Love In Strange Places 3

Love In Strange Places 3

Disclaimer: Dragon Ball Z belongs to Akira Toriyama, not me, and I make no money from this story at all.

Chi-Chi hummed softly to herself as she chopped up vegetables for the meal she was making. What was unusual about it was that she had an audience, and- believe it or not- a student.

/"Mom, I really do want to help you around the house," said Gohan, after she had washed the strange substances from his hair. He couldn't get them out himself.

She had looked at him strangely.

"I don't want my kitchen to end up in the same mess as it was," she answered, scrubbing with all her strength, then rinsing, for the third time.

"Oh, that, um, could you teach me how to cook?"

This surprised Chi-Chi so much that she face-vaulted.

"You want me to- what?"

"Teach me how to cook. See, if we have peace now, I don't have to spend all my time fighting- and so, it would be nice to learn how to cook."/

Needless to say, Chi-Chi suspected that this was to keep her from being alone too long, especially when Piccolo suddenly suggested that he wanted to watch her lessons. Of course, the Namek could be wanting a cheap laugh, which was what he was getting from the lessons.

"Now, you add a teaspoon of salt- no, Gohan, that's a cup!" she yelled, stopping in barely in time to keep him from dumping enough salt to jerky the meat in the soup.

Gohan had misread the directions- again.

Behind the house were his previous attempts, and Piccolo was snickering for all he was worth.

"If you can do better, Piccolo, then I would like to see it," said Chi-Chi, defending her son and pupil. Stepping away from the counter, she gestured for the flabbergasted Piccolo to take a turn at the cutting board.

They never did go on their picnic that day. It would have resulted in food poisoning.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Piccolo read through the cookbook again, grumbling to himself. He was the type of person that never did back down from a challenge, in he had never realized how difficult the art of cooking really was.

"Mr. Piccolo? You're still awake?" asked a young voice, and Piccolo turned to see Gohan, in his pajamas, hair tousled, rubbing his eyes.

Piccolo grunted, and Gohan grinned hugely.

"You still trying to master Mom's lessons?"

Piccolo didn't answer, but went back to reading the book. Kami, he thought. Who knew there were so many ways to boil eggs?

"I can't believe your mom actually knows all this stuff," he muttered, his eyes never moving from the book.

"Yeah," Gohan sighed, and sat down at the table next to him. He had been shocked at the amount of work his mother did to take care of himself and his father, before he had died. Or the sheer amount of food!

Then Gohan snorted. "I wish I had known earlier; I would have been nicer about things."

Piccolo knew what he meant. They all would have appreciated her better, otherwise.

"Your mother used to be a fighter," Piccolo said absently, picking up another cookbook and thumbing through it. "I guess this is where she uses her training the most."

"No way," Gohan said, startled. All his life his mother had been onto him about fighting, and she had been one herself?

"Why didn't she say anything to me?"

"I don't know, ask her," said Piccolo, irritated. Chi-Chi, while still melodramatic and emotional, was a good, if hard, teacher. She was making them both make her an edible breakfast tomorrow morning. Piccolo didn't want to kill her, so he was studying.

"Why hadn't she mentioned it to me?" Gohan blurted, suddenly angry with her.

"Because, I had such a strange life before I met Goku, that I wanted to make sure my children had normal, stable lives," said his mother's voice from the doorway, any both males turned to see her standing there, with a dressing gown wrapped tightly around her.

"…."

The looks she was getting from Piccolo and Gohan were priceless, she thought, and restrained a giggle. Then she sighed.

"How good where you?" Gohan asked eagerly.

Chi-Chi found herself smiling, happy to tell something he actually wanted to listen to.

"I competed in the world martial arts tournament, and was one of the finalists. Your father beat me, of course," here she sighed again, not out of fondness of memory, but disgust at loosing.

Gohan's eyes widened. She had been that good? But she was a girl!

"Then I ruined the whole thing," added Piccolo. He smirked. He had seen her fight. The woman had been a fire cat. Her temper had served her well then. Too bad she had never trained further…

Piccolo suddenly looked at her sharply, and took in what he saw. She had not aged appreciatively since the tournament. Sure, with all she had gone through, there were some worry lines, but considering that- she might as well be a teenager.

Chi-Chi saw his expression, and frowned. What was he looking at?

"Have you ever considered continuing your training?" asked Piccolo, scratching his chin thoughtfully. He had noticed something was strange about Chi-Chi, and he hated mysteries.

Chi-Chi flushed. "It wouldn't be proper. I'm married, and a mother now. It would hate to throw away what I learned about being a wife…"

"Mom? I don't think anyone would care," Gohan said uncertainly, confused. Why wouldn't she want to learn how to fight?

She shook her head again. "It's a long story- and I'm not sure I want to tell it now. Let's get some sleep, and we can continue in the morning."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Gohan woke up eagerly, got dressed, and plopped himself down on his mother's bed. He placed his chin on his hands, propped on his elbows, lying on his stomach, staring into his mother's face

It was before sunrise.

Chi-Chi was lying on her back, with her mouth slightly open, breathing heavily but not quite snoring. When she felt the impact on the bed, she snorted slightly, and her eyes cracked open.

"Gohan?" she asked, her voice thick with sleep.

"I'm ready for you to tell me about your training now!" he exclaimed, grinning. Chi-Chi couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm, but her hand then clamped itself over her mouth, as a wave of nausea hit. Getting up, she ran past Piccolo, who was still reading the cookbook, and outside the door, and started to heave her guts out.

"MOM?" asked Gohan, and he pushed her hair out of her face as she heaved dryly.

"Could you get me some water?"

He nodded, and ran back inside, and Chi-Chi got to her feet. She noted wryly that this was one of the reasons she had put off having more children. Her own mother had a difficult pregnancy, and she had trouble bearing as well.

The fact that the father wasn't human hadn't helped at all.

She stumbled back in, and sat down at the table.

"Talk," said a deep, rumbling voice, and Chi-Chi looked up to see that she was being stared at by Piccolo.

"It's a long story, do you want me to make breakfast first?" she said, but sighed, when she realized they wouldn't be put off.

"We were the ones going to make breakfast," said Piccolo, flatly. They both jumped up, and carefully reading the directions again, they started to find the ingredients.

"Now, Mom, tell us from the beginning!" Gohan yelled cheerfully over the banging of pots and pans. Chi-Chi winced as she heard something break.

"SORRY!"

"Well, it really begins with an ancestor of mine…"

It really was a long story, one that began with how a man became the first Ox King, and how he wasn't fully human, but one of the people of the Mountain. What this was, she wouldn't say. It was possible she didn't know herself. This went on to her mother, who was an Amazon. This led to them being driven out of their home on Fry Pan Mountain by some evil Oni, and her mother's death, after giving birth to a little brother, who was also killed by the Oni. How she had gone to train. How she had met Goku, and decided he would be the perfect husband. All in all, it was a story that took up the rest of the day, and a good bit of the night.

It left two stunned men sitting at her table.

"You gave up all that to marry Dad?" asked Gohan. "Life must sure be boring for you…"

Chi-Chi nearly doubled over laughing.

"Boring? Gohan-chan, you and your father have been the best thing that ever happened to me, and you keep enough adventure in my life, trust me!"

"Why don't you restart your training?" asked Piccolo.

Chi-Chi stopped laughing as soon as she heard this.

"I already said it wouldn't be proper-"

"Mom, from what you said, for most of your life you didn't care about what was proper!"

Chi-Chi sighed. She could tell this was a loosing battle.

"All right. But I'm still going to teach you too cook."

Gohan grinned like an idiot. Finally! Something he could do with his mom that didn't involve studying!

"You will also continue with your textbooks, dear…"

Gohan heaved a sigh. He knew something like that would happen…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Gohan got up at his usual time to train with Piccolo, and stepped out of his room to find a delicious breakfast waiting him. He smiled. Some things would never change. He was happy for it.

Then, he promptly lost his jaw when he saw his mother in a fighting gi. What shocked him was how…natural it looked. Like the dresses she had bee wearing for all his life had been some sort of punishment. Shaking his head to clear it, he watched, with a sudden grin, as Piccolo started taking his mother through some basic moves. She knew the basics, but it had been a long time since she had trained-

She managed to throw him on the first time.

Piccolo looked like he had been hit with a board upside the head. Or rather, he had hit a tree.

Seeing their interaction, a naughty idea formed itself in his mind. The sheer genius of it astounded him. Here was his mother, and his surrogate father. Getting along. It would solve all their problems! His little brother, or sister, he didn't know which it would be, would have a father, he would have Piccolo as part of the family, Mom would have someone who loved her, and Piccolo wouldn't be alone anymore.

Now, all he had to do was figure out how to get them together…

To be continued.