Disclaimer: Oh, come on, I mean, really. My Chibi Trunks action figure is better than anyone else's; hell, better than any action figure in all the galexies! Ok, so maybe he doesn't have kung fu action grip, nor any special little accessories that make him kick ass like all of the others, but that just makes him all the cooler! So stop going on and on about your action figures, be them Chibi Trunks or I.G. Joe's, because they all pale in comparison to my Chibi Trunks action figure. *Chibi Trunks say "Damn straight!"*
A/N: Did I promise that I'd update sooner than I did last time? Well? Didn't I? I did. It's been, what, 3 days? I'm updating. SEVEN FRICKIN' CHAPTERS! So stop complaining already about how I never update, and how I never answer any questions!
*giggles* Read on, and enjoy. And don't forget:
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Petrified Tears
chapter 60
Videl returned quietly to the kitchen, absently putting her fingers to her temple as she walked, smearing flour across her face.
"Videl? Are you alright?"
She blinked distractedly, moving back to her pie, absently kneading the dough with her hands, her mind a million miles away.
Gohan…Dende, what's wrong with my husband? Ever since Pan came back, he's been like this…If I didn't know better, I'd say he just can't accept the fact that she's all grown up now, that she's not a little girl anymore, that she's a grown woman. But… he learned and accepted that fact after she came back from space. She played mother figure to Goku and Trunks while they were up there, she proved herself, and Gohan and I have accepted her as an adult ever since…but why this? Why all of a sudden?
The look on Gohan's face as he had left haunted her; the stern jaw, the look of utter uselessness in his eyes…his eyes. They'd been so clouded they'd been purple, the same purple as the mysterious bruise on the side of his face, he hadn't even seen where he had been going on the way out. His back had been so straight, his shoulders so set, that she could swear on the fact that he was going out to fight a battle he knew he wouldn't be coming back from.
"Videl, calm down."
Videl blinked, finally focusing on the soft and powder white hands that stilled her own. Her fingers were covered in dough and the counter was a sticky mess. Swallowing back the lump of worry in her throat, she looked up at the owner of the hands, at the porcelain skin that didn't seem to age, the kind black eyes that knew things that she herself would never know.
"Videl," ChiChi whispered, lifting a hand and setting it on the younger mother's head, soothingly stroking her hair, smiling at her knowingly. "Gohan's a big boy, but sometimes he overreacts; it's a curse he inherited from his mother."
Videl pulled a hand from the dough, not caring that it was still covered in pastry, and wiped an eye with the back of her hand.
"ChiChi, I've never seen him like this…he…he overreacts all the time, it's one of the things I love so much about him…but never like this. I don't know if he's overreacting, if he's just itching to fight something evil because it's been so long, if he's suffering a midlife crisis, or if he's just lost his mind! I've never seen him like this, and the worst part of all of this, is that the root of his depression is in my little girl…I…"
ChiChi drew the younger mother into her arms, stroking her hair and murmuring into her ear, an act that Videl had experienced only vaguely as a child.
"It's alright, Videl. I understand what Gohan's going through, and he'll be fine in a few days."
Videl ripped herself from her mother-in-law's embrace, her eyes angry and betrayed.
"ChiChi! He's your son, and I don't know if I can survive another hour with him like this, let alone if he can!" She looked absolutely wild as she stood there, flour smeared across her face, flour and dough in her short hair, her eyes vibrantly defiant. "Pan's changed so much, and was gone so long, that it's driving him insane, and I don't know if he's just trying to cope with the fact that he has no hope left of her being his little girl anymore, or if he's just trying to pin the blame on someone else, or—"
Her blue eyes grew wide in shock and…pain…as ChiChi drew her hand sharply across her cheek and stood ready to backhand her if necessary. She brought her hand to her cheek, the stinging red sore growing dormant under the cool reality of the dough on her fingers. Her eyes turned toward the older and wiser woman before her, as she stood still after delivering the blow, her eyes hard in promise of another slap if she dared to doubt her again.
She swallowed thickly and slowly brought her hand down, letting it fall across her chest before setting it on the counter. She drew in a deep breath and held it, letting it slide out of her lungs of its own accord before drawing another. ChiChi slowly lowered her own hand to her side, resting the other on the counter, reaching over and clutching Videl's.
"I know you think I'm being a terrible mother and that I need to worry about him because this isn't right. But sometimes the best you can be is supportive. I starting going through the same mood swings the second I met you because I knew from the start that you'd won my little boy's heart and that in a few years, you two would be married and I couldn't chastise him about his wasted study time, or how I don't want him fighting, because he'd belong to you. And I liked and trusted you with my little Gohan, had plans for you two together, and had another son to boot!" ChiChi smiled warmly at her, the cold edge leaving her black eyes. "Its not so bad for you, just like it wasn't hard at all for my Goku. You're independent, you didn't have a mother hovering over your shoulder as you grew up. And Pan's just as independent, and you have the advantage of past experience and instinct telling you when to let go or when to reel her in. Goku had that, and I swear he was the only thing that kept me from coming unglued at your wedding. But Gohan doesn't have that. Goten does, Krillin did, Uub does, Yamcha did. I didn't keep Goten so close when he was little, I wasn't always after him, I let him and Trunks run ragged on occasion. But Gohan was always close to home. Close to me. He needed my approval…and when he couldn't find me, he sought Piccolo's or his father's.
"You didn't need that, and that makes Pan's growing up easier for you to take. It will be easier for me with Goten…if he ever decides to settle down…and Bulma's so ready to get Trunks out of the nest she'll throw a party rather than lose her mind."
Videl turned back to her pie dough, covering it in flour in attempt to salvage some of it.
"Just think about how bad Vegeta will be when his little girl proves she's all grown up and looking to get hitched."
Videl laughed hollowly, her lips curling unbidden into a smile.
ChiChi set her hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently.
"Now I've done my duty and talked some semblance of sense into you. Go slap my son around and get him to come around."
Videl smiled back at her, and rubbed her hands together getting off the dough, threw her apron on the table, and ran from the room, leaping into the sky in search of her husband.
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A/N: That's about it for this chapter, onward, to the next!
-Panabelle ;P
Shrine of the Saiyan Squirt