haired senshi looked at her worriedly. "Do you regret it—," she murmured. "—the reason you made those Vows?"
Juno knew perfectly well why her fellow-sailor soldier had mad them. They all did.
The senshi of the Sacred Hearth smiled sadly. "How could I ever regret something like that? When it was for the most important reason in our lives"
Her comrade glanced at her with understanding.
'...Small Lady...'
"It didn't end up actually changing anything," the somber girl said bitterly. "But I like to think it might have helped in some way after all. Be as it may, it's in the past now... Some things in the past aren't meant to be changed"
Her partner pursed her lips at her skeptically. "Why do you bring yourself down like that? The solution could be out there. There is a chance that it still might. I know you don't want to admit it to yourself that you might return Junior's feelings, so that you don't end up getting hurt; but Serenity-sama said—"
"—Serenity-sama said it was possible we may find a way to have me exempted from my Vows without risk someday, not that she had actually seen a way it could happen," the red-head once again cut her off, her eyes losing their shine altogether as she tried to leave the table.
"Is that's all there is to it according to you?" the other exclaimed, getting up as well. "I do understand why you and Gee Jay are attracted to each other. You're not just cheeky; you're also the king and queen of brooding land! Gosh, you are so stubborn!"
"...Am I?" the senshi of the Sacred Hearth paused, throwing the senshi of Commitment's previous words back at her, somberly. "I am just being realistic. I can't afford to waste my entire life chasing an unattainable dream..."
As soon as she'd said it, she stood still.
'Dream, dream, don't doubt it. A dream of dreams that dreaming children have...'
The old words of the far off-past resounded in her mind uninvited, and she repeated them aloud.
"...Dreams sometimes can turn to despair and into nightmares... hence the last thing a dreaming child wants is to reach the awareness of adulthood..."
Had it truly been that long, since the last time she'd heard them?
"Vesta—" Junjun murmured as she too stood frozen, her expression aghast.
But the red-head was no longer listening. The recollection brought unbidden tears to her eyes.
"Neherenia-sama..." her voice broke. Lowering her head down, she covered her face with her hands. "Your curse stays true to me after all"
All the while, Sailor Juno merely embraced her friend as she cried.
Capsule Corps. — Present.
Vegeta had gone to town, paradoxically, to buy some food supplies for the house. Bulma still laughed to herself when she thought how many people would have made a double-take at that picture. But it was true: the Saiyajin no Ouji was capable of doing homely menial labor. He was also quite good at repairing things around the house, particularly those that required strength, patience and precision, rather than specific technical knowledge. Lately, he frequently took charge of fixing most of the simpler looking things that their daughter Bra, with her saiyajin energy, had broken. Bra was going through a clumsy phase recently, one that Bulma hoped she would grow out of in not very long, and Vegeta fixed the things she broke as a way to keep the house from being infested by robots twenty four-seven. He had said being surrounded by robots all day long annoyed him, and that he'd had enough of that in his mercenary days.
It was a good thing that Bra broke things, though, if it meant Vegeta would leave the Gravity Room more often. Bulma sometimes wondered if Bra didn't do it on purpose, just to get her father spend more time with her. She could be a sneaky little child when she wanted, and sometimes she wondered if that was the result of Trunks and Goten rubbing off on her and on Gohan's daughter, Pan.
Speaking about the Sons, all that talk about Goku that they'd had earlier had given her food for thought. She hadn't spoken to Chichi for the longest time... How was the younger woman doing?
For the last couple of months, most of the contact she'd had with the other part-saiyajin family had been through Pan and Goten. It was about time she went to check on both the boy's parents.
Mount Paotzu.
He watched as a thousand emotions crossed her face in rapid succession.
...Shock.
...Disbelief.
Confusion.
Sadness...
Fear.
Anger...
and finally... Uncertainty.
There was only a light breze blowing between the trees' branches. The peace of the natural scenery around them belied the undercurrent intensity of this encounter. The joyous singing of birds in the distance didn't bring them any comfort.
The calm and quietness made their silence even more deafening. They both remained like that for a long time. There were so many things each wanted to say, but didn't know the words to express them.
He wouldn't postpone this anymore than needed. The fact was, he needed to do this. He couldn't live with the thought that she was suffering, and that he was the cause. He knew why he was there, but it didn't make his task any easier. Goku knew deep in his heart, yet again, that he had failed her.
Such a terrible feeling, that after all the battles and strains to defend them, at the end he wasn't there for her; that he made up for a lousy husband. That she was probably better off, without him.
"Chichi... I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry"
Here he was, standing before her; his wife of almost thirty years, and he didn't know what more to say to her. He doubted a simple 'sorry' would be enough. It was his fault. Was the future half-saiyajin daughter staying at Gohan's, truly the unquestionable proof that his persistence in defending the world would finally cause himself and his loved ones to be torn apart? Such nobility was all good when it didn't bring as much sorrow upon one's closest ones as well as it prevented... everyone else's.
The black-haired almost middle-aged woman took her eyes away from his, her trembling lips pursing. Apparently, she didn't know what to say either.
"I am sorry that I hurt you," the man continued.
----
There was a moment where she almost wanted to believe his words. To just embrace him and let it all be forgiven.
If only things could be so easy.
----
"Then why... why do you continue to do it, Goku?" A teary gaze snappeback to his angrily. "When you know how much it hurts me?"
"I..."
"What possible excuse did you have this time, Goku?" she reproached. "When you left the tournament to go with that boy, you never said you would be gone for so long. This time, there was no actual threat to the planet, and you weren't dead. Yet you still... left."
"I know," his expression was tormented.
"I—," she let out a breath and looked away, but managed to finish with some difficulty, "I don't know what to say, Goku..." 'Whenever you leave like that Goku, it seems as if you're always wishing for any enemy to attack the Earth, so that you can be away from me,' she mused. 'It's really painful and lonely, and I don't think I could bear to go through that once more'
There was a long while where Chichi regarded him thoughtfully. As if sizing him up. Like one would do a stranger. And he realized with a pang in his chest that to her, after three years, he might as well be. Not because of the time he had spent away, mind you (as it hadn't been like this when he'd been resurrected time ago after seven years); but for the reasons why he had done it.
Selfish...
The Fear turned to distrust. She didn't want him to hurt her again. Her ink-black orbs hardened. She had closed her heart to him right before his very eyes.
Right now, his apologetic gaze was too much to bear, so she quickly turned her back on him and continued to hang more clothes upon the washing line. Anything to distract herself from the unbearable array of emotions that his mere presence was producing.
When she had already hung up two, she stopped. Her hands, still on the third one she had been adusting on the cord, loosened their hold on the garment as if unsure; the piece of clothing slipping from her fingers and landing on the ground with a wet 'thud'. The squishy sound echoed in both their minds.
Chichi bent her head down, as if silently reprimanding herself. Her hair up in a bun resulting in her pale neck being exposed to Goku, once again making it so clear to him how fragile and delicate she truly was. It was so easy to forget when time and time again she had mainly shown to be a strong, independent woman.
"Why are you here, Goku?" he finally heard her whisper.
End to the Eleventh Chapter.
A/N: I am back with a new chapter after three long years of absence! (I may just be like Goku, I'm afraid).
To the people who are reading this story for the first time: "Hi! I hope you are enjoying it!". To the people who have read it before or over the years: Thanks for sticking with me. You should also know, this story is going through major editing without notice... some scenes may have changed slightly from what you remembered, meant for their improvement, but all in all I tried to keep the general background idea behind each one of them. You'll find the changes aren't terribly drastic. None-the-less, I think they're important to the fic's quality..
I hope this chapter was worth the wait!
