The Years After
Chapter 7
It began to snow the day Gohan was defeated by the Androids once again. I took him home, mended his wounds as best I could, and kept him asleep. I didn't want him waking up and training again. To no avail, he would not be able to beat them the way he stressed himself. At the same time I had to nurse Tomoko.
She was so shaken, the poor girl. She had seen too much for such a little child, but I could not say the same for Trunks, who had been ashen faced when our bomb shelter collapsed. Everyone was dead and the survivors were half conscious. It was hard to believe that the Androids were like two crazy teenagers with sickening values.
Juunanagou, Android #17, was the evil one who had threatened by daughter. I had no idea what had happened to the female Android, Juuhachigou #18. She had most likely been off somewhere else, terrorizing a separate city.
I was cooking a meal I knew nobody would eat. I half expected Goku to come barging home, calling to me,
"I'm home ChiChi! I'm hungry, have you cooked one of your specialty dinners yet?"
I smiled to myself. Slow Goku. Yet being so naïve he truly was wise in his ways of being so forgiving. The evilest of men he would find it in his heart to give them a second chance.
I heard a shrill knock on the door and opened it to see Bulma with Trunks holding her hand.
"ChiChi!" she gasped.
"Bulma!"
Bulma walked inside and buried her face in her hands.
"I c-can't stay in the city! The people, they won't believe me. They don't trust that we can help them with our bomb shelters!"
She looked up and saw my stricken face and turned grim.
"How are Gohan and Tomoko? Are they alright?"
I nodded.
"They'll get better. It's Gohan I'm worried about most."
Bulma shook her head.
"This won't do. Gohan can't beat them by himself."
Trunks tugged at Bulma 's pant leg.
"MOM! Let me train! I can train! I can fight! Gohan and I can beat 'em!"
Bulma shook her head.
"You're too young."
"NO I'M NOT!"
"Bulma, Gohan cannot do this alone."
Bulma looked at me with tears in her eyes.
"Just one more year Trunks. One more," she begged her son.
"NO!" I screamed, slamming my fist on the table. "We don't have time! We don't have a year! All we have is NOW!"
Bulma looked shocked at me but then stifled her tears.
"I know…but…"
"But what?"
Bulma began to sob.
"I don't
want to loose Trunks!"
"Bulma we talked about this!"
I argued, becoming enraged.
"NO!" Bulma screamed, putting her hands over her ears.
I took Bulma by the shoulders and led her into my bedroom. I sat her on the bed that Goku had died in and shook her hard.
"We are all going to loose our children if we don't do something! You can't hold Trunks back when he has potential for saving this world!"
Bulma hiccupped and lay down. I squeezed her hand.
"I was once like this," I said slowly, "About Gohan. I didn't want him to train or to fight. I wanted him to be safe at home with Goku and I, feeling save and loved."
I blinked back tears.
"Goku loved Gohan and I, but he loved to train too. It was his passion and like his father, Gohan had a small fire for it also. You can't keep your loved ones back from what they need to do, no matter how hard we try. They must fulfill their jobs. Everyone is given his or her specific talent for a reason."
Bulma nodded and then sat up again. She stared me hard in the eye.
"I will let Trunks train once Gohan becomes better. After that, he must be at his FULL potential before even confronting the Androids. Do we agree?"
I nodded at her.
"I agree."
"Tomoko, though," Bulma said, "Should not fight. I don't feel that she has the same power physically as Gohan or Trunks. It is too risky to take chances with her."
I understood this statement. I had my same doubts in Tomoko 's fighting abilities. She was sloppy even at her warm ups and put no real effort into her kicks and punches. She fought to get it over with, not to learn it.
"Yes," I said and we got up and made our way into the kitchen. Bulma explained her intentions for Trunks and Trunks nodded.
"Gohan and I can't get hurt with one another!" Trunks said proudly. Bulma ruffled his hair and helped me cook the rest of dinner.
Tonight the table would be filled.
Time is scarce; I knew this. But the five years that followed flew by like three days. Trunks blossomed into a handsome teenager with the same eager innocence as Gohan had had. He trained hard under Gohan, pushing himself to the limit he knew he had, instead of going overboard like Vegeta had once done. His attention was unleveled and he was always careful when his training required challenges.
Trunks and Gohan would disappear at days at a time, which worried Bulma and I sick until they came home and we scolded them. Tomoko though, was calm and cheery, just as her father, but had the same sharp wit that Bulma told me she had inherited from me. Tomoko was beautiful with her black hair pulled back in a white hair tie and would dress in the same type of kimonos I wore. She and Trunks were deep friends and like I have said once before, like siblings. But the more they grew the more they began to have deeper feelings for one another and this was apparent one afternoon on the spring of the fifth year. She and Trunks were out in the cherry blossom fields where my father lived. Trunks had his head in my daughter's lap and she sat there, like a mermaid, with her hands massaging her temples. For the first time in years I had smiled.
I never again saw the Androids face to face every again. I didn't ever want to see them. I dreaded their horror like I had dreaded Goku 's death.
It wasn't until the beginning of fall on the fifth year that my world had turned upside down. I had been sewing a new kimono for Tomoko to wear, a beautiful purple one with gold trimming and a silver obi. This was when the phone rang. Oh god I thought.
Oh God.
Author's Note: Hey ^_^ I hope you guys all like my fic. R&R!!!!!!!!