Sentiments of gip-k: -Happy birthday to me… Hey! I shouldn't have to say that.

Goku: It's your birthday today? Oh! Happy birthday, gip-k!

Me: Thanks, Goku! Hey Kenshin, why aren't you wishing me a happy birthday?

Kenshin: Oh! My pardons, but I was thinking about something.

Me: I know what you were thinking about! You were thinking about Kaoru! Hey, don't look like that. It's no crime you know, but when it's my birthday, I expect you to wish me a happy birthday!

Kenshin: It is just that… um, my pardons, you have not been very kind to me, I say.

Me: What! Why did Goku wish me a happy birthday? I'm mean to him! I like you more. I mean, you're hot.

Kenshin: Oro! Do you mean that?

Me: Of course. And Kaoru believes it too, if you'd give her a chance to say it.

Kenshin: Well, I wish you a happy birthday, long life, and peace.

Me: Thanks, Kenshin! Because you were so nice, I'll give you back your sakabato. (Winks) Dragon LadySupreme was kind enough to give me that. It was baring doing on my conscience, though. (Kenshin looks shocked) Well, welcome to the fifth chapter of BCWYWF! On my birthday! Fifth day of the week, twenty-fifth day of the month, and fifth chapter! A cool coincidence, huh? Oh yeah, I noticed that you were drooling, Goku, so here's some cake. :)

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Disclaimer: I'm not getting sued. Goku, Kenshin, beat these guys up for me. (Both look at me like I'm nuts) I'm serious, all right! KA-ME-HA…

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---Chapter 5---

"Mmmm! This food is delicious!" Goku sat at one of the beautiful wooden tables in the Akebeko, eating to his heart's content. "Is there any more?"

Of course, by this time, beads of heavy sweat were dripping down Kaoru's face. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the table. She didn't exactly want to tell Goku to stop eating the food, but she really, really couldn't afford this.

Tae, the brown-haired owner of the shop, shook her head, a grin on her face.

"I'm sorry, sir," she stated. "We don't have any more of that kind of lo mein, or of any other kind for that matter." Her smile widened. "You've eaten up everything!"

"EVERYTHING?" asked Yahiko incredulously as he looked up from his plate of fish.

Tae nodded. Kaoru squeezed her eyes shut. Yahiko's eyes roved over to her. A grin made it's way unto his face.

"Aw, don't worry, Kaoru," Yahiko said, amusement lighting up his red-brown eyes. "Sano's over there, doing his usual thing. He looks like he's winning really big."

Kaoru was starting to get nausea.

"And if he doesn't?" Kaoru asked.

"Well, I guess you'll just have to pay for that, too," Yahiko said, a twinkle in his eyes.

"Gee," Goku said. "That's just too bad." Then all the sudden, his face brightened. "Do you have anything for desert?"

Tae's face brightened like the orange of her restaurant kimono. She glanced at Kaoru.

"Well, I tell you what," she said. "Since you've been such a wonderful customer, the pastries are on me." Kaoru let out a sigh of relief. "And-" Tae began, carefully watching Kaoru's face. "-You get a discount on the whole purchase!"

Kaoru literally jumped up from her seat.

"Really?" she asked excitedly.

"Sure," Tae said, winking. "But you still owe me, let's see… eighty-six thousand, four hundred, sixty-two yen."

"WHAT?" Kaoru asked incredulously. "B- b- b-"

"Oh man," Yahiko said, eyes wide. "That's a lot of dough."

"Mmmm-hmm," Tae said, nodding. "I'm going to be richer than I've ever been in years!"

"Oh, sorry, Kaoru," Goku said. "I guess I should have brought my money."

Kaoru looked near tears.

"B- b- b- but I'll be broke!" she stammered.

"Oh, of course you don't have to pay all that money right now," Tae said. "You can make weekly payments on it, and pay me about… five percent interest."

Kaoru looked like she was tottering on the brink of insanity. Just then, Sano walked over to the table.

"I made two thousand four hundred and thirty-one yen today!" he exclaimed, placing the money on the table.

"Not… enough," Kaoru moaned.

"What are you talking about?" Sano asked sounding slightly exasperated. "That's a lot of money!"

"Um, Kaoru's having a nervous break-down here," Yahiko said. "I don't think you should mention the word 'money' around her for a while."

"Over eighty thousand yen," Kaoru moaned. "Eighty… thousand…"

"Don't worry, Kaoru!" Goku said, smiling. "I'll be able to get that money in no time." He turned back to Tae, his smile widening. "Um, are those pastries ready yet?"

"Oh, sorry!" Tae exclaimed. She gave Goku a big smile. "I'll get them right away, Mr. Son."

With that, Tae skipped away, a spring in her step.

"Did you say eighty thousand yen?" Sano exclaimed, gaping. "But that's like- like- what the heck didya buy?"

"Not… me," Kaoru said, swallowing. "Go…ku."

"Come on, Kaoru," Goku said. "That's not a lot of money at all. I'll be able to get it all back in no time. I'll just go to the big city."

"What big city?" Yahiko asked. "This is the big city. This is Tokyo."

Goku shook his head.

"But that's not possible," he said. "The last time I came here I-"

Goku stopped abruptly, his memories quickly returning to him. The portal… the fall. What had happened? Goku suddenly got a terrible feeling. This was not his home; in fact, this was not his world.

"W- where am I?" Goku stammered.

"Are you an idiot or something?" Yahiko asked. "I just told you. Tokyo."

"But- this isn't Tokyo," Goku insisted. "I've been here. There are supposed to be big buildings, and people everywhere-"

"There are people everywhere," Sano said dryly. "This city's super crowded. You've got bandits, murderers, bullies- well; I fall in that last category sometimes- and the whole bit. Now what do ya say?"

"No," Goku said, growing serious. "There were more people."

"Here are your pastries, special delivery from the owner herself," Tae said happily as she rushed over to the table. She frowned at the disturbed look on Goku's face. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Goku didn't answer. He stood up from the table and walked over to the window to look out. Why hadn't he noticed this before? This definitely wasn't Tokyo. If it was Tokyo then that meant…

"No," Goku said. "It can't be."

"What's wrong?" Yahiko asked, getting up as well.

"This isn't my world," Goku said. "I don't… belong here."

"You're right about not belonging here," Sano said. "But the part about this not being your world I don't get."

"Yeah," Yahiko said. "What do you mean by that?"

****FLASHBACK****

"Goku!"

Goku's eyes burst open. His eyes immediately fell on the face of his wife. She looked frightened, and tears were evident in her dark, beautiful eyes.

"Chi-Chi? What's going-"

Goku could say no more before he began being pulled again, this time backwards. He barely caught a glimpse of the blackish, purplish thing behind him before he began being absorbed by it…

****END FLASHBACK****

Goku's eyes widened. Wait a moment… hadn't the sky been black? No, he saw Chi-Chi, and behind her was a- YES! A black sky. Goku's eyes darkened. Then that meant…

"No," Goku said. "Someone's made a wish on the dragonballs!"

"What?" Sano asked incredulously.

"The dragonballs," Goku said, turning to him.

"What're dragonballs?" Yahiko asked.

"You use them to get your wish granted," Goku said, his voice serious. "If you get all seven, it summons the dragon, Shenlong. Then someone- anyone- is allowed to make a wish on them. If it's an evil person, there's no telling what they might wish for."

"Um, what does that have to do with anything?" Yahiko asked.

"Someone evil might have wished me into this world so that I wouldn't be there to protect my friends," Goku said, his voice bitter. "Someone like Frieza."

"I don't know who the heck this Frieza person is, but I do know you're not from around here," Sano said, his voice grim. "However, I don't think you're from another world. In fact, I think everything you're saying is a bunch of nonsense."

Goku's eyes widened.

"You mean you don't believe me?" he asked, surprised.

"Well, it is a little hard to believe," Yahiko said, putting his hands in his pockets. "You did hit your head really hard on that table."

"But, no!" Goku said. "I remember. I saw…"

"Well, I don't know about all this," Tae said. "But I suggest while you're here you make good use of your time."

Goku, Sanosuke, and Yahiko looked up at her.

"Well, you heard me!" Tae said, putting her hands on her hips. "I could use a little help with the dishes. Mr. Son, you owe me a lot of money, and I expect my payments on time every week, understood? If you can't pay, Kaoru will have to, and you know she can't afford it anyway. So I suggest you act like a man, and do the right thing."

"What happened to her nice side?" Goku asked sorrowfully in a low voice.

Yahiko shrugged.

"Women are just serious about their money," he said.

"Aw, come on, Goku," Sanosuke said, grinning. "Don't let Tae push you around. You can pay the money later. I mean, you can probably get away without paying half."

"Gentlemen?" Tae asked, annoyedly.

"Well, I guess you're right Tae," Goku said, his face still glum. "I guess I should make good use of my time while I'm here. Well, I guess I'll just have to get a job!" Goku put on a sheepish smile. Kaoru toppled backwards in her chair.

"WHAT?" Yahiko asked. "You're going to help that hag? But… why?"

Goku laughed, scratching his head.

"Well, I guess it's the right thing to do," he said. "Besides, if she's the one who showed me this good restaurant! Haha! I'm stuffed!"

It was Sano's turn to topple over.

Later…

"Well," said the middle-aged, round-bellied man Goku was speaking with. "I guess I can give you a job packing rice." The man's voice became stern. "You make sure that you do a good job, you hear? If you spill a single barrel of rice I'll deduct it from your salary!"

"Oh, no problem, Mr. Wang!" Goku said, a cheerful smile on his face. "I'll do my very best, sir!"

"Good," Mr. Wang said, a crooked smile pasting itself on his ugly face. "Start the job now." He turned away, the crooked smile growing in mass. "Humph. That one's among the stupids. All they do is smile and obey, no matter how much you pay them. This kid's working for only twelve yen an hour. Ha! Idiots!"

Goku watched as Mr. Wang walked away. A grin made it's way on to his face and he pumped his fist triumphantly.

"All right!" Goku said excitedly. "This'll be fun!"

Then, Goku started the work. He quickly filled the barrels with rice. The other workers, whose faces had been glum and hopeless, stared at him in utter amazement. Before twenty minutes, Goku had filled every barrel. He'd even helped some of the other men heft theirs on to the ship.

"Hey, need some help?" said a tall, big man. He was about two or three heads taller than Goku, and most likely he thought that shorter man might already be tired.

"No thanks," Goku said, smiling. "I'm almost done."

The man looked around the shipyard uncertainly. He shrugged.

"Whatever you say," the man said, and continued loading up his own barrels.

Goku lifted the twenty-pound barrels as easily as if they weighed as much as an egg. He stacked about five on top of each other. Then he lifted them up. Now the other guys were really startled. Goku hurried off to place the barrels on the ship, but as he hurried up the ramp, the barrels began to wobble a bit. Goku's eyes widened as one of the barrels began toppling down to the ground.

"Oh no!" Goku exclaimed. At lightning speed, he transported the barrels to his right hand only, and did a long stretch to catch the fallen one. He did, right before he hit the ground. Goku smiled at his success. Since the barrel was upside down, he threw it up in the air with his left hand, and caught it when it was up in the right direction. Then, whistling as he went, he started heading up the ramp again. He froze when he noticed everyone else in the shipyard staring at him. Hmmm… that was odd. Goku decided to ignore it and then hurried up to transport his barrels unto the ship.

"What did that guy eat for breakfast, the Japan train?" one man asked incredulously.

"Must have," another man replied with equal incredulity. "And the track, too."

"HEY!" called Mr. Wang angrily. "I don't pay you guys for no- hey, just a minute ago these barrels were all empty. How'd -?"

Then the man spotted Goku. He watched in raw awe and amazement as he saw Goku easily pick up seven barrels and begin transporting them into the ship.

A greedy smile made its way unto Mr. Wang's face. He could make good money out of a worker like that. In fact… what'd he need the rest of these low downs for? He would fire them all immediately if his boss hadn't told him to ease up on the firing.

"Just get back to work," Mr. Wang said, keeping his dark, greedy eyes on the happily working Goku. "I'll be back in a while."

Mr. Wang soon departed, bringing joy into the hearts of all the men who were working there.

After a little while longer, Goku asked one of the other workers if there were any more barrels left for him to fill.

"Well, there's one more," the man said. "I was going to fill that up myself, so you can take a break."

"Okay," Goku said, grinning. "I'm not very tired. I wonder when Mr. Wang will be back. I'll have to tell him that I've finished all the work he gave me."

Goku was about to walk away, but then the man spoke again.

"Say, what's your name?" the man asked.

"Goku. What's yours?"

"Konida," the man said, grinning. "You seem like you've got enough energy to fill a hundred horses."

Goku scratched his head, laughing.

"Well, I guess you could say that," he replied. "You can be strong too, you know. I became like this from lots and lots of training."

"Really?" Konida asked. "What kind of training?"

"Martial arts training," Goku said.

"That's pretty cool," Konida replied. His face saddened. "I don't have time for that sort of thing, though. Mr. Wang has me working here all day long."

"Really?" Goku asked. "Gosh, that's pretty bad. He doesn't pay you guys much at all."

"He would pay us less," Konida said, his voice bitter. "Except that his boss, Mr. Law, keeps pressuring him to pay us more. And Wang threatens to fire us if we complain. We don't have anywhere else to go. I have a wife and two daughters to take care of, and no one else will take me because I look so scrawny."

"That's not fair," Goku said, anger present in his dark eyes.

"I know," Konida said sadly. "But it's life."

Just then, Mr. Wang, and his thin, tall boss, Mr. Law, appeared. My law looked a lot less greedy than Mr. Wang did. He even looked kind of like a nice guy, though the serious look on his face said otherwise. Konida instantly shut up and began filling his barrel of rice. All the other men began to work at a faster, more vigorous pace as Mr. Law's sharp eyes examined them. Those sharp blue eyes soon fell on Goku.

"This is the man, right?" Mr. Law said.

"Yes," Mr. Chang said, rubbing his hands together in evident anticipation. "He filled a lot of the barrels."

"Hello, Mr. Law," Goku said. "I've finished all my work. I was wondering if Mr. Chang has anymore work for me to do."

"Sorry, no," Mr. Chang replied. "But I guess you can clean the ship."

"Now, wait a minute, Mr. Chang," Mr. Law said in a scholar-like voice. His eyes scanned Goku. "How much money is Mr. Chang paying you?"

"He's paying me twelve yen an hour, I think," Goku replied.

Mr. Law's eyes widened, than just as quickly narrowed at this. Without turning to Mr. Chang, he spoke again.

"And how much are you paying everyone else, Mr. Chang?" he asked, his tone brittle.

"Uh, just the same, sir," Mr. Chang said, a frightened smile on his face.

"Triple their payments," Mr. Law said. He quickly received a "yes sir" from the man under him. Mr. Law's face immediately softened after that. He extended his hand to Goku, who shook it. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Son. As you probably have already heard, I am called Irenicus Law. (A/N: I'm a total name-stealer… I KNOW!)"

"Hey, Mr. Law!" Goku said. "It's nice to meet you, too."

"I've heard many good things about you from Mr. Chang here," Mr. Law replied. "He says you filled more than half the barrels in the shipyard and loaded them all into the ship, all in scarcely and hour."

Goku scratched his head, grinning.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "I guess that's about right."

"Um, Mr. Law?" Mr. Chang asked nervously. "If this man did all his work in less than an hour, doesn't that mean he should get about eighteen yen?"

"Heavens, no!" Mr. Law exclaimed. "You shall pay this man three hundred yen. And that exact amount, do you hear?"

"Uh, yessir," Mr. Chang said in a disappointed sounding voice.

"Did you say three hundred yen?" Goku asked, excited.

"Yes," Mr. Law said, a bit taken a back buy Goku's shock. "That's what you get for doing such a good job."

"Oh, thank you Mr. Law!" Goku said, shaking the man's hand.

"Your welcome," Mr. Law said, smiling pleasantly.

After speaking a little longer with Mr. Law, Goku hurried off to see what other jobs he could do, since the day was not even half over. His weekly payments were one thousand, three hundred and thirty-two yen, so he needed a good amount. If he paid more, he could relieve himself of the debt in no time at all.

Goku walked through the city, receiving all sorts of strange stares from people passing by. I wonder why everyone's staring at me. Goku thought. He shrugged. He was new in town, he supposed. That might be it. Goku frowned. He needed to get out of here. He had to get… home. I hope Krillin and the others are all right. Goku thought worriedly. You, too, Gohan. And Chi-Chi, I promise I'll be home as soon as I can. I don't know if this world has dragonballs, but I'll sure try hard to look for them. I have to get back home! I don't know who wished me here, but that doesn't stop me from doing something about it. I'm coming, son, Chi-Chi. I'm coming.

Just then, Goku heard something.

"I'll pay thirty yen an hour for anyone who's willing to cut wood for me! That's anyone!" a man was calling out. "I'll pay an extra fifteen yen for an excellent job or overtime! I'll say it one more time! Thirty yen an hour! That's thirty yen, folks! Thirty yen!"

Goku stopped in his tracks. Gee. In this world people didn't seem to have a lot of money. Goku shrugged. That was okay.

"Hey, wait!" Goku said, waving his arm. "I'll work for you!"

The short man's face instantly brightened.

"Well, come on over here, mister!" the man said.

Goku rushed over to the man's advertising stand.

"Did you say you wanted to work for me?" the man asked, excitement in his dark brown eyes.

"Yeah!" Goku said. "I owe someone a lot of money and I need to pay some of it back this week."

"Good, good!" the little man said excitedly. "Whatcha say you're name was?"

"Goku! Goku Son."

"All right, Goku," the little man said, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "Everyone calls me 'little man Lee', but you can call me just 'Lee'."

"Okay, Lee," Goku said. "What do you want me to do?"

"Well, I want you to cut some wood in the forests south of here," Lee said excitedly. "I'll give you a wagon, and I think I have an axe-"

"Oh, those won't be necessary, Lee," Goku said, grinning. "My hands do just fine."

Lee looked at Goku like he was crazy. He straightened up from reaching his hand in his stand.

"Well, okay," Lee said. "Just be sure to be back before sunset."

"Sure thing!" Goku said, smiling. "Thanks a lot, Lee!"

"Sure, no problem."

After that, Goku headed off to the forest to go get some wood. Actually, he powered up and took to the air. Lee's eyes widened, and all of the people in the Tokyo marketplace stared up at Goku, yelling out in surprise and amazement. Lee shook his head in disbelief at what he was seeing.

"Unreal," he breathed as Goku flew off towards the forest.

* * *

Goku landed in the midst of the thickest foliage he could find. He looked around for the very biggest tree he saw. Some had animals in them, so he'd have to scare them away before they got hurt. Goku chose a tree, then shot a very small ki blast out of his hand. It hit the trunk of the tree, and soon the whole tree was toppling over. Goku quickly took to the sky. After about sixty clean karate chops, it was cut into neat pieces. Goku put the branches in a separate pile, and the clean pieces of firewood in another.

"Hmmm," Goku said. "That's not very much. Well, five more trees should do."

Goku repeated the same thing five times. Afterwards, he stacked all the wood into neat piles. That hadn't really taken very long. The sun was barely slipping below the trees. Goku grabbed up all the firewood. He made sure it was balanced before taking off. (A/N: Note that this pile of wood was as tall as a skyscraper)

All the townspeople stared on in awe as they saw a figure emerging from the forest.

"Hey!" a little girl cried. "It's that man!"

A big roar erupted from the crowd as Goku came.

"Huh?" he said, blinking.

The crowd cheered as he landed. Goku made his way through the crowd with his pile of wood, looking from side to side in surprise at the people who were cheering at him. He got all sorts of comments. He tried to smile at some of the people, but there were just so many. He finally got to the stand, and found out that the man who had hired him was gaping at him.

"I got your wood," Goku said. He looked around. "Hey, what's going on. You'd think that someone real famous came here."

"Oh, thank you Goku!" Lee said, a smile big enough to hold the world appearing on his face. "Put it over there, please!"

Goku set down the wood, and as soon as he did, Lee began shaking his hand.

"You are amazing Goku, truly amazing!" Lee said, a look of worship and ecstasy present in his now round eyes. "You can have three thousand yen! Four thousand for all I care! Just please keep working for me! Please! You can have my entire business, my house, my-"

"Oh no," Goku said, growing embarrassed. "I don't need all that stuff." He looked behind him. The crowd was yelling and cheering. "W- why are all these people here?"

"They're he because of you, Goku!" Lee exclaimed. "Because of you."

After a little more persuasion, Goku received the three thousand yen from the man, and took to the sky once more. He smiled and waved at the people below him, and they simply went wild. Goku's stomach growled. He was hungry. It was time to go fishing.

Later…

Aoshi Shinomori's narrow, forest green eyes scanned the area of the Kamiya dojo. He frowned. Where was Himura? It did not make much sense. The wind tossed Aoshi's raven dark hair around as he continued to search. He'd seen the Kamiya woman, the boy, and the ex-gangster, but he hadn't seen the Battousai. It made no sense. Aoshi's frown deepened. He did not like things that didn't make sense. Aoshi's eyes widened slightly as he spied a black haired man- what was that horrible hairstyle? –Walking through the gate of the dojo. From the horrible smell, which had somehow managed to waft up to even the roof where Aoshi was discreetly perched, the sack he carried had to contain fish. Aoshi watched as the man wearing the orange and blue suit walked up to the door of the Kamiya house, in which was a large hole in the roof. From what Aoshi had heard, repairs were scheduled for the next day. Aoshi didn't know who the man in the martial arts suit was, or where he had come from, but he would find out. If they had somehow hidden Himura, and thought that that man in the martial arts suit could protect them, they would find out the hard way. Aoshi Shinomori was not messed with. He would find out was going on, and if they didn't tell him… Aoshi's eyes caught the glint of the sun, giving them a somewhat evil light. They would tell him. There were ways to make them. Getting a lousy man like that would not help them one bit when it came down to matters of life and death; peace and torment. They'd give in. Sanosuke Sagara might cause some problems, but there were ways around him. The little boy didn't stand a chance. Aoshi smiled at remembering him. He had fire in him and a good heart. He would have probably made a good addition to the Oniwabanshu, but Aoshi could never consider putting someone who was on the side of an Ishin patriot in the Oniwaban group. If he caused trouble, he'd simply half to die with the rest.

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gip-k's Post Chapter Statements: -That chapter's finally over with! I hope you guys liked it. The idea of making Goku get a job seemed pretty logical, though he would most likely never do anything other than fight. I guess this chapter was fun to write, and it took me so little time. :) I guess I've been doing a sort of all-out thing with these chapters. (Smiles) I should be e-mailing all my "fans" about this, except most of them didn't leave an e-mail address. (Frowns at Egyptian Lobster Guy and Dee-chan) Oh well, there's always good Old Faithful Dragon LadySupreme! I guess that's all. I love this! A wonderful birthday surprise, eh? I'm finally thirteen! Yay!

Oh yeah. Here are the special thanks. Last to first, as usual. There's kind of a tie between to people here so don't be sad if you're last. I'm torn!

Female Hitokiri Battousai

You always review, you always read, even though you're so busy all the time. Thank you!

Dragon LadySupreme

Thanks for giving me Kenshin's sakabato. From his attitude, maybe I shouldn't have given it back to him. :) Well, I can't help liking the guy, you know. Thank you so much for reviewing me! Sometimes I wonder whether you have author alert on me, because you always read right after I update! Thanks!

Xartarous

… … … I am truly lost for words. Thank you for reading my story! (SNIFF) Everybody, this guy's my older brother. And he's so kind. He's an up-and-coming author, so please read his work when it comes out. He's probably even better than I am. :) Well, maybe I don't know about that… Well, don't insult Rise of Nations. It's his favorite game. :)