AWAY FROM HOME 3
By Vampy
AN: I want to say thank you to my new beta Stephanie. You're great!
AN: I'm having so much fun writing this. I hope you people have equal fun reading it. It would be a tremendous circle of fun. I also enjoy reading reviews, almost as much as writing this. *hint hint*.
ENJOY!!
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Oooh, that was weird, I was
positive I never underwent a cat-scan before in my life.
The doctor had just taken some blood and left to have it
examined. Yeah right, like my amnesia would come from some
unidentified virus called x, which was spreading itself in my
brain by consuming my braincells. Well, on second thought maybe
the examination was a good thing...
I never realized how comfortable an examination-table could be, even more so then one of the hospital chairs, but it was! I shifted to take a good look around. No one was with me, the Son's were waiting outside. I reallyappreciate them taking care of me, above all since they don't even know me. Why were hospitals so white? It's not that black would be any less affective. Why would they need an old antique clock, either. Couldn't they just buy a digital one? Probably cheaper too. The ticking was making me nervous, and since it was the only noise in the room it was driving me crazy.
Well, at least I wasn't hallucinating. I threw the piece of cotton wool, that I was holding against my arm, from where the doctor took a bloodsample, away and wiggled my feet which couldn't touch the ground just yet, making me feel like a little kid because of it.
The door opened and I lifted my
face to greet the doctor but to my surprise it was Gohan.
"Hi." I ducked down and asked him in a hiss, "What
are you doing here?" He wasn't invited, nor was he expected
by the doc... He just tried to smile while he looked around,
uncomfortablly. "I thought you might need some
company." I shook my head. "They're just making
catscans and taking bloodsamples. I'll be out in a second...
Jeez, can't you leave me alone for a lousy five minutes?" He
perched a eyebrow. "Well excuse me, I'll leave if you want
me to." He started to leave but I grabbed his arm.
"Don't be such a smart ass." He just looked up at me
with a surprised look in his eyes. "Besides, I'll ask the
doctor to make a catscan of that brain of yours, I just know
something is wrong, no kid would willingly study for more then 5
hours a day." He just grinned at that and took a seat beside
me. "Don't be surprised if they tell you you're using less
than 10% of your brain." He muttered. I elbowed him, telling
him I had to give up 5 % to safe his live at birth. Whereafter he
explained to me why I couldn't have done that.
The doctor entered and frowned at the new occupant. "Well, I see I have a new patient..." I grinned and Gohan started shivering which made me take pity on the little guy. "Nah, doc, he's physically healthy...mentally on the other hand we could discus for hours but I was here first." "Okay, maybe later then, let's ask your folks to come in." Gohan practically ran out to fetch his parents, but I bet he was just anxious to get out of the doctor's way. Two seconds later ChiChi and Goku walked in. I nodded hello to them. "So what's the prognosis doctor?" Chi Chi asked. I rolled my eyes. "It's a boy." I said but I regretted it the moment it came out. Chi Chi looked at me, I don't think she understood the reason why I said it but I apologized none the less. I never meant to make a remark like that. I shook my head and listened to what the doctor was telling us. It wasn't good...
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"I'll have a vanilla." A guy in his late thirties who was standing behind the ice-cream-truck smiled and gave me one. I smiled back though I didn't feel like smiling. Goku asked what Gohan wanted and Gohan, who was practically standing on the ice-cream-truck, looked up from the flavors to me and then to his dad. "I'll have a vanilla too." Goku laughed about it but I didn't catch it. My attention was somewhere else. I walked back to the park bench where ChiChi was sitting. Gohan with one, and Goku with two icecreams followed close behind.
The sun shone brightly and people were enjoying everything. Two teenagers were tossing a frisbee.. Children were laughing. Kids, laughter, sun... I forgot everything around me when I realized this wasn't my life. I just knew it wasn't. It was still alien to me. Everything. The following hand on my shoulder did feel familiar, but only because I was getting accustomed to it. Goku. "Huh?" Okay it wasn't the smartest thing I could have said, but it was a reflex. "Do you want another icecream?"
I was surprised at this, especially
when I saw Gohan and Chi Chi also staring at me. I shook my head.
"No, I already have a..." Then I saw that I had dropped
the icecream. "Oh.." I looked up. "Sorry about
that." He said it was okay and asked me again if I wanted
another one. I told him I wasn't that
hungry anyway. He nodded. "You wanna tell me what's on your
mind?"
I was dumfounded, he sounded exactly like... Someone... I couldn't put my finger on it and realized I had this nagging headache again. I sighed. "I'm probably just tired." I was silent for a while, while my brain was going about 100 miles per second. "Why couldn't he just say.." I started. "Why do I... Why don't I have a good reason to have amnesia?" I looked up at Goku, he shrugged. Big help! Oh yeah. But at least he was honest. I sat back on the park bench leaning far over with my head in my hands. The doctor had said that though I had taken a blow to the head I showed no signs, no reasons to have amnesia. The doctor suggested I might not want to remember, but that was ridiculous. I did, right now! I wanted to know what happened, or didn't happen. I wanted to know my own name for crying out loud. If I could just remember my name... Sure it wouldn't be enough but at least it would be something.
The doctor had given me a book of
names. ChiChi had accepted it and now I asked her if I could have
it. She searched her bag for it, not minding that Goku was
practically devouring her icecream while 'holding it for her'. At
least some people were enjoying their lives... The book was
brown, like any proper book should look. The inside, however, was
more boring than should be possible, worse than that, most of the
names didn't even sound namelike. I mean besides the fact that
the names were mostly
Japanese, I was lucky they still had an English written version.
I realized I couldn't focus on the words so I closed the book,
letting it rest in my lap. The thing could be a powerful ally,
and help me find my way to recovery... At least that was what the
doctor had said. He hadn't convinced me though. I
had a bad feeling I was going to be here for a while, and I meant
that in general.
I was plucking at the worn out tunic I was wearing and ChiChi suggested they should buy me some real clothes. Goku was shocked at that, but she explained they weren't real clothes anymore since they were so worn out. Gohan and I stifled a laugh because of that, those two were quite a pair.
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The mall was great! I had the best day of my life there. You know, when you count the fact that I don't remember more than one or two day's that's not saying much.
It was busy and people were
everywhere. You could hardly see the sidewalk and people kept
bumping into me, or just barely avoided me, but somehow I loved
it. The thing I didn't love was the fact that the
sneakers were costing a small fortune and I would NOT put my new
found, adopted family through that kind of loss. Luckily, I found
a cheap white shirt with small vertical blue lines, I absolutely
loved, and Chi Chi had bought it before I could even express my
feelings.
Now I was with Goku in a small -and weird- clothing business while Gohan and Chi Chi were buying some school items. It became clear to me that Gohan was home tutored and I wondered if she would put me in a school or tutor me as well when the time came. She would bring that up very soon now, I had absolutely no doubt, seeing her norms and standards about that certain subject, I was dreading the minute that came up.
Goku was making conversation with the shop owner while I looked around. They had gi's here too, but I wasn't planning on wearing one. The shop owner was laughing out loud and I stole a glance in their direction. They were certainly hitting it off very well.
I saw something black out of the corner of my eye, nice jeans, soft fabric, not expensive. Reasonable. I added that mental note in my head, I added everything that looked reasonable and wasn't expensive in that note. The store owner and Goku were headed my way. It had calmed down and we were the only costomers since most people were about to have dinner.
The store owner had short black hair and a nice low voice. Goku introduced me to Mr. Kamayami and went his own way, spotting some nice orange gi's. Mr. Kamayami had obviously heard about my condition because he asked me how I was and how I liked it with the Son family. We made small talk and the guy was really nice so I trusted him immediately. He asked me what I was interested in and I told him so.
Not 10 minutes later I had selected a nice bundle of cheap clothes and a pair of black shoes, the same I was wearing only up to date. Goku was gawking at some martial arts item's which covered the walls, but joined us at the cash register.
"Okay then.. That's..." Before Kamayami even had a chance to insert the numbers on the cash register my brain had added the numbers all together, calculated, and then and came to a conclusion: "$104.58"
Kamayami's hand froze for a second, while he cast me a glance, then proceeded to insert the numbers, coming out to the same amount that I had. He frowned at that and Goku shrugged, while paying the man. We met up with ChiCHi and Gohan shortly after and went home.
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"And I've got these..." I held up a red T-shirt with half sleeves, it had a V-neck and Mr. Kamayami said it was part of the black jeans and belt set. All in all, reasonable to wear, and it was on sale. Gohan nodded. He had his right hand (with pen) stuck under his chin while he watched me showing off my clothes. His schoolbooks were still in front of him, but only half forgotten.
"So..." He stated. "It certainly looked like you had a great time."
I looked up. 'Huh?' "How do you mean?"
Gohan dropped his pen. "You were really, I don't know how to say this... Enthusiastic?"
I was still holding up the red shirt. Had I been? "I was, wasn't I?" Gohan nodded to confirm and asked me why. "I don't know why I think I really liked the busyness, you know the crowd. It's like the way it's supposed to be. People barely avoiding me. Talking, minding their own business. I don't know. It seems somehow familiar." I sat down, T-shirt forgotten.
Gohan's eyes were sparkling. "You mean you remember something?!!!"
I shook my head, too bad to disappoint the little squirt. "No it's not like I remember things, it's more like.. I have these feelings. Like when I was hallucinating. I really thought I didn't belong there, most things felt alien to me. But today, at the mall, it felt somewhat... normal." Gohan nodded, I know he would've liked for me to tell him I remembered something. But the fact remained, I didn't. Nada, zip, zero. But it didn't bother me as much as yesterday though. I mean heck! I've got a place to stay, people to talk to and who care about me, I even got my own clothes. I was a whole individual!
There was this small matter of my name though.
"I wish you would remember something.." Gohan started. "I can't imagine how it would be if I couldn't remember anything. It would be..." He glanced up to me, mournful look in his eyes, and I knew he would've said something like 'awful' but I didn't want to go there right now.
"It's not that bad Gohan." I told him. "I've got a place to stay and people who care about me... what more could I want? I'm certain that I will remember something eventually." There was a silence.. Gohan wasn't totally convinced of it and neither was I. So I continued. "The only thing I need at this very moment is my name, and the rest can wait for later." Gohan finally looked like he felt better, I snickered at the thought that the guy felt responsible for me, it didn't surprise me though, his devotion for his homework was incredible. I scrambled through the plastic bag, searching for my names-and-surnames-and-even-more-names book, Gohan returned his attention to his homework, but kept looking at me while I searched the pages for something that sounded familiar.
Chi Chi, who had been working on dinner, walked into the room when she noticed I was reading the doctor's book and handed me a brand new notebook.
"Here." She tolled me. "You can borrow a pen from Gohan and when you find a name that sounds familiar you can write it down, it will be easier..." I accepted the notebook, wondering if she was giving me homework or trying to help me out. I said 'thank you' anyway where after she disappeared into the kitchen once again.
I took a good look at the notebook, it was small and had a yang yin symbol on it, it was pretty neat and I opened it to write down Nathan, I also wrote down what my thoughts were about it. Namely that it was about something important. After doing that I opened my book and started searching trough the names and even though I couldn't even pronounce most of the names some of them rang a bell and I wrote them down under Nathan. After a while I had a small list of names.
Nathan.
I remembered this name when I just woke up with amnesia, it's not my name but I know he is, or was, someone important in my live.
Other familiar names:
Ben
Bridger
Cynthia
Ford
Hitchcock
Jonathan
Kathy
Krieg
Kristen
I was about to search trough the names starting with a L when ChiChi tolled us to clear the table and set it. Gohan rolled his eyes when I muttered under my breath that the guest-feeling didn't last long in this house.
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Dinner was surprisingly silent. I don't know why...
Only my own thoughts were keeping me occupied and of course the sight of my... What were they? family? No. Hosts. Ah... Forget it, they already felt like my family so.. What the heck, I would call them my family. Maybe even in public.
Who knows how long I'll be here, anyway? I sure hoped I could get used to Goku's unusual eating habits. I looked up to the man opposite me. He was making ungraceful sounds while he was devouring his food. Man, saying that that guy had an appetite was an understatement. He was shoving everything he could get in his mouth and didn't even bother to chew properly.
Gohan and ChiChi on the other hand were simply eating in peace, unaware of this man's eating habits. I returned to my pondering while following their example.
Maybe my own family didn't want me back, that would explain the reason why they hadn't found me yet. They hadn't found me simply because they weren't looking. I shivered. Then it would be highly possible that I didn't have any friends looking for me either. I felt terrible thinking about it. But it did make so much sense. No wonder I didn't remember it. I couldn't even think about it as a possibility.
I took another mouthful of some weird looking mix of vegetables meat and rice and when I looked up I saw Goku staring at me. I looked away. His eyes. He knew something, but what? I gave him glance again, he was still staring. But I saw something more, concern. Did he feel my mood? Probably.
Gohan and ChiChi hadn't noticed, they were still eating silently. I shifted uncomfortably. Goku looked away embarrassed that he had been staring. He looked at me apologizing. And I nodded before I knew I had. He looked better after I did that and surprisingly he broke the silence that was around the table. Hey I couldn't blame them for not making any conversation. It was new. An outsider around their table. I came into their lives like a thief in the night. Well.. sort of. "So what are you and Gohan planning to do tomorrow?"
I could see Gohan looking up from his meal in the corner of my eyes. "I think Gohan was going to show me some of this training thing."
Gohan jumped in. "You could call Piccolo right dad?"
Goku grinned. "Of course. It's been a long time since we last sparred. But I suggest we go to Capsule corps before. There's something I want to do. We may have some good news for you uhm.."
He wanted to say my name. But couldn't, I ignored it. What was this about good news? I could've used some a week ago. "How come?" I took another bite from my food.
"I need to check with some friends first, but you'll be the first to know." I looked at him with my mouth open but he obliviously ignored me. It was starting to eat away at me and he probably enjoyed seeing how his "little secret" effected me so I tried to pretend I didn't care. Hah! Like I did! Hell, I wouldn't care for anything in the world. I wouldn't even be interested if he had a solution of regaining my memory without heavy physical operations, and slow recovery after it.
Oh, please let it be that. Please let it be that.
But I still didn't care.
Things went silent once again but luckily, for my social eating habits, ChiChi began a conversation with Gohan about his studies. Reminding him not to fall behind. She referred that he had already done so twice. I made a mental note to ask Gohan about that later. I just couldn't understand that he, Gohan 'study in the night to get to my required 10 hours of study', would be in any state to fall behind when he was this persistent to get good grades.
It troubled me though, this conversation probably meant that ChiChi was thinking about something school-related and I would hate it to be because of my un-school-related-stay.
Since Goku was already done eating, he asked me if he could see the name list I was working on. I said he could and pulled my notebook out of the pocket of my soon-to-be-left-back-in-the-dusty-closet-it-came-from-gi. He studied it while the rest of us ate.
I wondered what we would do tomorrow. Goku needed to 'check things' and I would be the first to know. This meant it had to do something with my amnesia. He just didn't tell because he didn't want my hopes up if he was wrong. Well, I was warned but I still had my hopes up. If Goku really didn't want me to know he should've...
"How about Nathan?" We all looked up at Goku, he was still looking at my notes.
"Nathan? Who is Nathan?" Gohan.
"Nathan is a name from my list but I don't know anything about him. Goku?" I looked back at Goku. He looked at me as if what he said was so obviously simple.
"Nathan. We'll call you Nathan until you remember your own name.."
ChiChi repeated the name and nodded. As did Gohan but he did it in a questioning way.
I grew red, don't know why. "It's not my name.." I said softly.
"I know, I know." I smiled at the vague manner in which Goku said it. "But we can't call you, 'hey you!' all the time."
I wondered if Heyou was also in my brown book. It wouldn't surprise me. "I suppose so, but it feels terribly wrong."
Goku nodded. "Well at least it will be a reminder that you still need to work on gettin your memory back." He smiled encouragingly which made me smile too.
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Tick - Tick - Tick ...
It was an ugly little critter.
Tick - Tick - Tick ...
But it had meant the world to Gohan that I had it.
Tick - Tick - Tick ...
I wondered if ChiChi would notice it lying around in the garbage can.
Tick - Tick ...
She probably would.
Tick - Tick - Tick - Tick - Tick ...
I wouldn't do it though. Simply because of the look in Gohan's eyes when he gave the "Thing" to me, it was 'to decorate my new room'. his exact words. It had meant a lot to him that I had it.
Tick - Tick - Tick ...
I looked up at the device. The light glowing arms of Mickey were pointing out to me that it was eleven thirty. Coca Cola time. Well, if the sun was out instead of the moon... I heard my door creaking. Three guesses who it was.
"Hey Nathan. You awake?"
"Gohan, what are you thinking? It's an half hour before midnight. Why didn't you bring any midnight snacks?"
Gohan's smile practically lid up the room. "I'll remember it the next time." And he jumped unto my bed, getting comfortable at the end by my feet. I gave him some room by sitting up and told him he had grown awfully accustomed to my new found name.
We talked about what had happened today and joked around some. It felt great talking to him and having not a care in the world. It felt good, natural to talk to Gohan even though we didn't had much to talk about. No 'past things' you know. And Gohan didn't seem overly exited to tell about his past. Probably not much but study pressure. I mean I was here for, how many, two conscious days and I had already seen him doing homework three times. It was too much for even me to handle. Next time I would try and help him so he could have some more down time.
"You know Nathan... I'm glad you came here. I really am."
I was puzzled. Gohan looked the most serious I had ever yet to witness. This was the reason why I hardly responded.
"Oh, I don't mean I'm glad you have amnesia and are away from you folks... It's just..."
Something was troubling this young man and I just remembered how to operate my tongue. "What's the matter?" I asked in a soft and caring voice.
"It's just the pressure of the past year." He made an: it's nothing gesture, but it didn't fooled me.
"What? Studying? Falling behind?" I prodded.
Gohan stared blankly at me. Apparently I hadn't even come close. "No..."
"Oh... I just thought when I heard ChiChi talking about you falling behind that it was the reason why you were studying so hard." I excused myself saying it had made sense.
"No, no!" Gohan burst out. "My mother wants me to study so hard so I can get to Harvard very soon. That's why she's teaching me and I'm not on school. It's a speed thing. I did fall behind of her schedule but nothing serious and I did caught up."
"Well, what's troubling you then?" I wondered. "Tell me. You know all of my problems."
He snorted. But gave me a meaningful look. "I guess it's safe to tell you. A year ago I never had a care in the world besides getting out of my little private problems. But things have changed. They.. Piccolo discovered that I was good at martial arts... that I had potential and he started training me." I listened and kept my mouth shut, I could imagine how his memory would come flooding back to him so I waited in silence for him to continue and clear things up. "I had a lot of pressure back then, too much people depending on me." He snorted. "Way too much pressure and when I got home and my mom wanted me to study so hard. It wasn't easy either without my dad."
Goku, leaving his kid? For what possible reason? "He was gone for a while?"
Gohan nodded. "Yes he was, but he came back, he came back for us."
I didn't knew exactly how to handle Gohan's spill of emotion but I tried. God knows I tried. "Hemust care a lot about the two of you."
Gohan smiled. "He cares a lot about everyone un-evil. But you're right. He did came back to us. What do you think your dad is like?"
Noticing the sudden change of subject I shook my head. "To be honest, at this moment... I don't think he would have come back for me." I looked down. "If he would care he would've been here by now."
Gohan looked down as well. Probably feeling bad for bringing it up and not hearing a positive answer. "You can't be sure you know. Maybe he has amnesia as well or maybe your family is too far away. Maybe you had a though time and ran away from them and they don't have the smallest clue where you are..." He yawned.
"I guess we'll have to find out one day." I suggested. Gohan nodded. "Yeah, and I'm glad the way my life is right now. No responsibilities.." His words slurred.
I looked at my new found pal: Mickey. It was past midnight. I pulled back a bit of cover and shoved over to make room. Gohan accepted the gesture and snuggled under the sheets. Never stopped talking.
"...No one depending on me, just being myself." He looked up at me with half closed eyes. "Someone to watch my back, my bro..." He's breathing became slow and regular.
It was weird to know that some people had their own problems. The past few days my mind only recalled having my own problems, and now.. I was remembered I wasn't the only one. Someone was depending on me. Gohan was depending on me and I hardly even knew the squirt. I guess that was what life was all about. Depending on each other.
That was all there was, knowing which bridges to burn and which to cross. Gohan had apparently chosen to trust me even though I had my own problems. He had faith in me.
I looked at the Mickey Mouse clock.
A big smile was plastered around the mouse's face and his arms
were sticking out like two light poles. Gohan might never realize
it but he had giving me
faith for giving his undivided confidence. I finally realized who
I was, where I was and where I wanted to be. I wanted to be near
a solution of my amnesia problem. And I would get there.
One day... I was convinced of it.
And if it wasn't today I could live with that.
ThE eNd
For now...