Sorry it took a while but my internet is kinda…well I don't have one at the moment while I was writing this so…yeah…took a while to get it on. Not much to say right now so here's the 22nd chapter of Only One Shot!

Only One Shot

Chapter 22: A Father's Forgiveness

Needless to say Gohan was surprised at Vincent Valentine, the dangerous 'Black Cat' as his enemies called him. Vegeta had told him that Vincent Valentine was a ruthless man who never smiled or laughed ever since Chichi's death and had a famous or infamous reputation, depending on who you were. He was to the point and never negotiated.

Yet here the man was smiling, even laughing, as they sat and joked with each other. It seemed to Gohan that just his presence here made the man at ease, carefree, able to be himself. He had accepted the grandfather role in an instant once he heard Avril was Gohan's daughter, not once questioning Gohan even though he could smell that she wasn't Videl's.

He even warmly accepted Videl with no question at all, making her laugh at his surprisingly always funny jokes. Even Gohan couldn't help but laugh. He treated her like family, and Gohan had a feeling he knew why, but didn't say anything as he sipped his wine and laughed with the others.

"He really put that in the soup?" Vincent laughed as Gohan relayed the tale of Syracuse's Viagra Soup, his eye with a mischievous twinkle. Fortunately Avril and Nanami were downstairs with the band singing songs and entertaining the people downstairs. "I can only imagine the damage done! What did you do to him then Gohan?"

This must be why I feel comfortable being around Vincent, Gohan thought to himself as he smirked and told them what he did to the poor Mexican-Japanese bartender. Because he doesn't push me to accept him as my father.

After a while Videl was dragged downstairs by the two little girls to help them sing a song, Vegeta had went to see someone he swore he recognized, and both Trunks and Heiji went to go dance with some girls. Now it was just Vincent and Gohan at the table, alone, together, as father and son.

"So…" Vincent began as he sipped on his wine. "Are you going to continue with that plan you told me about before you came here?"

"I have to…" Gohan muttered looked down the railing to see Videl singing with Avril and Nanami. "So that my family…I want them to live in peace. I don't want them to have to endure everything I had to when I was a child. I want to give Avril…and him the childhood I was never able to experience."

Vincent nodded in understanding, a tinge of sadness in his eyes. "I never meant for it to happen this way Gohan…"

"But you had to go, to stop Father Miguel from killing off every saiya-jin in the world!" Gohan protested. "It's not your fault you were captured and held for years!"

Vincent grunted. "Some plan that turned out to be." He looked up at Gohan with a sad expression and sighed. "You know Gohan I didn't have to go…"

"But—!" Vincent stopped Gohan's protest with his hand.

"I always wondered for years on end what would've happened if I had just stayed in Japan instead of going out to Italy to stop that devil Miguel Cortez and the Vatican Church. Would Chichi still have died? How would my son have grown up differently? Chichi begged me not to go…but I had to. I wanted my family to live in peace and look how that turned out."

They sat in silence for a while before Vincent took off the necklace hidden under his shirt. The chain was gold and the metal was silver, intertwining with each other like vines. Four rare blue diamonds were on it with four tiny white diamonds lodged in the corner of each blue diamond. He took Gohan's hand and placed the necklace in it with a smile, holding onto Gohan's hand.

"I understand what you have to do Gohan just…don't make the same mistake I did and leave your family crying at home alone." He let go of Gohan's hands and got comfortable in his seat, sipping the rest of his wine. "If you need anything I will be right here…son. Even if you need me to follow you to the end of the world…I will be there every step of the way."

Gohan smiled as he looked at the tablecloth, deciding to tell his father the information that would probably change his father's life.

"Mom is at Maxell Cemetery, her headstone is a large angel." Vincent looked up at him in surprise, his face in a calm state of shock. "She always said that she wanted to talk to you someday…and I think it's time for you to help her rest in peace."

Vincent smiled at Gohan gratefully, his eyes at the point of tears as he thanked Gohan silently in his own way. When the others returned from wherever they were it was time to go. Saying their goodbyes to Vincent, with Gohan and Vincent discreetly exchanging numbers, they left Club Royal in the limo heading straight for home.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Vincent stepped out of the limo infront of Maxell Cemetery, a calm wind blowing against his black overcoat as he nodded to his driver, a silent command for him to wait here. His shoes crunched against the autumn leaves as he made his way through the strangely peaceful cemetery.

He looked at the many names as he passed, reading the tombstones. Some of the tombstones were funny, a remembrance of the person who died, probably asked by the dead person themselves to have it on the tombstone. Yet some of the tombstones held sad epilogues or poems, words that touched the heart and saddened the soul.

Unintentionally, Vincent found Goku's grave first. He laughed at the saying written on his tombstone most likely by Gohan's creative mind:

Here lies Goku Son

Who played with loaded guns

Never meant to pull the trigger

But what's done is done

"Gohan…" he said softly to himself. "You were always a bright, creative boy. You could always make me laugh no matter what. Especially when I had to leave for Italy, you cheered your mom and me up…even when I know it pained you inside to let me go."

He continued on past a few more graves till he found Chichi's. He had to admit, though Gohan could make anyone laugh with his jokes he was a very skilled poet. Vincent sniffed as he wiped a tear from his eye as he gazed at the marble angel and finished reading the poetic words of Gohan to his mother. After a moment of silence he cleared his throat and began.

"Hey Chi…I…I don't know what to say except that…I'm sorry. I should've listened to you when you told me you had a bad feeling and not to go…but I hope you understand that I did it with Gohan's future, our future, in mind. I wanted Gohan to have a carefree life…a life with us…" Vincent laughed softly to himself. "Guess it didn't work out the way I planned."

Finally the Black Cat gave in to his emotions. Dropping to his hands and knees infront of the grave, he began crying and sobbing.

"Forgive me Chi, you were right, you were always right and I knew it, but I wanted to prove you wrong for once. I wanted to show you that going to Italy to stop the Vatican Church in Rome would benefit everyone everywhere and bring peace for the saiya-jins and humans so that they could live together…that's all I ever wanted!"

He shouted out the last words and listened to them echo until they were gone. Without bothering to wipe the tears from his eyes he moved to the side of the angel and leaned his forehead against it, his hand supporting him.

"Even though you knew you were right…you let me go. I guess you understood it too that day…that I only wanted peace for us…for everyone." Vincent sighed, his breath wavering from his sobbing. "You…you told me that you'd wait for me, no matter how long it took, no matter how far apart we were, you would always be waiting…"

A drop of water hit Vincent's face, slowly traveling down his cheek, and causing Vincent to look up with a soft, sad smile. "Don't cry for me Chi…even though I know you want to. Just promise me one thing. No matter how long it takes…please…wait for me."

The sky rumbled in response and a soft shower of rain came upon him. Smiling up at the sky, he gazed one last time at the marble angel then lightly chuckled to himself. "You always were my stubborn angel…" the lonely Black Cat whispered softly with a smile as he walked back to his awaiting limo in the crying rain.

Sorry for the long wait, I have no internet on my comp so I had to use my dad's new wonderful DSL internet but I didn't have a floppy so…yeah. It took a while but now that I found a useable floppy, here they are! I have to fix chapter 1 for Forgotten Memories but its coming on soon so look out for it. Hopefully my dad will finally get off his lazy ass and get me my internet soon.