CHAPTER 37: Sickness and Parties

Keiko had things to do, and violently throwing up was not one of them. She had woken up early to go and get a cake to celebrate Gohan's Super Saiyan achievement, but before she could even fully get out of bed she felt terribly sick. Her feet couldn't move fast enough as she ran into the bathroom and immediately began throwing up into the toilet. Ugh dang it Goku, she thought as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She knew why she was sick; it was because of all the doughnuts she ate last night! Goku had stayed for a while after their talk, and before he left he suggested they go get something to eat. Keiko had no idea why, but she had been having a craving for doughnuts, even though she never liked them very much. Now she remembered why. Every time she had eaten doughnuts when she was younger they would make her stomach hurt. They had never made her throw up, but considering she ate four of them last night, it only made sense that her stomach would revolt and expel them from her body. She should have known better than to eat so many, but Goku convinced her, and they tasted so good.

Keiko stayed sitting by the toilet for a few minutes, waiting to see if her stomach would calm down, and soon it did. There were no signs of sickness, so she figured that now that the doughnuts were out of her system she was fine. Once the whole vomiting episode was over she could get back to getting ready and running her errands. Goku and Gohan would be at her house around one o'clock, the guests at around twelve thirty, which meant Keiko had three-ish hours to get everything done. The first thing on her list was to go out and buy a cake. This took longer than expected because she kept looking for a cake big enough to satisfy Goku and Gohan's appetite, plus leave enough for Keiko and the few people she had invited. Of course she didn't have to worry about having enough cake for Piccolo; instead she just bought a pack of bottled water, that would work for him. After searching for a cake for a while she just settled on getting three normal sized, round cakes. She got two vanilla cakes, one with chocolate frosting and the other with strawberry frosting, and one chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.

Then the next task: decorating the cakes. The bakery had offered to write any special messages on the cake for her, but Keiko declined. She figured she may get some odd looks if she told the lady behind the counter to write 'Congrats on becoming a Super Saiyan!' So instead Keiko just bought some colored frosting and the tools needed to decorate the cake. Of course this proved harder than she expected. Keeping a steady hand while trying to write on a cake was difficult and Keiko was being extremely OCD about how she wanted the cakes to look. She didn't want it to look like a five year old wrote on the cakes, but no matter how hard she tried it still looked a little shaky. She laid the three cakes out side by side, and wrote something on each one. On the first one she wrote 'Congratulations Gohan!' and on the next one she wrote 'On Becoming' and on the final one she wrote 'A Super Saiyan'. On that one she tried to draw a picture of a Super Saiyan, but it ended up being a stick figure with crazy yellow frosting hair. She doodled a few pictures on each of the cakes, and in the end she figured it wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.

She put the cakes in the fridge until the necessary time, and then began cleaning and decorating. There weren't many decorations sold that would celebrate an occasion like this, but Keiko did her best and kept it simple. After everything was ready she had some time to change and do her hair and makeup before people started showing up. Keiko decided on a navy blue dress with a wide, braided, dark brown belt that went around her waist. She paired it with some tan colored sandals, and messily pulled her hair into a bun. Her makeup consisted of some eyeliner and mascara, and that was it, even though she knew Bulma would tell her that she can do so much more.

Bulma was actually the first to arrive, seeing how she lived right next door, and of course some of the first words out of her mouth were complimenting Keiko on how pretty she looked and then saying how she could look drop dead gorgeous if she did a little bit more. It was almost sick how well Keiko knew Bulma, but that's what happens with best friends. Of course baby Trunks was with Bulma, and although Keiko had invited Vegeta, Bulma said that he wasn't going to come. Social events weren't his thing. Next Krillin showed up, looking rather dapper since he was wearing something other than his orange gi. Trunks and Ariel came next, even though they were staying with Bulma; they weren't ready to go when Bulma left. Keiko could see why seeing how pretty Ariel looked when they showed up. She was wearing a forest green dress with a white flower print on it. Keiko had never seen Ariel's hair, seeing how it was always under a baseball hat, but today she wasn't wearing that hat. Ariel's hair was black, and the curls went down to just past her breasts.

"I don't know why you made her wear that stupid hat, her hair is so pretty!" Bulma gushed, her comment directed to her son, as she clasped her hands together at the sight of Ariel, "Plus it doesn't give us any clue to who she is! Tons of people have black hair!"

"Wooooo!" baby Trunks clapped his hand together from his seat on the floor, mimicking what his mother did more than anything, but Ariel laughed and took it as a compliment.

"It wanted her to wear the hat," the older Trunks sighed, and Keiko thought that perhaps what took them so long wasn't Ariel getting ready but instead her arguing with Trunks over a baseball hat.

"I agree with you Bulma," Ariel said as she crossed her arms over her chest, "It gives nothing away, that's what I told Trunks."

"If you're not born, don't blame it on me," Trunks mumbled so only Ariel could hear it, and she just snorted and rolled her eyes.

"He still has you wearing those dumb contacts though huh?" Bulma asked Ariel.

"Yeah, but I've gotten used to them and I don't mind them as much, but I figured one day without my hat would be fine, plus it's a special occasion," Ariel grinned as she placed her hands lightly on her hips.

"Where are Goku and Gohan anyway? I doubt Gohan would be late to his own party," Krillin said as he looked out the window, waiting to see if the two Super Saiyans were here yet.

"He doesn't know that it's his party," Keiko pointed out as she went and scooped up Trunks from the floor. The little boy let out an agitated grunt, seeing how he was busy playing with something when he was just suddenly grabbed.

"You can't always be holding him," Bulma scolded as soon as she noticed her friend pick the baby up, "You're spoiling him!"

"No I'm not," Keiko rolled her eyes, bouncing Trunks on her hip, "Case and point," she said as she pointed at future Trunks with her free hand, "Are you spoiled?" she asked, stunning Trunks a bit.

"Uhhh…no?"

"There!" Keiko grinned, leaving Trunks still a bit confused as to what just happened, "Told you so."

"Oh that is not proof!" Bulma argued as everyone began dispersing, leaving the woman to argue near the front door.

"Bulma," Keiko said slowly, "Yes it is."

"Fine! When Trunks is fifteen and wanting you to carry him don't come crying to me!"

"Why would I want that!" Trunks asked, a look of shock mixed with disgust coming across his face.

"Because Keiko spoiled you rotten that's why!"

"I'm leaving." No one had heard the door open, or noticed Piccolo take just one step inside the house. The Namekian shouldn't have been shocked to see Keiko and Bulma arguing, and to see everyone else just watching the spectacle from afar, but he already didn't want to come to this thing, and here he had his excuse to leave.

"No!" Keiko literally lunged towards the door, baby Trunks laughing as she did. She managed to grab onto Piccolo's wrist, but she quickly let go of it as he looked at her with the most annoyed look she could imagine, "I mean…uhhhh, stay?"

"Fine," Piccolo said as he walked inside, past everyone, and went and leaned up against a wall in the kitchen.

"Hi Piccolo!" Ariel had waved as the Namekian walked past her, but all she got was a slight head nod and an irritated grunt, "Piccolo seems to be in a bad mood," she said softly as she watched Piccolo cross his arms over his chest and lean back against the wall.

"Eh don't worry about it May, he's always like that, I thought you would have caught onto that by now," Krillin chuckled.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," Ariel said with a grin as she walked off towards Piccolo.

"She's just going to annoy him more," Krillin pointed out.

"She doesn't see it like that," Trunks shrugged, noticing how Piccolo eyed her walking towards him and began trying to ignore her.

"Huh, seems like something Goku would do," Krillin said in a joking matter, but this statement didn't have Trunks laughing, instead Trunks tensed up to a noticeable degree, "Hey you okay?"

"Yeah," Trunks tried to breathe and rationalize that Krillin was just joking and that he didn't know anything, "Yeah," he repeated, nodding his head.

The wait for Goku and Gohan wasn't very long, and as soon as one of them sensed the two Super Saiyans Keiko instructed everyone to hide. Keiko knew that Goku and Gohan would just come in, and she wanted to surprise them. "C'mon Piccolo, you have to hide!" Ariel had whispered as she ran off to hide next to Trunks, but the Namekian had no intentions of crouching behind some piece of furniture just to shout 'surprise!'. No way.

There was one soft knock on the door before it creaked open, Gohan poking his head in. "Uh…Mr. Piccolo?" he asked as he noticed his mentor leaning up against a wall in the dimly lit house, "What are you doing here?"

Before Piccolo could respond everyone leapt out from their hiding spots, shouting 'surprise!" in the process. The shock, followed by the grin on Gohan's face was what proved to Keiko that this whole party was worth it. "But my birthday isn't until tomorrow!" Gohan said, not sure what was going on as the lights flicked on and everyone moved towards him.

"This isn't about your birthday," Krillin said as he ruffled Gohan's hair.

"This is a party celebrating you turning into a Super Saiyan," Keiko explained, and soon realization snapped on Gohan's face and in a moment he was hugging her tightly.

"Thank you Keiko," Gohan whispered, suddenly feeling like less of a monster. His mom had barely been able to look at him this past day, and he began feeling that maybe he shouldn't have become a Super Saiyan. Like maybe it was a mistake. But this right here, all of his friends congratulating him and smiling made him realize that it was worth it and that he wasn't a monster at all.

"So this is what you had planned," Goku said as he walked into Keiko's house, earning her attention.

"Yup!" she grinned, happy that everything had worked out.

"Thanks Keiko," before Keiko even had time to react Goku had enveloped her in a tight hug.

"You don't have to thank me," she giggled, hugging him back.

"No," Goku said as they separated, but he kept his hands on her waist, "I do. This means more to Gohan than you will know."

"Well," Keiko turned around, seeing Gohan gawking over the cakes she had gotten for him, "He means more to me than you will ever know."

The party went off without a hitch, and actually ended up lasting much longer than Keiko expected. The sun was already going down when everyone began going their separate ways. Gohan had had a smile plastered on his face the whole time, but it did fade slightly when he told Keiko that he had to go home now.

"Don't be sad," Keiko said as she gave the young Super Saiyan a hug, "I'll see you tomorrow silly," she laughed as she noticed the frown on the kid's face.

"Thanks again Keiko," he said as he gave her another hug, "You're like my best friend."

"You're my best friend too buddy," she laughed, "You have been ever since you were just a baby."

"So you promise you'll be there tomorrow?" Gohan asked as he head towards the door.

"Duh," Keiko rolled her eyes playfully, earning her a laugh from baby Trunks.

"Okay," Gohan grinned, "I'll see you tomorrow," he said as he walked outside to wait for his Dad.

"See you tomorrow," Goku said as he enveloped Keiko in a hug.

"Bye," she breathed as she inhaled is scent, not wanting him or Gohan to have to go. Reluctantly she released him, watching him walk out the door and close it behind him.

"Now," Keiko said as she turned to face Bulma and baby Trunks- the only two still there, "We clean!"

"How about you clean," Bulma sighed as she sat down on the couch; Trunks fidgeting to get out of here grasp and go roam around.

"Fine," Keiko huffed, "Luckily you animals didn't leave much of a mess."

"You did a really great thing today," Bulma said as Keiko walked into the kitchen to gather up any trash that didn't make it to the trash can.

"I wouldn't call it great or anything."

"I would. You made Gohan very happy today, you should be proud of yourself."

"I didn't do it to be proud or anything, I did it because I love Gohan, and cause Chi-Chi is a horrible person."

"Valid, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"She's been calling Gohan a monster ever since he turned into a Super Saiyan."

"Not surprising."

"No, but still mean. I wanted to show Gohan that his mother is the odd one and that in fact everyone is happy for him and loves him just the way he is. He is the furthest thing from a monster. You're going to his birthday party tomorrow right?"

"Of course, but I'm not looking forward to deal with his crazy mother."

"You're not looking forward to it?" Keiko laughed as she put leftover food into the refrigerator, "Chi-Chi still blames me for the android harassing her. I'll admit I got slight satisfaction-"

"Slight?"

"Fine. I got a lot of satisfaction from hearing what Android 21 said to her, but it's not like I wanted Chi-Chi's finger to be broken."

"Really?"

"Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it," Keiko grinned as she finished up her cleaning.

"Well I'm going to go home," Bulma said as she stood up from her seat, "But I'll see you tomorrow right?"

"Yup, should be a great day," Keiko chimed as she waved goodbye to Bulma.

What should have been a great day didn't start out so great. Keiko found herself hung over the toilet at four o'clock in the morning. She was exhausted, and had no idea why she was throwing up at such an ungodly hour. She had had quite a bit of sugar yesterday with the three cakes and all, but still….was it enough to wake her up in the early morning and cause her to go sprinting to the bathroom so she could throw up? Keiko didn't think so, so the next best explanation was stress. She knew that hanging out with Saiyans would catch up to her eventually, all the worrying, stress, and nerves must have just reached some sort of pinnacle now with the Cell Games coming up. Keiko knew that she tended to internalize her feelings, and now she figured that they were literally eating away at her, she just hoped it wouldn't take till the Cell Games were over for her to stop throwing up every day.

After Keiko was done throwing up, she went back to bed, only to wake up at her normal waking time to have to throw up again. It was disgusting. Keiko hadn't thrown up twice in one day in a very very long time, and she started to fear that maybe she was getting sick. But even if she was coming down with something she wasn't about to miss Gohan's birthday party. Keiko knew that it was risky going after she had already thrown up twice in one day, especially because she didn't want to get sick at the party. Plus she would never hear the end of it from Chi-Chi if she did. But she also knew that Gohan would be beyond disappointed if she didn't go, so she put on her big girl pants, downed some nasty nausea medicine, and headed out her door birthday gift in hand for Gohan's party.

Apparently Keiko didn't actually look sick, because no one asked her if she was feeling okay. The party was small, smaller than the party Keiko had held the previous day. Piccolo, Ariel, and Future Trunks weren't there, and Keiko was actually surprised that she had made the invitation list. Chi-Chi wasn't too happy to see her though, but it wasn't her party so Keiko could care less if she was happy or not. Gohan on the other had was thrilled when Keiko arrived, which just pissed Chi-Chi off even more. Everyone was outside, except for one other person Keiko had been excited to see.

"Why are you hiding in the house?"

"Chi-Chi said I can't go outside until I fix the table," Goku grumbled as he sat down in his dining room with a circular wooden table that was broken in half.

Keiko wanted to say something about how Chi-Chi was acting like his mother instead of his wife, but she bit her tongue and instead went and sat next to Goku, "Don't tell me you broke this," she said as she began collecting wood chips from the floor.

"It was an accident."

"Like the sink?" Keiko asked as she noticed the sink facet was dented and crooked.

"And the plates," Goku said as Keiko turned to see the trashcan overflowing with broken dishes.

"It's hard to control my strength in this form," Goku explained as he finished messily fixing the table, "Chi-Chi has basically forbid Gohan and I from touching anything in the house."

"You know you can always come stay with me," Keiko didn't expect Goku to accept her offer, basically because it wasn't like he was one to easily get his feelings hurt. If anything he was probably worried about hurting Chi-Chi's feelings by breaking things, than actually worrying about her yelling at him.

"Sure!"

"Wait really?" it didn't even take Goku a minute to reply and judging by the goofy grin on his face Keiko figured that her offer must have been a relief to Goku.

"Chi-Chi's been threatening to kick me out until the Cell Games are over anyway, so I'm sure if I stay with you for a while she won't have to worry about me breaking anything!"

"So you'll stay with me until the Cell Games?" That meant it wasn't just for one night, Goku would stay with her for days, which was almost too good to be true for Keiko.

"Yeah! I know Chi-Chi won't let Gohan stay that whole time, but I'm sure even he can stay for a few nights."

Keiko had no idea why but she felt like she was about to cry, "I'm so happy," she mumbled as she wiped away the tears forming in her eyes. It was ridiculous, there was no reason why she should be crying, but she couldn't help it. Before Goku could say another word she enveloped him in a hug as she began trying to laugh the tears away. He would be staying with her until the Cell Games, and for some reason this brought an enormous relief to Keiko.

Author's Note: 200 reviews! Oh my goodness this story has reached 200 reviews! Thank you to Dexterra for leaving the 200th review and thank you to every single person who has ever reviewed this story. I never thought it would make it to 200 reviews, but it did and I am very grateful.

Anyway, this chapter was a bit shorter but because it was kind of a set up chapter I suppose for future chapters. The next chapter also probably won't be extrodinarly long because it will be more of a fluff chapter and cover the time Goku stays with Keiko. As of now I am planning for there to be a total of 41 chapters in this story, so four more chapters left.

Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story, reviewing, favoriting, adding to their alert system, you guys are all so amazing and I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review letting me know what you thought.