MARCH 2022 UPDATE:

Story reconstruction!

Hello there readers! This fic will be under editing and revising beginning March 2022!

In the Stables

Chapter 1:

The rooster crowed right outside Chichi's window, alerting her that it was time to get up and start the day. It screeched its annoying little clucks, flapping its wings and strutting around. She hated that rooster and threatened to make it breakfast if it didn't discontinue its announcement of morning. But every day it would find its way outside of Chichi's bedroom, forcing her to get up. A new day had begun. But it would have been better to catch a few extra moments of sleep if it wasn't for that damn chicken.

Chichi jumped into her tight black riding pants and slipped a pink tank top over her white under shirt. She braided her long black hair and flipped it over her shoulder, ready for another day out in the stables with her fat, hairy horse friends that waited for her in the barn. One of her mares had been expecting its baby through out the night and she couldn't wait to see if the foal had arrived yet.

Chichi ran down stairs and grabbed a muffin off the kitchen table, rushing over to give her large dad a kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning Chichi." Her father said to her just before she ran out the door.

"Morning Dad!" Chichi hollered back and stuffed part of the muffin into her mouth. It was a bright beautiful day on Dragon Z horse farms. Everyone and everything beginning the day with smiles on their faces. The gravel crunched under Chichi's black knee high riding boots as she neared the bright orange barn. Why her father ever wanted to paint it that color was beyond her, it was sticking out like a sore thumb across the green fields.

The barn its self could be turned into a mansion and lived in. It had at least fifty stalls running the length of the barn way on each side and a complete up stairs for a giant hay loft. It even had a shower and a bathroom near the tack and saddle room. The barn was quiet since it was early in the morning. None of the workers had came around to begin their daily chores of feeding and exercising the horses that were cooped up during the night.

Chichi walked calmly into the barn, heading to the stall that one of their pregnant mares had been placed during the evening. The scent of hay and pine filled the air.

The horse was ready to drop the foal at any time, but seemed to hold out until everyone dropped from exhaustion. Duchess, the pregnant mare, was a prized possession. Her bloodline strong and paired with even greater stock, for an outstanding foal to be created for showing and future equine competitions.

Chichi peeked over the gate into the darkened stall, trying to see if there was more than one inhibitor inside. When she couldn't see any movement, Chichi climbed over the locked gate and hoped easily into the stall to avoid spooking the mare. After her eyes adjusted, the horse appeared in the corner of the large stall, looking down at a small fuzzy black foal in the hay. Chichi smiled in delight when seeing the foal alive and well, trying to stand from the intrusion of her entrance.

"Hi there little one." Chichi cooed to the foal, and not noticing the Duchess pinning her ears back in anger. The mare bared her teeth and raced over to Chichi, startling her from the sudden movement the large black horse made. She screamed when she saw a hoof come flying in her direction and fell against the wall of the stall, too paralyzed to jump out. "Duchess! What's wrong girl?" Chichi whimpered when realizing the new mother wasn't particularly happy with her presence. Duchess raked her hoof across the hay flooring, snorting down at Chichi to warn her not to move. Chichi was completely cornered, and if she did move, she was afraid the big horse would crush her right into the ground. "It's okay Duchess…" Chichi calmly tried to say to the horse, but her voice shook with fear. Her heart raced in her chest and she felt like passing out from the lack of air she was breathing.

Chichi tried to stand but Duchess held her ground, snorting with displeasure and protecting her new baby from Chichi's sight. It wasn't going to be a good morning after all. Being killed first thing by her own horse and it wasn't even 7 am yet. Chichi let out a cry when Duchess pawed the ground right next to her feet, watching as her life was beginning to pass before her eyes. She could just imagine the headlines in the paper saying:

Seventeen year old Chichi dies from being attacked by her own horse.

It would be embarrassing, let alone pitiful. She was considered one of the best horse handlers on the farm besides her dad and a few trainers. Chichi was seventeen and already a horse expert. She always had the dream of becoming a horse vet and live her entire life around the animals she loved so dear. Now she was about to be killed by this thousand pound animal. She just had to find someway to escape without Duchess going crazy from just her flinching.

"Duchess…" Chichi nervously spoke up to horse. "If you let me live, I'll give you all the apples that you can eat." But her please just made Duchess angry and charge Chichi's helpless body on the ground. Chichi closed her eyes tight and prepared for the worst. She didn't realize she was grabbed and pulled out of the stall until she opened her eyes to find Duchess pinning her ears back over the gate she was just cornered up against.

I'm alive? Chichi asked herself and looked down at her trembling legs. Something was behind her holding her up and it was warm and hard. When Chichi stumbled away she turned quickly to find a pair of black piercing eyes angrily looking down on her. His hair was jet black and spiked in different directions. Her eyes couldn't leave his at the moment to scan the rest of the giant body of his, remembering the feel of it against her back. He was complete muscle from what she could tell, and deathly handsome on top of that.

"Tha-thank you." Chichi stuttered up to him.

"Stupid girl." He answered as he started to walk towards a hay bale on the ground near the stall he was carrying just before he grabbed Chichi out of the horses charge. His brown leather gloves tore away the baler twine with ease and took half of the hay from the bale then tossing it over into Duchess's stall. The mares ears popped up and quickly went over to the tasty hay the mysterious man had thrown in.

Chichi's mind just registered what he had said to her, and it made her glow with a bright red color to her cheeks.

Stupid girl? Who does he think he is calling me a stupid girl! Chichi ranted to herself, feeling her blood pressure rise even higher as she got worked up over his name calling.

"Uh, I said thank you. That's when your suppose to say you're welcome or no problem-"

"You're welcome. I just saved your ass from being trampled. Happy now?" He grunted and went on down the line with another hay bale to feed the other horses.

Chichi was in shock. He had the audacity of speaking to her this way. Maybe he didn't know that she was the owners daughter. His employer!

"How dare you talk to me like that!" Chichi angrily yelled. She was fuming, and it was obvious to the mystery man who just rolled his eyes as he continued passing out hay to the horses.

"You should know better not to disturb a new mother and her foal. You signed your death certificate when you went in there. It's your own stupidity that will either get you hurt or killed." The blacked haired man said as he turned to her to see the look of anger written all over her face.

"What's your name?"

The man stood in front of Chichi and looked down on her. He was frustrated from what she could tell. "I don't have time for this." He answered in a low tone and walked past her.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Her voice raised.

He stopped and turned his head, "Goku."

"Dad," Chichi greeted her father. He was still sitting in the kitchen, now with a load of paperwork and a lap top.

"Chichi. Back so soon?" His smile definitely brightened her morning.

She went straight to the kitchen sink and went to washing her hands. A little scrape from earlier mishaps welted her skin on her knuckles. As she worked the soap over the scrape, she signed heavily, "Hey dad. Who is Goku? Is he a new hire?"

Her father paused his large fingers across his lap top, "Goku? He's been around for awhile now. I must have forgot to tell you, honey. Did someone mention him?"

"I met him. Just now." Chichi answered as she finished washing up and drying her hands.

"Well, he certainly has a hand with the horses. His training is the best I've seen in a long time. A very good asset to have around."

An ass indeed, Chichi thought to her self.

"Is something wrong, honey?" Her father asked as she turned around to lean against the sink.

"He just seems to have a terrible attitude, is all." She left out the reasoning, but was too embarrassed to tell her father that she made a mistake and entered Duchess's stall. He did save her from out of harms way after all.

"Goku stayed up overnight in the barn to keep track of Duchess. I'd be a bit annoyed as well, if I were him. The boy refused to go home for the day and get some rest."

Damn. Guess an apology was in order. Chichi was always quick to fly off the handle.

"Don't forget you're ride with Ms. Bulma today. She's scheduled to be here in about 30 minutes." Ox informed her as he went back to his work.

With little information she had about Goku, Chichi would try and make it her goal to attempt a "sorry" at some point. But she hoped she didn't run into him any time soon.

After a quick snack, Chichi headed back to the barn and grabbed two lead ropes and halters from the tack room. Past the barn and riding arenas, land stretched out to open pastures of green grass. With a loud whistle, she watched as two horses, one white with speckles and the other brown with white patches on its side came galloping up. They happily greeted her with a nudge on her arm, sniffing her to see if she had brought them any treats. Their grand stance showed anticipation for the day and possibility of grain to eat.

Chichi put the halters over the horses head and snapped the leather lead ropes onto the silver buckle under their chins. She put a lead rope in each hand and took the horses through the opened gate, one on each side of her as she walked. They calmly walked into the barn, immediately going to their stalls that they knew very well. Chichi gathered a couple of feeding dishes from the grain room and placed a cup of mixed treats and vitamins into each black dish. She could already hear the two horses scraping their hooves on the ground, their mouths drooling from the sight of the dishes. Chichi pushed the feeding dishes under the stall gates and watched as the two horse began to devour every piece of grain.

It was getting close to 10 am, and that meant it was almost time to saddle the horses up for their ride. Ms. Bulma would be there soon for her riding session. Even at seventeen years of age, Chichi had the experience to aide those interested in equine sports and recreation. It was a skill and passion of hers since she could sit on a horse.

Right on time, a black limo pulled up outside the barn and out stepped a blue haired teen talking on her cell phone. She seemed a little frustrated while talking to the other person on the other end. Chichi caught the last bit of the conversation.

"I don't care what the deadline is. Make it happen." Bulma ranted on the phone. "Yes, I'm here now. A girl has to have a break every once in awhile you know?"

Ms. Bulma slapped the flap down to her cell and threw it into the back seat of the limo, and then grabbed a blue riding helmet out of the floor board.

"Hi Bulma," Chichi greeted her. "Ready to get started?"

"Hey Chi! I won't be here long today, but I'd like to get some more practice in." The blue haired heiress said as she shut the door to her private limo.

When Chichi had met Bulma in the beginning, she always admired her beauty. She definitely didn't mind showing off her feminine side and stylish clothes. Her riding boots were top of the line. Riding pants professionally tailored. She left out no expenses when it came to glam and fame. Her father was the CEO of major business corporation. Along with it, he passed down his brains and multi-million dollar net worth to his daughter. Bulma was smart and learned very quickly.

Chichi and Bulma saddled up the two horses Chichi brought up and went out to one of the empty riding arenas. There was five total arenas near the barn and two of them already had staff exercising some of the horses. Chichi checked her saddle and mounted up into the western-styled saddle, holding onto the horn until she got her balance. She watched as Bulma mounted with grace and collected the reins and begin to walk the brown horse around the large riding arena.

"So Chichi. Care to fill me in on who that handsome man is over there?"

Chichi glanced over in the direction Bulma was looking. When her eyes landed on his back, she couldn't help but watch. Of course it was him. Goku was in the midst of working with a yearling. His large arms draping around the neck of the young horse. It was very important in a horses young life, to be exposed to touch, loud sounds and every day handling, to improve their resilience for training to ride.

"He's a new hire apparently," Chichi informed her riding partner. "I don't know much about him. I just met him today."

"And?" Bulma inquired.

"And what? He came off as a jerk."

"And is that a sunburn, or a blush, Chichi?"

More like frustration. She had little to go by on her opinion of Goku, but after their terrible introduction, she had no interest in finding anything else about him. He was her fathers employee.

Nothing else.