Erasa groaned, sitting outside of the Son household, trying to enjoy the crisp night air. Whimpering, the girl clutched at her stomach, which was snarling and howling, followed by the undertone of slight pain. Trying her best to ignore her squirming gut, the blonde tried to console herself with the thought that she was not starving, merely hungry. The sensation, however, was still ridiculously uncomfortable — while Erasa had in no means been treated to feasts for the duration of her life, she was still used to being able to eat something whenever she was hungry, and had three square meals a day.
Thus, missing even one meal made her stomach become extremely loud and rumbly.
"Mmrrrrmmmhhh..." A slight growl escaped the girl's mouth this time; one of dissatisfaction. Not only due to her hungry state, but at the fact that she failed the rock-finding test. She'd wanted to do well so badly — or had she just wanted to impress Gohan that badly?
"Are you feeling alright?" The upbeat and laid-back voice of Chi-Chi caught Erasa by surprise, causing the blonde girl to flinch in shock, before quickly settling down when she realized it was just Chi-Chi.
"O-Oh, Chi-Chi," Erasa breathed, clutching her now thumping heart. "It's only you..."
"I suppose the lack of food is starting to get to you," Chi-Chi said knowingly. She was right of course, though it wasn't just her hungry state; the emotional turmoil combined with the minor wounds of tangling with that saber-toothed cat were the other factors surrounding Erasa's current state.
"Yeah, you could say that..." Erasa replied, and as if to confirm her statement, a low rumbling noise gurgled from her stomach again, causing her face to flush pink.
Laughing slightly, Chi-Chi shot Erasa a warm smile. "I can relate. Why don't you come join me in this island's hot springs? They're perfect for washing away aches and pain, and you'll find slipping in will help you forget your worries."
Erasa took a deep breath as she stepped out of the changing area of the bathhouse and into the cool night air of the women's bathing section. Firmly clutching a towel in the forefront of her body, it didn't do much to disguise the attractiveness of the young woman's figure. While still retaining a certain softness around her cheeks and thighs, the development her pert breasts and slim waistline was very apparent. Seeming to have a natural tan to her complexion, seeing no signs of tan lines anywhere of the clothing bereft girl, it just furthered her visual appeal that was complemented by her crop of blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes.
"So this is a hot spring," The girl thought to herself, letting out a sigh as she stepped forward, walking along the brief cobblestone path towards the steaming pool of water surrounded by the jutting formation of natural grey stone. The thick steam did little to hamper her vision, as it thinned out when it rose higher. Approaching the edge of the spring, Erasa slipped in, noticing Chi-Chi had already made it into the water.
The older woman, despite her added years, seemed to retain a great deal of her youthfulness. Her creamy skinned complexion was maintained throughout, not lessening in color or texture across her person. Her bosom was full and healthy, expected of someone who's been a mother of two children. Her sparkling eyes and rich dark hair further accented her beauty, truly depicting her as a rare kind of woman for Gohan to have as his mom.
"How are you feeling, Erasa?" Chi-Chi inquired, looking at the young girl who was slipping into the warm spring water, running a wet towel along the side of her face.
"Actually, I'm already starting to feel a little better," Erasa admitted, and true to the fact, settling into the water seemed to have a strange soothing effect. The warmth created by the hot springs was relaxing indeed; it seemed to counteract not only the empty sensation within her stomach, but the still-fresh wounds from the saber-tooth cat were washed clean by the water, and pain seemed to leave her body simply by soaking in the water.
"I know what you're going through, if that's any consolation," Chi-Chi told her, smiling wryly. "I'm no stranger to martial arts, and I've done your kind of training before."
"You were a martial artist as well?" Erasa voiced her surprise.
"What, did you not expect a housewife like me to be capable of getting onto a tournament ring with everyone else?" Chi-Chi chided, causing Erasa to smile apologetically.
"N-No, not at all! In fact, given your everyday clothing, I figured you had some experience; I just wasn't banking on you undergoing this kind of intense training." The girl was quick to explain this all away, not wanting to offend Chi-Chi when the woman finally seemed to be opening up to her.
"I never told you, did I?" Realization hit Chi-Chi that this conversation wouldn't go too far if Erasa didn't know a little bit about her. "You and Gohan actually remind me quite a bit of Goku and myself; so young and carefree." Her face blushed a warm crimson that had nothing to do with the heat of the water. "Did you know that Goku proposed to me at the Tenka'ichi Budōkai?"
"Proposed!? At the Budōkai?" Erasa exclaimed, astounded by this new revelation, and yet her eyes lit up like a child on Christmas Day. "That's very romantic!" Her thoughts began to drift to Gohan, and wondering if he would do something as bold as that in front of a crowd of people. Her face glew a bright crimson as she imagined Gohan taking her hand on bended knee, and she tried to shoo the thought away as quickly as she could.
"Isn't it!?" Chi-Chi squealed in girlish glee, seeming quite a bit less like a mother of two and far more like a teenage girl who had just been asked out on a date by the most popular boy in high school. "I was taken by surprise, naturally, when he proposed in front of that entire crowd; it's not in my nature to just say yes like that, but Goku insisted, so I accepted!"
"So that's why you trained?" Erasa inquired with genuine curiousity. "You wanted to fight Gohan's dad?"
"You could say that," Chi-Chi replied, sloshing water as she leaned against the rocks, casting a look towards the starry sky. "Though it was more a case of wanting to stand beside him; you see, Goku had promised to marry me several years before that, but he had been gone for several years to go on his own adventures with his friends." In response to Erasa's aghast expression, Chi-Chi flashed a kind smile. "Goku's always been like that; a free-spirit. I gave up trying to reign him in years ago. But you see, I wanted to share in that adventure with him; where Goku goes, a conflict will always follow. So I wanted to become stronger, in the hopes I wouldn't be left behind."
She sighed heavily. "Of course, as Goku got stronger, my own hopes for that were dashed; because of that, I decided we would settle down instead. If I couldn't join him on his adventures, I'd keep him with me instead — our married life would be a different kind of adventure."
"I can't see that with myself," Erasa admitted, sinking into the water until only her head was visible. "I've always been a go-getter; I want what you wanted, Chi-Chi — adventure."
"With Gohan?" The mother of two pried curiously.
Erasa was at first silent. Bowing her head, her face flushed red more from her own embarrassment than the heated pool. After a handful of seconds, she nodded meekly at Chi-Chi.
Smiling devilishly, Chi-Chi replied, "I figured as much."
"Is it that obvious?" The younger girl inquired.
"I had the assumption something was going on for awhile now." Chi-Chi shrugged, smiling. "That just confirms it."
Erasa didn't know it had been so obvious, and while a huge part of her now wished she could fade into the warm water of the hot spring and float away, another part of her saw this as an opportunity. Chi-Chi didn't seem to have anything against her being with Gohan, so wouldn't this be the perfect chance to talk to a woman about this kind of situation?
"Um...Chi-Chi," Erasa inquired, taking care to mask the nervous tone of her voice. "What was your life with Gohan's dad like — with Goku, I mean?"
"With Goku?" Chi-Chi repeated, initially surprised that Erasa would inquire about her husband, but then a smile crept along her face. "In a word, it was like an old fairy tale. Goku wasn't like any person I ever met; so unusual, but at the same time, he was an earnest and honest boy that I'd never met before, having lived twelve years in my father's castle on Fry-Pan Mountain."
"A castle...?" Erasa thought without interrupting, briefly remembering when she assumed Gohan was from a wealthy family due to how she misunderstood is arriving in a city from this far out in the country just to check it out. Ironically, she hadn't been too far off the mark; not that it mattered to her, of course.
"Earnest and honest," Erasa mused, smiling fondly. "Gohan sounds a lot like his father."
"You could say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," the ebony-tressed woman agreed; Gohan was the closest thing to Goku left in the world, discounting Goten, who acquired Goku's naïveté. "Back to your question, Goku had a very unique presence; just being around him made me feel happier, at ease even. It was a feeling of security I've never experienced before."
This ended in silence, with Erasa mulling over everything Chi-Chi had said. Life with Gohan would be like a 'fairy tale', as Chi-Chi had put it; but could anyone's life be so full of purity and innocence? Sloshing over towards the edge of the hot spring, Erasa turned away from Chi-Chi for a moment, resting her body against the cool stone; the wind blew around her exposed, wet skin, causing the girl to shiver slightly. A fairy tale...but what did ''she'' want out of a life with Gohan? If she was honest with herself, she couldn't imagine her future without Gohan now; that much was certain.
She smacked her face gently with both hands, snapping herself out of her reverie. Worrying like this wasn't like her; she and Gohan had plenty of time to consider the possibilities of their future together, after all. Being preoccupied about all of this now could only derail something nice. Breathing in and out, she sunk back into the water, treading through it on her way back towards Chi-Chi...and her stomach let out a resounding protest at its empty situation.
Chi-Chi let out a soft chortle at Erasa's expense, before standing up, water splashing back into the heated pool. Water dripped down her bare figure as she sighed. "It is well past midnight; let's go home, Erasa, I'll fix you something for breakfast a little early." Chi-Chi was a clever girl; exposing a neat little loophole to lend Erasa a helping hand.
"Th-Thanks, Chi-Chi!" Erasa breathed in relief, but a thought hit her. "What if this happens tomorrow? I'm not quite sure I can take being deprived of food again, two days in a row, just for not being able to find a rock in a forest like that..."
"So that was the test Gohan had you take?" Chi-Chi was all too familiar with it; her father had conducted a similar test, only instead of a small forest, she had to search a good portion of the Diablo Desert. She still felt parched and drained remembering the heat of that horrid place; a few run-ins with reanimated corpses hadn't helped the situation any. "How did you go about looking for that little stone; with an area like the Soi Forest, you didn't try to find it with your eyes, did you?"
"I-I did," Erasa replied, baffled that Chi-Chi would ask this question. Isn't that the only way she could have searched for the rock when it was thrown? Did Chi-Chi expect the girl to have tried to sniff it out like a hound?
"That's where your error came in," Chi-Chi leaned towards Erasa, finger jabbed in the girl's direction, emphasizing her point. "I'm sure Gohan will explain more of this later, but there's more to martial arts than your basic senses — the point of that test wasn't to search with your eyes. When you look only with your eyes, it's far too easy to be deceived."
"To look...with more than just my eyes?" Erasa's befuddlement was plain as day on her face; it was only obvious, the girl hadn't quite grasped what Chi-Chi was trying to egg her towards.
"It's something that will come with time, don't worry," Chi-Chi assured her, not in the slightest but frustrated with Erasa's inability to understand what she said. "Now, let's head back, and I'll make you something to eat. You'll appreciate it; your real training hasn't even started yet."
A/N: So, so, it's finally out. After venturing into a one-shot for a bit of variety, chapter 9 of The Erased Chronicleshas appeared in the wild! This chapter took a bit of pre-planning, but then again, all great chapters do. It's remarkable how I initially wanted to do this as a pure, fanservice chapter, with Erasa bathing in a hot spring. But then an idea hit me; having her bond this way, through Chi-Chi. It wouldn't derail the narrative, and it would make for some pretty decent set-up and character development. I originally intended for this to be an omake, which is why it is so short.
So, a few brief things before I end this note: everyone, do remember, Chi-Chi IS a martial artist. She went through quite a bit of training to make it to the World Martial Arts Tournament and fight Goku, and therefore, I figure it's not out of the realm of possibility that she is a very experienced fighter. So naturally, her characterization near the end followed suit with this line of thinking. On an unrelated note, "Soi" is an obvious "Soy" pun. Aren't I genius at twelve in the morning?
Anyway; sorry for such a short chapter, and I promise the next chapter will return to the status quo! I have quite a bit in store for you guys! As always, let's thank Demod20, my good friend, for both his help in the planning stages and proofreading of my chapter! I'll see everyone in the next exciting chapter of The Erased Chronicles.