Disclaimer: I do not own Dragonball Z.
Author's Notes: I know, I know. It's been months. Let me just say that when I started writing the next chapter, I kept thinking of things that needed to be written before. So, in essence, I've been working on the next three chapters. So I probably won't be all that bad in updates for the next few times. I just hope I still have all my reader. Oh well. I'll just have to e-mail everybody and pray.
Chapter 40: Redyei
Jita stretched luxuriously after her first restful sleep in a long time. That very concept marveled her. A restful sleep.
She had not gotten up yet. The soft grass beneath her was so perfect and made her wonder if she could ever go back to sleeping in a bed again.
Where am I again?
"Jita?" she heard a soft voice tentatively call. "Are you awake?"
Jita sat up to see the small purple figure, and remembered. She raised an eyebrow, hiding the emotions of grief and joy that were mixing within her head. "Yes, I am awake," she simply said.
Shin was not convinced of her apparent calm attitude. Of course, he was a mind-reader, so that was to be expected. "So," he said as delicately as possible, "you had a peaceful sleep? No…"
Jita actually smiled at that. "Set your mind at ease, kai. The Lord of the Lower Realms of Hell did not bother me last night. No dreams or visions or such nonsense."
Shin's worried frown melted in relief. "You understand why I'm concerned. This is a new thing. No one's left his service before."
Jita raised an eyebrow wryly. "Well, I'm certainly glad to be unique."
Shin chuckled. "Anyway, there's a clean pond over there that you can bathe in. I'll be over that rise with breakfast. I'll leave some clean clothes for you over here."
Jita frowned as he began to leave. "Bathe? You mean, out in the open? Sleeping's one thing, but…"
Shin laughed. "You will be perfectly safe here, Jita. If you're worried about my honored elder, then don't. I think he's too scared of you now to peek."
Jita folded her arms. "That's as it should be."
Even so, Jita was still uneasy about the whole idea. She was quarantined on a planet with two men and no buildings for privacy. Her reason told her it was all right, but her instincts screamed against it.
"It's time I stop being so overly cautious," Jita muttered to herself. Stubbornly preparing herself, she marched down to the pond.
Jita took her time with pulling off her clothes, stopping every few seconds to look around for spies. She knew that she sensed both kais pretty far away – at least out of sight – but she didn't know if there was some kai ability of projecting ki.
And then she stopped. She realized that she actually didn't care. She felt too… good… to care.
Smiling, Jita shucked off the rest of her clothes and dove into the water. She had been expecting a harsh chill, but the water was perfect temperature, as well as perfectly clean. Impossibly so. The floor was dirt, but as soon as she stirred up any, it magically settled back to the floor.
Yet she wasn't confident enough to linger. Jita bathed quickly and mechanically, and then pulled herself out of the water, drying herself with a carefully controlled burst of ki as she went. Then she scrambled over to her clothes.
Sure enough, Shin had materialized some clean clothes for her, if a little awkward. Jita smirked at the selection, reminding herself that, whatever else, Shin was a man and therefore clueless. He had remembered the right underclothes, but he had also overestimated her size up top. She didn't know whether to be slightly flattered, even though she was still flatter.
And the clothes were identical to what the kai's were wearing – a big bulky tunic set. She pulled it on as best she could and decided that she would have a talk with the kai during breakfast.
Speaking of breakfast… she thought, the tantalizing aroma beckoning her forth. She grinned and ran over the hill, leaving behind the hideous pointy shoes. There was no way she was going to wear footwear that came to a point.
She reached the summit to see a blanket spread out with what she considered just enough food. She was voracious, but she controlled herself and approached slowly.
Shin was eating a much smaller portion. "Hello, Jita. I hope this repast is appropriate. I tend to lose touch with what most mortals eat."
Jita grinned. "Right now, I could eat anything." With that Jita practically attacked the food, all cautiousness forgotten.
After the meal, Jita started to stack plates, absently forming a plan in her head to wash them over at the pond. Before she could even form two good stacks, the plates and blanket disappeared.
Jita looked up, startled. Shin was smiling. "I thought you could let me do the dishes."
Jita shook her head slowly. "There has to be something I can do around here. I don't feel right having you clothe me and feed me."
"There certainly is something for you to do around here," Shin said matter-of-factly. "You can train. Listen, Jita," he cut off her protests, "you are a guest here. You are perhaps even a student, if you will. You can drop the wife/mother persona for now."
Jita pursed her lips. "I make my own live-in students do their share of chores."
"You will train," Shin said a bit more strongly.
Jita was about to protest more, but she saw that it was a fight already lost. So she folded her arms and tried to not look like she was pouting.
"How do you expect me to train in these clothes, anyway?" Jita asked suddenly.
Shin looked up, startled. "What's wrong with those clothes? They look fine."
Jita sighed and crossed her arms, making the stiff fabric bunch and crinkle. "You may be a kai, but you're not a tailor. Just because I'm female doesn't mean I'm built like Wonder Woman."
Shin blushed a bright purple at that. "I hadn't really put that much thought into it."
Jita smirked. "OK, how about trying to adjust the clothes right now while I'm wearing them, and I'll tell you if it's right. Can you do that?"
Shin gulped. "I guess so. You won't hit me with a mallet, will you?"
Jita laughed. "Of course not. Now shrink 'em already."
Jita felt both the bra and the shirt shrink and mold to fit her perfectly. She was about to suggest the next improvement, but she stopped as she felt the pants line up form to her. She smiled.
"Anything else?" Shin strangled out, still supremely embarrassed for having to get that personal. He was horrified when she nodded her head.
"I don't like the baggy shoulders, or the shirt that goes on below my waist. Just make the shirt end at my waist, ok?"
Shin nodded, relieved that it wasn't anything more personal. With a pop, Jita's outfit finally became somewhat stylish. At least Jita was happy, and Shin was relieved.
"So exactly how am I going to train?" Jita asked Shin sarcastically after she had finished making sure her outfit was up to her standards. "You got another sword in a mountain around here?"
Shin chuckled. "No, nothing around here. You remember you said that you were unique earlier. And you must remember what we talked about last night."
Jita's eyes cast downward. "I had thought you had forgotten about that," she practically whispered.
"I had not," Shin said. "I know that you want to make it a last resort, but what do you propose, Jita? I was aware of your uneasiness, I though all night, and I'm out of ideas. If you have any other plans, now's the time to say something."
Jita looked down, quiet. "I've got an idea," she said quietly.
Shin waited.
"I'll just kill the leech, and then take my son home."
Shin sighed. "You know that's not going to work. It's not that simple."
Jita looked up. "I know it's not that simple. But I can pretend, can't I?"
Shin understood then. Jita knew what had to be done. Of course she knew. She wasn't stupid. She just severely didn't want to do it, and was putting up as much resistance as possible. Shin could understand that. He realized that he may have to approach the whole thing a little more slowly and back off for now.
"So," Jita jumped up, "what are your plans for this training in my ability?"
Shin looked up, startled. "Uh… All right. Here's my plan. First, I need to be aware of the circumstances of each of your transformations."
Jita shook her head. "First give me the plan. Then I deem it worth answering your question."
Shin nodded. He knew it would be hard for her to bring everything up. "In order to prompt you to your transformation, I wish to recreate the emotional environment…"
"Through the use of visions," Jita finished for him, looking ahead dully.
Shin paused. "In a word, yes."
Jita's lips pursed, and a look of defeated dread flickered in her eyes. Shin knew what this would do to her. He felt ashamed that it had to be done, but he doubted Goten's ability to defeat the leach. He knew that the boy was getting in way over his head, and their only chance was Jita, in her most powerful form.
"The first time was on Planet Vegeta," Jita broke softly into the silence. Her soft voice still startled Shin.
"Yes?" he said gently.
Jita spoke in a monotone, staring straight ahead. "Frieza was killing our world. I was in my room when I saw the sky turn red – redder than usual. Then I heard the screaming of Saiyans too far gone in pain to remember anything like pride." Jita looked into Shin's eyes for a moment. "Pain does that."
Shin nodded. "Yes, I know."
Jita gave him a look that said that he truly didn't know, and then continued. "I don't remember every detail, or how I did it. But I transformed and escaped. The second time…" Jita took a breath. "The second time I was in hell. The Voice had pushed me to my limits and beyond with both torture and visions. I transformed, and he was able to pull me back with the pain that he could still inflict upon me."
Jita looked up almost accusingly. "Is that what you needed to know?"
Shin looked down. "Jita, we don't truly have to do this. You know that I'll be trying to use visions of those instances to induce the transformation. If you say no now, then I will forget it. No bugging and no recriminations."
Jita was quiet for a long time. Shin was about to take it that Jita was refusing, but then Jita looked up. "No. I will train. Let's… let's do this."
Shin smiled and nodded. "Are you ready to begin?"
Jita nodded shakily. "Yes."
*****
Goten woke up in complete disorientation. He was wondering at first where Jita was, and then where HE was. When he got up to look at himself in the mirror, the halo reminded him of everything.
"Oh yeah. I'm dead," he mumbled.
For being dead, he thought wryly, he sure felt like any other morning. His hair was sticking out more wildly than usual, his chin was covered with darkening prickles, and his eyes were red and gritty. On the other hand, I look like a zombie now.
At that thought he actually chuckled. It was a wonder he was keeping his sense of humor, however wry and sarcastic it was turning.
After staring at himself for a few minutes more, Goten decided that he wanted to look less like a zombie. He noted with satisfaction that someone had brought in a clean gi to replace the scruffy one he had died in. He unfolded the nondescript blue gi to make sure it was the right size, and then walked into the tiny adjoining room for a shower and a shave.
Fifteen minutes later, Goten was ready to face the world, whatever world it might be. He left his own room behind and knocked on Pikkon's door.
There was no answer.
He tried knocking a bit more forcefully, but still got no answer. Goten decided that Pikkon probably had gone outside. He began walking down the corridors… and promptly got lost.
Every door and stairwell looked like another. There were absolutely no distinguishing marks of any kind. Goten absently considered leaving a trail of bread crumbs, but that thought only made him hungry. He hadn't eaten since the morning of the Budoukai, and those eggs and toast hadn't gone anywhere.
Tired, irritated, and hungry, Goten trudged down the corridors. He couldn't use ki signals, because there was not a straight shot to the outside, apparently. He had considered blasting through the palace, but that would have been rude, to say the least.
"Hey, man, are you lost there?"
Goten turned around at the sound of the low-pitched voice. What greeted him was the sight of an old man in denim and leather, long white hair, and a boombox slung over one shoulder. Goten almost had to cover his mouth. The man looked like a biker so far past his prime that it was ridiculous.
"Yes, sir," Goten said. "I'm new here, so…"
The man chuckled. "Dude, compared to me, almost everyone's new here… except the cockroaches. You tryin' to get out?"
Goten was about to answer, but that was when his Saiyan stomach decided to make itself known in the usual way. Goten looked away, embarrassed.
The white-haired man laughed. "I see. Hear you loud and clear. Well, looks like we're both late sleepers, so the mess hall will be empty. But we can still get grub. Come on."
"Yeah, thanks!" Goten responded, trailing after the man. "Hey, I'm Goten."
The old man looked back at him and flashed a grin. "Call me Trogdor."
Goten gave him a weird look. "Trogdor?"
Trogdor stopped and looked at him. Magically, a heavy guitar riff came from his boombox. "Cause the dragon comes in the NIGHT!!!" the man sang, ending in a high note.
With that Trogdor walked on.
Goten sweatdropped a second, and the smiled. This guy was cool. Wickety-whack, but cool.
Trogdor deftly led Goten through the corridors, leaving Goten with a removed, disoriented feel, until they finally showed up at what looked to be a slightly upscale cafeteria. Sure enough, no one was there, not even any cooks.
Trogdor merely looked around and grunted in amusement. "I guess it really is self-serve today. C'mon, Goten. Let's go raid the fridge."
Goten agreed enthusiastically. He'd been trying to figure out who this person was. He wasn't dead, so he couldn't have been any training warrior. Maybe he's, like, a janitor or manager or something, Goten theorized. Either way, Goten felt right at ease for the first time in a while.
In three trips Goten and Trogdor had covered an entire table with anything and everything they could get their hands on. Anything that needed to be warmed up was done on the spot with a bit of ki. Then they began polishing the spread off.
"Ha-ha," Trogdor laughed after he'd finished, with Goten still going strong. "You sure do pack it away. You need to stop for breath?"
Goten looked up, swallowed, and laughed carelessly. "Well, it's not the greatest, but I'm too hungry to tell the difference." Then Goten blushed at his own bad manners. He hadn't meant to go right out and insult anyone!
Trogdor laughed again. "I suppose you're right. So what brings you up here, Goten?"
Goten slowed down a bit. "Well, I died… um… as you can tell, but I'm going to be wished back in a year to fight the leech that killed me and my wife and kidnapped my son."
Trogdor nodded. "So, you're probably working with Pikkon."
"That's right," Goten said. "I'm not sure what I'm going to learn, only that he's trying to find a way not to kill my son in the process."
Trogdor let Goten finish eating. If Goten had been watching the old man, he would have realized that Trogdor was sizing him up.
"Well, Goten," Trogdor said, getting up. "I hope your training goes well. I better get you out to Pikkon, or we'll both be in the dog house."
Goten wiped his mouth. "You sure we don't need to take care of this mess?"
Trogdor waved him off. "Forget it. I'll take care of it later. Let's get going."
After innumerable corridors, the two finally made it outside. Goten spotted Pikkon in the distance, and began to edge toward him.
"Hey, dude," Trogdor said. "If Pikkon ever lets you off, let's hang out. I'll show you my vinyl collection."
Goten grinned. "Sounds great, man. I'll be there."
"Goten!!" they heard a deep voice call. Pikkon was stalking forward, miffed at Goten's late appearance. "Where have you been, boy…"
Suddenly Pikkon caught a glimpse of the old man with the boombox. He abruptly knelt, trying to pull Goten down with him. "Greetings, Grand Kai. I did not see you."
The Grand Kai, alias Trogdor, waved him off and laughed. "S'okay, Pikkon. Just getting' to know your new student. Send him over to me if he ever has free time. He's a cool cat."
As the Grand Kai walked off, Goten sweatdropped. "That was…"
Pikkon got up and smirked. "So he didn't tell you? Typical. He actually hates groveling."
Goten cocked his head. "So why…"
"Tradition." Pikkon smiled. "Don't worry, kid. Your father never bowed to him either. Do him a favor and treat him like you were."
Goten grinned. "No problem there. So, where do we begin?"
Pikkon's levity evaporated to intense focus. "Next time I'll be sure that you're up earlier. I did not think of you needing to eat since I do not require sustenance myself. However, you now know where the mess hall is, don't you?"
Goten scratched the back of his head and lied. "Uhh.. yeah, sure!"
Pikkon nodded. "Fine. Then we'll start with the more tactile part of the training… the fighting style of the leech. Even though leeches take over different people's bodies and sometimes have an altered mind, they always have a certain style about them that has been passed on by the ancients. I know it thoroughly, and therefore I will be playing the leech in our spars."
That training doesn't sound that bad, Goten thought. "So what's after that?"
Pikkon raised an eyeridge. "Next, most of the year will be spent on ki-control, with a spar every few days to break it up. You'll need to learn how to reign in and shield your own ki from leeching. You cannot fight a leech if he sucks your power as soon as you power up. Then we will go on to the last step."
"What's that?" Goten asked.
"This." Pikkon pulled out the blade of the leech.
Goten reacted instantly. "How did you get that?" he hissed. "Last I saw it was embedded in my chest."
Pikkon regarded him calmly. "The leech made a mistake. This is how we identified him, and this is how you will destroy him. It's the one thing that will break through his defenses… that is, if you master it."
Goten tried to calm his breathing, and was finally able to. It was still hard to stare at the weapon that committed his murder.
Pikkon sensed his discomfort and put the knife away. "We've wasted enough time already, Goten. Time to spar."
Goten looked around, trying to find a sparring ground. He found none. "What, here?"
He barely finished the question before he was knocked from his feet. Yes, evidently here, he thought as he powered up quickly.
*****
Jiten knew one thing: he loved pancakes.
He knew another thing: Hoja made them MUCH better than his mother ever could.
Jiten was shoveling the spongy gooey substance into his mouth at a fairly regular rate, occasionally washing the meal down with extra-pulpy orange juice. Hoja had long finished his and was cleaning up the kitchen. The boy noticed that Hoja did it mechanically, and even whistled, rather than the rants and nags his mother usually went into.
It was… nice. No screaming. No chaos. Just nice and calm and peaceful… which Jiten wanted to abruptly end as soon as he was finished with his breakfast.
Hoja plopped down on the chair opposite the couch that Jiten was inhabiting. "So… spar after breakfast?"
Jiten's head shot up. The words seemed innocuous. It was something that one fighter would say to another, and it was something that he'd heard his Saiyan family say on a fairly regular basis. Just never to him. They always said "train" with him. There was an important difference, Jiten realized. Training was nothing better than school with fighting. Sparring was for equals.
"Yeah!" he said through a mouthful of pancake.
Hoja laughed. "Finish that off and let's get started, then."
Jiten gobbled up the rest of his breakfast as Hoja casually walked outside. He didn't want to keep Hoja waiting. Not when Hoja already seemed like he considered Jiten old enough for responsibility and stuff. Jiten desperately didn't want to lose that.
Jiten grinned at the good feeling he had all over. He had woken up feeling good for the first time since he could remember. The bed, though small, had been supremely comfortable, which usually would have made Jiten want to curl up in a smaller ball and stay there. But this morning had been different. He's woken up just a bit before Hoja and had been running around in the front yard when Hoja had called him for breakfast. He'd come in chastened, thinking that his mother would have usually yelled at him for going outside without permission, but Hoja didn't think a thing about it. In fact, he'd given Jiten a weird looked when he'd apologized.
That made Jiten relax even more.
Jiten grinned at his good fortune. It was like a year of vacation from having his parents constantly nagging him. A year to relax and enjoy his childhood. Jita grinned. He was about to walk out the door when he looked back at his dishes. They were stacked haphazardly and threatening to drip syrup on Hoja's nice couch. So, for the first time in his life, Jiten stacked his dishes and stacked them in the sink, without being told to. He felt an odd sort of satisfaction in doing that.
*****
The leech looked in through the window, fairly shocked at the simple show of responsibility. He'd expected a little more loyalty from the tyke, and a little less respectful to his parents and family. He hadn't expected to see exhibiting more grown-up behavior. It's probably just the loyalty, Hoja reasoned. However, he wasn't so sure.
"Hoja?" he heard the boy's voice near the door, coming closer to him. "Do you still want to spar?"
"Yes, Jiten," he called. "I'm over here."
Jiten turned the corner and grinned, seemingly in relief. He didn't expect me to actually spar with him, Hoja realized. Grinning, and without warning, Hoja lunged at Jiten. The spar began.
Hoja couldn't help but notice Jiten's flawless technique. The boy was a prodigy with the best of trainers. What he'd been telling Jiten the day before about his parents' technique was partially a load of bull. If it hadn't been for his hold on Jiten and the slight ki drain, the Spider Masters would have probably overpowered him. Both of them had strong and novel techniques, both of which had fused into Jiten's own personal fighting style, along with probably the best he'd seen from any of the other fighters.
And Jiten thought his own fighting was subpar. Hoja could feel it within the boy through their link. It was from never truly fighting an equal, and always being beaten by stronger and older opponents. Kid never really had a chance… at least until he's older…
A particularly vicious blow knocked Hoja to the ground. He wiped some blood from his chin and grinned at the little kid staring down at him with wide eyes. The kid was just amazed that he could get a blow in.
I can't just let him win, Hoja reminded himself. But I have to build up his confidence a little. Otherwise he'll be a weak minion to me, instead of a strong acolyte to carry on once I'm dead.
Hoja remembered his old master. Of course, he remembered the entire line of leeches, having the same parasite-consciousness shape him through each generation. But Hoja was not like other leeches. He was the leech, of course, but he was still Redyei.
Redyei was the name of a little boy who had been long separated from his own kind. He had lived in a rather primitive society that hadn't even learned to utilize indoor plumbing or electricity. He'd been denied even the semblance of civilization when his village cast him out for chasing away the rain. He'd wandered the moors, living on increasingly unsavory sustenance, until the leech had found him.
Or rather, he had found the leech. The powerful figure was caught up a tree surrounded by a pack of wolvenbeasts. There was an easy trick of chasing them away that included whistling and clapping hands, but an offworlder wouldn't have known that. So it was that Redyei learned that there were worlds other than his own. He'd soon attached himself to the leech and had gradually made the decision to be the leech's acolyte.
Looking back, Hoja-Redyei realized a lot of things. The first was that his growth spurt had not caused the rain to go away, no matter what the town soothsayer said. Another thing was that his master had probably used the same techniques that Hoja was using on Jiten.
Another thing was how many times his need for revenge had been compounded.
The youth Redyei had always felt cheated out of a normal life, which made the novelty of putting his loyalty with a slightly unsavory stranger all the more sweet. It was to get back at those superstitious prudes.
And then there was the battle.
Hoja still remembered it with pain, even after thousands of years. Redyei and his master had been roasting a particularly large planet, sucking plenty of power, when the leech-slayer had shown up. He'd been green, with flowing white clothes and a turban. Redyei had laughed at the outright ridiculous nature of the fighter… until the green man went after him. Not his master – him.
Redyei knew what was happening. His master had actually warned him, something that Hoja now realized was usually never done, since it might make an acolyte hesitate in battle. Redyei was going to face him, however, but his master had knocked him back and told him mentally to remain hidden. Redyei almost scoffed at the order, but his loyalty had been too great. He would have done whatever his master had told him. He couldn't really imagine doing otherwise.
Redyei had managed to watch some of the fight on the few times that it came within his view. He knew that the fight was going a bit badly for his master, since he hadn't been able to get much power from the last few planets, and most was expended by the travel to the next planet. Redyei had tried desperately to send some of his own power through the link, but his master kept him closed off. His master had actually protected him. And that's what got him killed.
The second his master was dead, Redyei became the leech. The spirit, power, and persona of the leech grafted itself on to him. But he was still Redyei. He was the leech and Redyei all at once, and the spirit of the leech infused him with knowledge and wisdom passed down from the time before kais – the time before order – the time before time, into the time of the basic primal forces of the universe.
But that didn't seem to matter as much as revenge. He wanted to avenge the death of his master and his own. He burst from his hiding place, no longer afraid…
… and saw that the leech-slayer was already dead.
Already dead. The leech and the slayer had dealt their fatal blows simultaneously. Redyei could almost remember it, as if through a fog. Later on he began to realize that his master's memories were the farthest from him. It was the earlier lives of leeches that gave him strength.
Redyei had left that planet, still consumed with rage and no outlet to pour himself. All he had with him was the power and title of the leech and the blade he had claimed from his master's still-warm body. And a vague idea to avenge his master by stealing all the power in the universe and doing as much damage as possible.
That turned into a more difficult task than he'd planned. The universe was going through a dark time of little power. It was a long time before such races as the changelings, ice-jins, and Saiyans. Redyei hadn't realized, but this lack of power was through the efforts of a certain Majin Buu. He just knew that there was barely a planet with intelligent and strong life to be found.
He met other leeches, and found himself to be unique among them. For one, he was relatively new so he was not entirely dependent on the energy of others. He could still survive a little longer than the others with the dark age, or the drought, as others called it. For another, the other were truly leeches. They did not retain anything from each persona. The minds had been erased, the soul had been disposed of, and the body had become a shell for the ancient personas. As such, he considered himself superior from the shells.
He also saw what the lack of power was doing to them. They didn't even have the energy to drain energy. They were literally starving to death. Redyei vowed that that would not happen to him.
But Redyei had patience. He had a lifetime of patience. He had more than a lifetime of patience. He just didn't have the means yet. Until he'd found this dimension, where he could just wait until there were plenty of high-powered idiots to drain. The dimension kept him healthy and with power. It was nurturing, though he still couldn't wait to get out of there. He had no more and no less power than millions of years earlier. It was maddening.
It was amazing he'd found Earth on the first go.
Hoja smiled at the kid who was currently circling through the air with him, trying to find the advantage. He was almost sorry that he had to use the kid. He was sorry that he wouldn't be able to protect Jiten like his own master had protected him.
But he wouldn't repeat his master's mistakes. An acolyte was a weapon, no matter what attachments he felt to the boy. He had to form the relationship, but stay distant.
He would have his revenge.
"Have you had enough?" Jiten gasped out, grinning, trying to appear less tired than he really was.
Hoja grinned at the boy's pride, tenacity, and all-around excitement for life. "We'll take an hour or two, and then get right back at it. Race you to the pond!"
Hoja laughed as the boy raced behind him, nearly diving on top of him. Hoja had only paused long enough to take off some of his weapons and heavier armor. He knew, as he was watching the laughing boy, that he would have a hard time keeping his promise.
*****
Chichi approached her husband cautiously from behind, easily handling a heavily-laden picnic basket. It was a disgustingly cheerful day, with sun and balmy temperatures and birds and chipmunks. It was one of those days in summer where the Earth had just decided to chill off and make it spring. Chichi knew that the next day would be sweltering, so she was determined to enjoy the brief spell of cooler weather.
If only we could have a brief spell of happiness, Chichi thought longingly.
Goku had been sitting there beside the stream for days, never bothering to move. It broke her heart, but there was little she could do. She'd tried everything from food to cajoling to various forms of temptation to even a few of her old temper tantrums. Nothing would break Goku out of his almost stupor, not even fighting. Practically everyone had been by to ask Goku if he wanted to train or spar or whatever. Even Vegeta, much as it surprised her that he would go out of his way for Goku's emotional well-being. But nothing had worked, and Vegeta had ended up reverting back to cursing Goku and his worthlessness. Chichi had felt the disturbing urge to join in with him.
"Goku," she said cheerfully, spreading a blanket beside him and sitting on the edge, "I thought we'd have a picnic lunch."
Goku failed to respond. Chichi's ready smile faltered, but she forced it back up.
"Since you haven't shown any interest in going inside, and today is so nice for a change, eating outside with you sounded so good. And I cooked your favorite: one of everything." Chichi laughed high and clear, battling her husband's depression as well as her own with a fiercely defiant cheerfulness as powerful as any of her angry rants in the past.
Chichi almost thought she saw a flash in Goku's dead eyes, but it passed too quickly to actually amount to anything. Chichi dug her nails into her dress in frustration.
"You know, if you keep not talking," Chichi said in a slightly strangled voice, "you're going to end up to where you'll never talk at all. That's what my grandmother always told me when I'd give everyone the silent treatment."
"What should I say, Chichi?" Goku asked dully.
Chichi hadn't been expecting a response and Goku's voice almost startled her. She began pulling things out of the basket and setting them out. Goku tried not to look interested, but Chichi knew that he was probably starving to death.
"Don't talk right now," she said. "Just eat."
For some reason, Goku seemed to look even more defeated when he finally brought himself to eat. He ate just as much as he usually did, only it still wasn't the same, Chichi noted. She had always known him to eat with gusto, and now he was merely mechanically chewing and swallowing, seeming to barely even notice the flavor of anything. It scared Chichi even worse than when he was just sitting there.
Too soon the meal was done, but Chichi didn't bother clearing the plates away. She was still focusing on Goku, trying to think of a way to get him to snap out of this horrible depression.
"Gohan called earlier and asked if you wanted to spar," Chichi said in the blandest normal voice she could find. "He's been working with various people but he wanted a challenge today. I told him that you probably didn't want to."
Chichi paused, hoping for any sort of reaction. She knew that Goku hated it when Chichi answered for him, especially when it came to training. But she was disappointed. He merely nodded.
"He's been sparring a little with Pan," Chichi tried another tactic. "Not very much though. She's been busy with the other Spider students. I think the oldest class is planning to go off looking for the dragonballs. They figured everyone else needed time to train, and it would give them additional training." Chichi smiled. "You know how dragonball hunts are."
Goku merely looked away.
"DARN IT, Goku, listen to me!!" Chichi bellowed, having reached the end of her patience. Realizing that violence is sometimes the only way to get a Saiyan's attention, Chichi grabbed Goku by the collar of his gi and forced him to look at her. To her satisfaction, Goku's eyes were as wide as the empty plates at their feet.
"I don't ask for much," Chichi said, slightly calmer. "I just want to know what's wrong with you so I can help, because being around you is so depressing that I almost can't stand it. I'm not going to stand for it, either. You're going to tell me what's wrong right now, or I'm going to give you the beating of your life. And believe me, in your current state, I could."
It was a lie and both of them knew it, but it still caught Goku's attention. Goku pulled away from Chichi's grasp easily, but still watched her warily. Chichi held her breath, waiting for what Goku would do next.
"Do you think I'm a bad father?" Goku asked abruptly.
Whatever Chichi was expecting, she certainly wasn't expecting that. "What do you mean by that, Goku? Who ever said you were a bad father?"
Goku actually laughed at that one, giving her an incredulous look. "Oh, come on, Chichi. This from you? You wrote the book on how I'm a bad father."
Chichi automatically put her defenses up, but she did have a sense of regret left for all the things she'd said against Goku, especially to Goten when he was just a small child. She regretted those words almost every day.
"I won't deny it, Goku," Chichi said calmly. "I've said things in the past that I shouldn't have said. I was just so lonely and afraid after you died… both times."
Tears started to brim and spill out of Chichi's eyes, and Goku looked away, embarrassed.
"But the second time was the worst," Chichi continued. "Everyone seems to have forgotten now that no one thought then you'd be coming back. I was a widow and a single parent to two, one a newborn who would never know his father. Gohan spent his days in guilt and remorse over your death and something he'd done wrong in the fight against that monster. I tried to get him to go to school earlier, but he couldn't relate to any of the other children. Even in high school he was rather strange. The only thing he could do with himself is play superhero."
Goku had listened gravely to all of the bad things that had happened to his family in those seven years of his death. "Chichi, I—"
Chichi put a hand over his mouth. "No, Goku. Don't apologize. It's not like you, and that wasn't my point. My point is," Chichi took a breath, "that things got better when you came back to life. Sure, there was all the paperwork to prove that you were alive, and there was the whole thing where we had to get remarried, but other than that, we were happier. And, yes, that includes Goten. I did wrong to Goten, not you."
Goku looked at her skeptically, but didn't voice his doubts.
"Look," Chichi said, finally realizing what was probably bothering Goku, "I can imagine how Goten reacted when Jita stayed in Hell and you couldn't even give him an explanation. He'd just been killed, he'd lost his wife forever, and his son was kidnapped. He was hurting, he wanted to lash out, and you were the closest and easiest target… as well as the most familiar. Whatever he said, he didn't mean it."
Goku was a little surprised that Chichi could guess at part of his pain, but he still knew that she was partly lying to pull him out of his pain. He knew he hurt others, and his family in particular. He looked at Chichi, not even seeing the older woman in front of his eyes. All he saw was the young woman sitting on their bed, crying and trying to understand why he had stayed away so long for no good reason. That image haunted him continually.
"I appreciate what you're trying to do, Chichi… I really do. But it's no use. I know what I've done over the years, and Goten has never been happy with me." He got up swiftly and looked down into her eyes. "I've caused more pain than you can possibly realize."
After that he could no longer stand to be around her scared/pitying eyes. In a split second he picked a direction and took off.
Chichi stared after him until the tears swimming in her eyes made her vision too blurry to see. She knew that Goku hadn't told her everything, if anything, but there was nothing she could do about it. Trying to calm herself, Chichi gathered the dishes and took them inside.
*****
Reviewer thanks:
Silver Warrior: You know, you're always my first review, ever since you started reading. I really appreciate that, man. Every time I upload I always check my e-mail for reviews every hour. I'm pathetic, really. As for the day back, well…. You'll see.
Crazed fanatic anime fan: I truly enjoyed your diligence in review all those chapters. I hope that you've gotten up to chapter 40 by now. I'm always excited by a new reader.
Dark Wolf: Here's your update, ya big nag! Anyway, I glad that I can always surprise you.
Ssj chika: You'll find out soon enough. Ha-ha.
Mpvssj5: Stick with it, bro. You'll get through my story, and maybe even get to gripe about me not updating sometime.
Howler: Hi, sweetie! I always like it when you leave a review. Makes me have a happy face. : ) See? Ha-ha.
Tim333: I will certainly not fault you for taking a while to get to reading a chapter or three. You certainly gave profuse praise for chapters 38 and 39. I'm glad someone appreciates my playing around with the themes of the series, especially the "pure of heart" thing that drives me up the wall. And then we get to chapter 40. I am using your perspective on the leech. I always had in mind that the leech was just going to be a two-dimensional villain – perhaps creepy, but certainly not with layers. You've made me realize that villains are characters too, and I'm working on him, as you've seen in this chapter. I knew you'd appreciate the appearance by Krillen and 18. I've slowly taken more of a liking to them, so it was only a matter of time when I would write them.
I really thought about what you said about the clichéd way I got Jita out of Hell, and I could say that you're right. I wanted an expedient way to keep Jita a part of the story. But I'm going to do the more interesting thing. I'm going to argue on my behalf. I talked about playing with the themes of Dragonball Z earlier. That's kind of what I'm going for. If you think about it, superheroes lead very absurdist lives, especially our friends in DBZ. You have to wonder – after all these contrived plot devices, how do the characters react? Is everything right with the world? Or does it affect them psychologically? Think about when Goku came back to life, or when anyone comes back to life. What would be the psychological effects? I think you capture that beautifully in your Krillen story. I guess that's what I'm trying to go for. I'm keeping some of the frame of a trite superhero action/adventure story, but putting in a thread of angst and absurdism to go along with it. There. Is that enough self-justifying crap for you? Ha-ha. No, really, it's for the reader's interpretation, and I appreciate you pointing out weak points in the story. I really felt the same way, but I could find no way around it. Oh well.
Tonifranz: I am truly sorry for not yet doing what I promised. Around the weekend I said I would be sending you those beta'd chapters, my computer went up in smoke. I didn't really lose anything, and it was actually just a part that needed to be replaced, but it meant a week without my computer until the part came in. By that time, I had forgotten. I've been working on it recently, and I'm hoping by next weekend to send you all the chapters of your first story. Then I'll catch up on your second story. Again, please forgive me.
