The Years After
Chapter Three
I tended to my son for the following three days, ignoring phone calls and urgent telegrams. By then Gohan could sit up, but just barely. He was so beaten up that I could feel his pain and his struggle to regain strength.
Life provides terrible struggles. For me now, this was my harsh reality.
When Gohan could finally spoke, he told me that Kurirun had been killed. The breath left me and I felt a sudden urge to lie down and never get up again. Damn Kami.
"But how?" I asked, which was a stupid question, since I knew it had to do with the recent city demolishing.
"These two…people…a woman and a man…just came out of nowhere when he were checking the area and then they…just shot out and killed Kurirun," Gohan said with much effort, I knew he was fighting back tears.
"They're not human…they're too strong to be human…"
I felt myself brim over.
"Oh baby," I said and hugged him. He was ten years old now but instead of being rigid like he used to, he welcomed it. "Your father would be proud of you fighting so bravely."
"Thank you, mother."
The way he said it reminded me of Goku's last words to me. I hugged him tighter.
"These androids will be defeated," Gohan murmured, pulling away from my hug. "I promise you mother. I will fight just like father used to."
I smiled at my boy and I knew now that he wasn't my boy anymore. He was a man.
When I finally took the time to read the telegrams, it was too late. Vegeta had already been slaughtered like an animal, Bulma wrote in a scrawling print. There were blotted areas where tears had fallen.
She wrote,
Vegeta 's dead. I don't know what to do ~ Bulma.
She didn't need to say anything more.
How horrible Bulma must feel. I could relate to this woman, for the first time in my life. She had a child to raise while I was expecting one. But Bulma was brave and independent; she would be all right. She was rich and had all the gadgets, medicine, and toys in the world for her child. She'd survive. I gave her my answer, giving her my sympathy but words mean nothing in this world and no more do I believe than anyone else.
When Gohan was finally strong enough to walk and run he began to train and this time I didn't stop him. In ways, I trained with him, mentally preparing him for the horrors he had yet to see. After over one thousand push ups, which an hour and a half, Gohan collapsed, wheezing. This job was far too hard for only an eleven year old.
"Gohan! That's enough!" I called to him lugging water to him.
"N-n-no!" he gasped, pushing the water away and then gagging. "I…must train! Avenge Kurirun 's death…I just have too…"
I placed my hand on my son's shoulder and turned him to look me in the eye.
"Gohan…the world right now is not your problem."
"YES IT IS! FATHER WOULD WANT ME TO DO THIS!" Gohan cried, bowing his head trying not to let his tears fall. God forbid a boy would cry! I always felt that maybe Piccolo; Kurirun, and Goku had urged this lesson upon him.
"No Gohan!" I cried. "You must live up to your own expectations! If you can't save the world today you can save it tomorrow!"
"But Earth may now be here tomorrow," Gohan said softly.
"Then," I said, putting both of my hands on his shoulders, "You must have hope that it is. Now rest, Gohan, rest."
Gohan lay back down on the soft snow and shut his eyes tight. I laid a warm washcloth on his forehead and placed a towel underneath his body and sat with him, my hands on my lap.
"Mother?"
"Yes?"
"What will you call the baby?"
I thought for a moment, surprised. In these last days I had forgotten all about my new child yet to be born, even with my stomach swollen.
"I don't know."
I looked up at the sky and saw the clouds. This too, I had forgotten.
"Goku-san, What are you doing outside?"
The sky was darkening and I had just put Gohan to sleep. He was only a few weeks old.
"Looking at the sky, ChiChi. It's so amazing how many forget that it is above our heads. We've flown together and seen the clouds. I wonder how others feel when they gaze up at the sky."
I thought for a moment and looked up too.
"What do you see ChiChi?"
Oddly enough, all the clouds had forms recognizable like a cow and a train, a face. Goku 's face.
"What do you see Goku?"
"Heaven."
"How about Goten if it is a boy?" Goten said, interrupting my daydream. I looked at my son appreciatively.
"Goten means heavenly place, Gohan. Did you know that?"
Gohan grinned.
"Yeah, I know. It's where dad is right now I bet."
"Yes…" I spoke softly. I had never believed in such places. But imagining Goku anywhere else wouldn't be possible.
"What if it is a girl?"
"Tomoko," I answered softly.
"Tomoko?" Gohan questioned and then lying down said, "I like it."
I ruffled his hair.
"I think it means 'Cheerful.'"
Gohan trained some more and came in for lunch and was ready to return to his remaining friends. When the phone rang shrilly through the house, I knew that Gohan would not need to go. His friends were dead.
Then Gohan, my strong and noble son who had been taught no tears, fell to his knees and finally began to cry.