Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Dragonball Z, nor did I create any of the characters portayed in this story. If I did, I think I'd have a better computer than this. :)


The sun fell upon a still, frigid world as it climbed lethargically over the horizon. Gradually it hauled itself out from its resting place behind a distant throng of hills, and reluctantly cast a sleepy light across the forests and mountains, all of which were bound together by a slowly rolling ground mist. The birds weren't singing, the wind wasn't blowing. It was as if nature had called in sick on a day when the biting chill of winter was at its height.

At the cusp of an eerily silent forest, a small, modest house protruded from the swirling haze. The strange little residence was a peculiar combination of a rustic cottage, and a sterile, modern dome structure. A thin wisp of smoke rose from a solitary chimney stack, its steady voyage skyward unhindered by even the slightest breeze. The warm light emanating from its windows penetrated the bitter morning air, casting the wraith-like shadows of the building's occupants upon the diffuse surface of the mist. These ill-defined forms also exhibited the same unwillingness to move as the rest of the frost-bitten world, but their stationary behaviour had little to do with the cold.

A tension laden silence had fallen over the Son household. At the heart of the lonely little domicile, two members of the resident family attended quietly, there attention focused unwaveringly on the third. All three were located in the sparsely furnished living room.

Goku stood with his back to the room's only window, his attention focused totally on his only son, Gohan. The boy sat, cross legged, on the floor of the room, eyeing a vaguely cubic object adorned in a gaudy wrapping. For an age, Goku waited for some response from the little Saiyan, his concentration unbroken by the quivering shadows that frolicked and danced about the walls to the meandering song of a log fire. Finding it hard to contain the tension, Goku's hands moulded themselves into tightly bound fists. However, this did little to curb his excitement. Biting down softly on his bottom lip, the Saiyan strained to keep himself from speaking, but he could feel the words making their way out.

"Well, open it." Goku goaded, his attempts to control his vocalisation ending in spectacular failure.

"Goku!" a pointed voice came from across the room. Goku turned his attention to its source.

It was his wife Chi Chi. His spouse was standing near the doorway, shrouded in a deep blue dressing gown. Her usually immaculate crown of jet black hair was uncharacteristically ruffled, and her head was sunken down to her shoulders. Chi Chi had her arms wrapped tightly around herself as a defence against the chilly air that was still at large within her remote home.

"Don't rush him." She added, encountering little resistance as she stared Goku down. Her face carried a familiarly disapproving expression, derived partly from Goku's impromptu outburst, but predominantly from being torn from the cosy sanctuary of her bed at this unholy hour.

"Sorry, dear." Goku mumbled, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment at having been scolded before his son. Fortunately, it seemed that Gohan had paid little attention to his father's reprimanding, and had continued to inspect the gaily dressed package.

The excitement of opening presents never failed to drive Goku to distraction. The stress of fighting for the survival of Earth was but as nothing compared to that of awaiting the unveiling a mystery gift. Indeed, it had been Goku, not Gohan, who had been the first to stir from his rest, beating both son and Sun to wakefulness. Also, he was the only member of the family who was dressed, with both his wife and child still draped in dressing gown and slippers.

Goku's heart leapt up in his chest as Gohan drove a single digit into a chink in the parcels paper amour. Slowly and deliberately, he began to strip the wrapping away. Goku watched with ever escalating enthusiasm as Gohan tore off ribbon after ribbon of paper, getting ever closer to the contents. Goku's response to the situation did seem a little odd, even to himself, considering that it had been he who had chosen and purchased this particular gift. Nonetheless, he still looked on with childish anticipation.

Finally, the last strip of wrapping paper surrendered to Gohan's assault, and fell from the glossy, newly revealed box. Goku fought to contain a giggle of excitement as he watched a smile slowly creep across his son's face. Realising what he was holding in his hands, Gohan's expression evolved from a smirk, to a wide smile, and finally reached a zenith as beaming grin. There was a short lived hush, which was then promptly obliterated by Gohan's cry.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, "Cool, a Gundam figure!"

Hastily, the young Saiyan leapt to his feet, and scampered over to his father. Grabbing Goku around the waist, he expressed his gratitude with the strongest hug he could muster.

"Thanks, Dad." He purred.

"Hey, no problem, son." Goku smiled, deriving vast pleasure from his son's delight, "I think you deserve a treat for studying and training so hard."

Gohan received the praise with a chuckle of happiness, then released Goku from the vice-like embrace. Trotting back across the room, he collected his newest possession from the spot he had placed it, and continued over to his mother. Placing the box on the ground once more, he treated Chi Chi to a similar hug to that which he given his Dad.

"Thanks, Mom." Gohan said, the gratitude still evident.

Chi Chi didn't reply. Smiling faintly, she simply returned her son's embrace before allowing him to gather up the immaculately packaged figurine and scamper out of the room. Doubtless, he was off to his own corner of their modest home where he might make a thorough examination of his new acquisition.

Though Gohan had left the room, Goku still wore a broad smile. It was a residue of the joy he had felt at having given his son such joy at a time that must surely be one of great apprehension for one so young. With their predestined encounter with Gero's androids only a matter of months away, smiles had been an all too rare commodity among the Son family as of late.

Goku's pondering was put on hold as the sound of rustling paper impinged upon his senses. Looking across the room with refocused eyes, he saw Chi Chi wading through the Christmas morning debris that was strewn across the wooden floor. Disturbingly, the warm smile with which she had graced Gohan had evaporated, revealing look of weary annoyance.

"Goku," she began upon reaching her husband, being careful to keep her voice down for Gohan's benefit, "what was that?"

"What was what?" Goku replied, furrowing his brow in response to Chi Chi's perplexing inquiry.

"What was that... that thing you bought for Gohan?" she elaborated, gesturing to a place beyond the room's slowly brightening walls.

"Oh, that." Goku replied, "Uh, its Gundam 01, I think. You know I'm not really up with that sort of stuff."

"Why did you buy him that?" Chi Chi continued the grilling.

"Uh... because he didn't already have that one?" Goku hazarded.

Chi Chi wasn't amused by Goku's evasive reply, and was clearly becoming frustrated with slow pace at which the dispute was progressing.

"You know what I mean." She rasped, "We've discussed this at least a half dozen times. I thought we agreed, no more Gundam things."

"Uh, that's Gundam wing, dear." Goku corrected, tentatively, before realising that Chi Chi's phrasing had not been an honest mistake. Quickly, he advanced the conversation before she became anymore perturbed, "Anyhow, why shouldn't he have them. He's been working so hard lately, he deserves something nice."

"I know he's been good," Chi Chi reiterated her husband's point, "but you know I don't like Gohan watching those anime shows. They're so violent. I don't want him having any more bad influences."

"Aw c'mon, Chi Chi." Goku appealed, but to little effect.

"No, Goku. It's bad enough he hangs out with your martial arts buddies. The last thing I want his for him to come home and get force fed yet more violence by the TV." On ending her sentence, Chi Chi turned from Goku, "I don't know. Sometimes it seems like you just don't take my wishes seriously. Gohan's my son too, you know."

Detecting the waver of impending tears in Chi Chi's voice, Goku stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. The hand quickly fell from its purchase, however, as Chi Chi took a rapid step away from him. Now he knew he was in trouble.

"C'mon honey, I..." Goku aborted his sentence as he watched Chi Chi quick step from the room, leaving him alone with the shredded wrappings of the morning's pleasures.

****

Goku sat quietly on the couch, his pensive face rested upon his hands. He had been perched on the chair for at least half an hour, trying to make some sense of his exchange with Chi Chi. The subdued Saiyan was not worried by his wife's angry reaction to the gift. On the contrary, he had been more concerned with the restrained nature of her response. There had been no crying, no shouting, he hadn't so much as had to dodge an airborne plate. This frightened Goku greatly.

In the time he had spent mulling over the situation, the sun had risen fully above the horizon, and was now performing its function with a vitality that defied the morning freeze. Silently, the light of the burning orb cascaded through the window, bringing stark illumination to the room. Undisturbed by the activities of the occupants, the rays were free to gild the walls of the edifice in all the cool, yellowish shades they wished.

Goku looked up to the door. Since Chi Chi had left the room, not a single sound had come from beyond the portal. He had no clue as to what his spouse was doing, or feeling, and was too apprehensive of what may happen should he approach her in light of her unexpected reaction. Even Gohan was silent. There had been acoustic sign of activity from the upper levels of the house. Goku feared that perhaps Gohan knew what had transpired, and felt in some way responsible. Of course, he could just be studying, or catching up on a couple of hours of sleep. Again, Goku just didn't know.

The oppressive sense of atmosphere that saturated the house was becoming unbearable. It felt as if the entire wait of Goku's country home was bearing down upon his chest. He couldn't sit around any longer, and yet, he knew he couldn't approach Chi Chi. That is, he knew he could not yet summon up the nerve. Looking around, he resolved that he had to do something, and only one thing sprang to mind. He had to leave. Not permanently, mind. Just for a little while, until the volatile lady of the house had cooled down.

Slowly, Goku rose from the chair, making sure not to alert anyone to his leaving. The rustle of the upholstery reassuming its original shape seemed deafening amid the acoustic vacuum that surrounded the Saiyan.

Now fully upright, he took his first tentative step forward. In an instant of misfortune, Goku's leading foot made contact with a loose floor board. The resulting shriek rang out against the rigid boundaries of the room, rushing to inform anyone who would listen of Goku's movements. Goku panicked. Without stopping to think, the Saiyan raised two fingers to his brow, and focused on the outside world.

The transition was uncertain at first. The blurred world beyond the hand in front of his face flickered slightly, as if fuel source that powered reality was ebbing away. The undulating view did not destabilise Goku's concentration. Furrowing his brow further, he deepened his thought, willing the transition to hasten. His surroundings exhibited another flicker of uncertainty, then in an incalculably small instant, the world around him shifted. Blurring instantaneously, the scene transformed from the soothing, yellow haze, the an almost total white out.

The Saiyan shuddered as the breath was squeezed from his body by the harsh embrace of the cold winter atmosphere. Drawing in a chest-full of frigid air, Goku looked around. He was outside, at the periphery of a moderately dense forest. The setting was familiar. Peering over his left shoulder, he was not surprised to find his own house rising up from the frozen ground.

With his mind resuming normal function, Goku recalled what had prompted him to translocate. The thought of his own over reaction caused the Saiyan to laugh gently to himself.

"Guess this whole thing has me a little jumpy." He observed, and turned to return to his home.

Goku then stopped. Looking at the stunted building, he remembered the decision he had made before he had been startled into flight. His heart sank into his chest. Looking down at the ground, he addressed himself once more.

"Well, I suppose since I'm outside already..." he sighed, his dejected tone of voice manifesting as ghostly cloud of vapour that twisted and turned before melting into the morning haze.

Goku turned from his home with the intention of taking flight. If was going to leave, he would have to make his departure a quick one, as it would not take his son's keen senses long to detect his absence.

Knowing that anymore thought on the matter might prompt a change of heart, Goku called some small portion of his ki into service, and took to the air.

As he climbed towards to misty, water colour sky, Goku continued his solo conversation.

"This is the best thing." He assured himself, "She just needs a little time to herself. I'll come back in a couple of hours and apologise. Everything will be just fine..." The fighter then looked over his shoulder, and caught sight of the lonely cottage as its image was gradually shrouded by layer upon layer of vapour laden air, "..I guess."