A/N: Here's chapter three. I'm amazed that I'm getting chapters out this fast. I guess I'm just really inspired for this fic. XD It's one of those fics that's probably going to turn out to be one of my favorites of the one's I've written (I also love my other baby of the moment, Dangerous Thoughts, which, if you like yaoi, I would have to beg for you to read ).
An anonymous reviewer asked why they don't just wish away the cancer in Goten's throat. Well…if they did…the story wouldn't be as interesting, for one. XD Also, lets just say that Shenron can't remove it because it's a part of nature and fate. After all, he can't bring back people who have died from natural causes. Just think of it being connected to that.
I'm really pleased with the statistics for this fanfic. Although there aren't that many reviews (though the reviews that I have gotten have been absolutely awesome, so hats off to The Almighty Ruler, DBZAngelX, DBZ Chick1, The General of Darkness, and the anonymous reviewer that went by . I love you guys!), I've got the hits for the story show me that it's being read. It's on a couple of people's favorites list and one person's story alert list, too! I'm thrilled! Truthfully!
I'm really happy that I haven't been completely forgotten after leaving the fanfiction world for so long. I haven't had a seriously PRODUCTIVE fic since Matchmakers, and I made that in 2004. I don't know if any of my fics will be as productive as Matchmakers (it has sixty reviews, 1,146 hits (and that's only since the hit counters started), nine favorites lists, and two story alerts, plus a lot of people who added me as an author alert (back when story alerts didn't exist), which would be thirteen people). I really hope that this fic, or Dangerous Thoughts, can receive that much of a response.
Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, but I do own Aiko. Yuurei is Son Gohan, so I only own the name. Toriyama Akira owns DBZ. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Yuurei, you're such an idiot." Aiko and Yuurei were sitting on the roof of the Son house as the family of three slept. "Using your powers to help the one we're supposed to KILL! You've GOT to be joking!"
"Aiko, stop worrying so much." Yuurei smiled. "I bet he'll find out he doesn't like fighting, anyway. We have to make sure he doesn't have any regrets when he dies, because if he does, we may have trouble getting his soul to stay with us."
Aiko sighed. Why did Yuurei have to be so stubborn? They would surely get punished for this. After all, a shinigami wasn't even supposed to interact with the living. That was a part of the whole punishment of being a shinigami.
"So…what do you want to do for the next eight to ten hours? Just sitting on the roof is boring." Yuurei asked. They could sleep in their plushie forms, but what was the point of it anyway? It's not like they needed to sleep.
"Let's just go to sleep. I'm too tired anyway." Aiko was about to go into the house when suddenly she heard a beeping noise. "Ugh. What's the problem this time?"
Aiko made the shinigami handbook appear and opened Goten's page. Her eyes widened. In the book, the words, ".proC eluspaC" were written.
"Hm… The words, "Capsule Corp." are written backwards. That must mean that something that has to do with this "Capsule Corp." will bring Goten's death sooner." Yuurei rubbed his chin. "We'd better make sure he doesn't go there tomorrow. I'm not sure what would shorten his life there, but I don't think I want to know."
Aiko glared at the book. Right when she got a chance to snuggle up to Yuurei, THAT thing had to appear! It was JUST her luck!
"Yuuuuuuuurei-chaaaaaaan!" She pouted. "Lets go to beeeeed! I want to sleep with you!"
Yuurei shuddered. Aiko had gone into her super-freaky-obsessive mode. Didn't she understand that he wasn't interested?
"I'm going to bed, but I'm not sleeping WITH you!"
"Yuuuuuuuurei-chaaaaaaaaaaan!" She whined.
Yuurei turned into his dog plushie form. "No. N-O. I sure hope you know what that means."
"Pleeeeeeeease?" Aiko then turned into her cat plushie form.
"Keh. Fine." Yuurei rolled his eyes. "Just don't snore!"
"Yaaaaaay!" She hugged him (more like "glomped" him). "I won't!"
Several hours later, Goten and Yuurei stared at Aiko. She was snoring away.
"She could wake up mommy and daddy if she stays that loud!" Goten shuddered. She snored louder than even his daddy did!
Yuurei turned to look at Goten with tired eyes. "Now you know what I put up with every day."
Goten yawned. "I'm so tired, but I can't get back to sleep."
"I don't know WHO can sleep through such a monstrosity as Aiko's snoring." Yuurei winced.
"Well…I guess we could talk." Goten looked at Yuurei. "So, how long have you been a shinigami?"
Yuurei shrugged. "Seven years. I became a shinigami after I died."
"Seven years…huh? What were you like when you were alive then?"
"I don't remember. We shinigami have our memories erased when we become shinigami."
Goten's eyes widened. "You don't remember your friends or family then?"
"No. Aiko's the only friend I ever remember having." He looked over at her. "I'm really thankful for her. Even if she's a real pain, she's still the only friend I have."
"That must be really annoying…not remembering anything, I mean." Goten looked up at Yuurei and smiled. "Hey! I can be your second friend! Wait…I know! You can be my big brother!"
Yuurei smiled. Goten was so innocent. "I'm not even related to you, kid."
"I don't care! You've only been here for a day, but I feel like I've known you my whole life." The child smiled. "You've already done a lot for me! I'd be really upset if I didn't get the chance to at least try to be strong like daddy! I was really hoping I could enter this year's tournament this year, you know! Now I can!"
Yuurei just snorted. "All I did was a simple transformation of your body. It's not that hard or impressive."
Goten's eyes widened in amazement. "You can do more? I wanna see what all you can do!" The child giggled. "You're like a magician!"
"Magician? You've gotta be kidding!" Yuurei crossed his arms over his chest. "I can do SO much more than a magician can!"
"Like what?" Goten smirked.
"Hm… Let's see… What can I do to prove myself to you…?" Yuurei joked. "Ah! I see! I can make that dead tree have flowers bloom!" Yuurei pointed over to a tree outside of Goten's window.
"Really?"
"Of course!" Yuurei snapped his fingers. Goten watched in amazement as suddenly green leaves grew on the tree that had been dead for a few years. Life was completely restored to it.
"WOW…!"
A smirk found it's way onto Yuurei's small dog plushie face. It was so simple to impress that kid. He wished he had a little brother like Goten.
"So, Goten." Goten broke out of his stupor of amazement and looked up down at Yuurei. "Are you an only child, or what?"
Goten looked down with sadness. "Sort of."
"What do you mean by that?"
Goten's eyes began to water. "I had an older brother, but he died before I was born."
Yuurei's eyes widened. How terrible!
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but…how'd your brother die?" Yuurei winced as Goten began to cry more.
"He killed himself. Mommy said he was really sad because my daddy died."
Goten looked so sad. It made Yuurei upset to see the child so upset. He didn't know why he felt so compelled to make the child happy and protect him. If Yuurei were to ever see Goten's brother, he would yell at him for being such an idiot. This brother of Goten's left Goten to suffer.
"Wait…you're father is dead?" Yuurei asked.
Goten cocked his head. "No…"
"You just said that your brother killed himself because he was sad about your dad dieing!"
"Yes! My brother was sad because my dad WAS dead! He's alive now!"
Yuurei's eyes widened. What was this kid talking about? Brining people back from the dead was impossible. "If he was dead then, how is he alive now? That makes no sense."
Goten smiled. "We wished him back with the dragonballs, of course!"
Yuurei suddenly winced as a pain came in his head. He fell to the ground clutching his head as he suddenly saw a flash of a young child with a mop top, dressed in a strange kind of armor, a green child and a bald midget who was wearing similar armor to the child's standing on a planet with blue grass, green water and a black sky. The green child seemed to be speaking something in a language that Yuurei had never heard before to a large dragon in the sky. He then saw a flash of a white and purple lizard-looking monster fighting a golden haired man.
"YUUREI-SAN! YUUREI-SAN!" Goten yelled, waking Aiko.
"Huh…..? What about my Yuu-chan…?" Aiko said half asleep.
"Yuurei! What's wrong, Yuurei! Do you have a headache?" Goten asked in distress.
"Eh?" Aiko woke up and saw Yuurei clutching his head. "YUUREI-CHAN!"
As soon as she reached Yuurei, the plushie shinigami stopped clutching his head. Whatever had came had obviously passed.
What was that? Yuurei thought.
"What's wrong, Yuurei-chan?" Aiko asked.
Yuurei composed himself. "It was nothing, Aiko. Go back to sleep."
Aiko looked at him with worry evident in her eyes, but decided against bothering him about it. If Yuurei wanted to tell her what happened, he'd tell her.
"Whatever. I'm going back to sleep. Come on, Yuu-chan!" Aiko grabbed one of Yuurei's paws with her paw and drug him over to her.
"Goodnight, Goten!"
"Night, Yuurei! You, too, Aiko!"
In only a few minutes, both Yuurei and Aiko were asleep under a towel that they were using as a blanket.
"Goten?" Goten looked up from his bed to see his father walk in. "I heard you yelling. What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, otousan!" Goten explained. "I was just…um…I had a dream! Yeah!"
Goku just looked at his son strangely. "Whatever you say. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Goodnight, Goten!"
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"Be careful, Goten-chan! If you feel too tired, sit down and rest, okay? Promise me!" Yuurei heard a woman say. Yuurei yawned. He was so tired.
"I will, okaasan! Bye!" Goten yelled as he flew out the door.
Yuurei panicked. Goten must have been going to this "Capsule Corp." place. He had to stop him!
"Aiko! Aiko!" Yuurei shook her. "Wake up!"
The cat-plushie shinigami opened her eyes. "What's wrong, Yuurei? It's so early. Lemme go back to sleep!"
"AIKO! Goten left to go to that Capsule Corp. place!"
Aiko shot straight up, knocking Yuurei to the side.
"HE DID WHAT?" She then glared at Yuurei. "WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM?"
"I was half asleep!"
Aiko rolled her eyes. "Excuses, excuses! Let's see…where is this place anyway…" She made the shinigami handbook appear and looked through it. "It should be at least…." Her eyes widened, "FIVE HUNDRED MILES FROM HERE?"
Yuurei winced. "Who cares? Lets just go!"
The two turned into their shinigami forms and flew through the window. They kept flying until they saw a place labeled "Capsule Corp.," where they flew to the ground and turned back into their plushie forms.
"Whew! It looks like he's not here yet!" Aiko sighed.
"Yeah. Thank goodness."
The two suddenly heard a growl and looked in the direction where it came from. There stood a large Rottweiler, growling at them with anger.
Aiko gulped. "Yuurei…what should we do…?"
"How am I supposed to know!"
"Well…you ARE a dog shinigami!"
The dog took a step towards them and they took a step back. The dog continued growling, looking ready to pounce at any moment.
"I've got an idea!" Aiko whispered to Yuurei. "Just let me take care of everything."
Yuurei watched as Aiko bravely walked up to the dog and proceeded to…bark….which was incredibly scary, when you consider the fact that she's a cat shinigami. Yuurei gasped when the dog suddenly seemed to smiled, as if acknowledging that they were friends.
"You speak dog…?" Yuurei asked.
Aiko laughed. "Of course not! I just repeated what he said! I just said it with feeling, so I guess he understood what I meant to get across."
Yuurei sighed with relief. "That's good."
Aiko smiled and barked something again, but then the dog suddenly went vicious again. Aiko shuddered. Looks like she didn't say what she meant to say.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Aiko and Yuurei both screamed as they ran in their plushie forms to get away from the dog.
"WHAT IN THE WORLD DID YOU TELL IT, AIKO?" Yuurei yelled.
Aiko sweat dropped. "I meant to say thank you, but I guess it didn't come out that way!"
The two ran, and ran, and ran until they saw a polluted stream in the middle of the city.
"We have to jump into it! The dog can't follow us there!" Yuurei suggested.
Aiko shuddered. "JUMP! Into there? It's so dirty! I didn't even bring a bathing suit, either!"
Yuurei rolled his eyes. "You don't need a BATHING SUIT if you're a STUFFED ANIMAL!"
"Fine!"
The two jumped into the stream and were carried by the current until they saw a box that must have carried some kind of food in it before.
"There! Let's get in that box! We'll be dry there!" Yuurei yelled as the two jumped into the box and used a stick as an oar.
"WAI! I get to go on an adventure with Yuu-chan!" Aiko squeed. "Wait…! Isn't that a tunnel!"
"SHIT!" Yuurei screamed as they were suddenly in darkness.
"WAAH! YUU-CHAN! IT'S SO DARK!"
"HEY! LET GO OF ME!"
"NO! IF I DO, I'LL DIE!"
Yuurei sweat dropped. "As IF we could die!"
"LOOKIE, YUU-CHAN! It's a light at the end of the tunnel! We ARE going to die!"
Yuurei's eyes widened. "Wait…that's…that's…" He couldn't finish as the two went flying off of a drop where the water dumped into a lake.
The two sat in a puddle full of trash for a few minutes when Aiko said, "It smells so baaaaaaad!"
"Yeah." Yuurei responded rather incoherently. He then spotted a ladder that lead up to a street. "AH! We have to get back to Capsule Corp. before Goten goes in!"
"EEP! You're right!" The two climbed up the ladder, but had to freeze as soon as a girl walked by.
The girl picked them up and inspected them. "Poor stuffed animals! You're all dirty! I'll have to wash you!"
The next thing Yuurei and Aiko knew, they were inside of a washing machine, spinning round and round and round and round and round and round. Then the machine suddenly filled with water, before spinning them around again.
"YUU-CHAN! WE'RE GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!" Aiko whined.
More time passed. Aiko and Yuurei were now suddenly on a clothes line, drying.
"Hey, Yuu-chan?"
"Yeah."
"Am I clean and pretty now?"
"Yeah."
"Really?"
"Really."
Aiko closed her eyes. "You know, I'm kind of embarrassed. Being all alone with you out here…"
The instant Aiko opened her eyes, she screamed. A crow swooped down and picked Yuurei up.
"HEY! YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM! HE'S MINE! MINE, I SAY!" Aiko screamed as a crow came and grabbed her as well.
"Hey! Let us go!" Yuurei yelled.
Aiko clenched a paw. "YEAH! If you don't, I'll beat you up!"
Yuurei sweat dropped before he looked down and saw something. "Hey, there's the kid!"
"How are we going to get down?"
Yuurei thought for a second before doing what Aiko did earlier with the dog. He began to make bird sounds in hope that the bird would let him down. As if on cue, the bird suddenly swooped down near where Goten was.
"What did you do, Yuurei?" Aiko asked.
"I just made bird sounds! I did it with feeling!"
Aiko then began to flap her arms and made bird sounds, sure that she'd be able to convince the bird to let her down. Instead, the bird looked at her and seemed to glare. The bird sped up and circled the bird with Yuurei.
Yuurei and Aiko both screamed as the birds collided with each other, sending the two of them soaring towards the ground, where they fell right in front of Goten.
"Eh?" Goten bent down and picked them up. "Aiko? Yuurei? What are you doing here?"
"Goten, you can't go to Capsule Corp. today! If you do, you'll die sooner!" Aiko explained.
Goten cocked his head. "Why not?"
Yuurei looked up at Goten. "We don't know. All we know is that the shinigami handbook said you'd die sooner if you went to Capsule Corp. today."
"Aw! Trunks and I were gonna play though!"
Aiko glared. "Don't go, Goten-chan!"
Goten bowed his head in defeat. "Fine." He then looked at Yuurei and Aiko. "So…I saw you were in a lot of trouble with those birds. Why didn't you just transform into your shinigami forms? You could have gotten down much faster."
Yuurei and Aiko's eyes widened. Why didn't they think of that before?
Aiko sighed. "This has been way too long of a day, and it's just getting started!"
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A/N: I hope that chapter wasn't too bad. More action will come in a few chapters. I promise!
Also, I'm fairly sure I won't update this story tomorrow. I've been pampering this one too much. Dangerous Thoughts is due for an update, you know. ;;
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