For the 7th and final day of Gochi Holidays on Twitter - Change. This is also a snippet from a work in progress - an angsty story between Goku and Chichi, but I won't be revealing anything more just yet ;)
His glossy eyes caught sight of her in the distance, her small frame almost hunched over the picnic table that was perched amongst the many trees of the rural village. His body swayed ... his legs all but stumbling as he made his way over to her, his vision slightly blurred, and wearing Master Roshi's glasses didn't help that.
She heard him coming before she even saw him, his intoxicated state impossible to ignore. She stood up instantly, her focus on him as he unsteadily maneuvered his way over to her, a half empty bottle of alcohol in his right hand. Her husband rarely consumed alcohol, but when he did, he drank like it was a competition. Tonight was no different, except for that fact that Goku was fighting his own demons right now.
"What do you want, Goku?" She sighed.
"It's not what you think, Chi" he assured her, putting his left hand up in front of him in defense.
"And what do I think?" she questioned him bluntly.
"I was only dancing with her 'cause it's a tribe thing. That's it! Upa dragged me in and I just did it 'cause he was too"
"You can dance with whoever you want, I don't care" her words were like venom. He was definitely sure she did care.
"If you don't care, why did ya storm off over here by yourself?"
"What has it got to do with you? Why is it any of your business what I do?" she bit at him.
"Chichi, I know you're mad at me, but please ... stop ..." he started to plead ... extending his left hand out to her. She swatted his hand away coldly and narrowed her eyes at him.
"Don't" she whispered dangerously.
"Chichi ... I can't do this anymore. This is stupid!" he huffed, flailing his arms around dramatically, liquor tipping from the opened bottle.
"This is stupid? How I feel is stupid?" she questioned him, her voice raising and her frown deepening.
"Aw, c'mon, I didn't mean it like that, I just meant all of this is stupid, Chi. You're my wife ... I love you. You love me, and don't say you don't 'cause that's bullshit!" he slurred out.
"You have no idea how I feel, Goku. You are never around to know". Goku slapped his face sloppily in complete frustration.
"FUCK!" He exclaimed melodramatically, "Chichi, I said I'm sorry!" Chichi ignored his clearly foul, drunken language and tried to compose herself.
"You're sorry?! You think just saying you're sorry is okay? You think that will fix everything?!"
"No ... maybe ... I dunno. But I do know that I'm sorry for hurting you ... and letting you down" He gently confessed, his body fidgeting and his fingers fumbling with the near empty bottle of liquor in his right hand.
"Sorry means nothing to me! I'm forever hearing that word come out of your mouth! I am sick and tired of dealing with all this stress, and anger and hurt! Sick of it! I kicked you out of the house and you have done nothing to try and fix this!"
"How am I supposed to try when you won't talk to me! I've tried talkin' to you and you just give me the cold shoulder, like, what the hell am I 'spose to do?" He argued back.
"You tried talking to me a few times and then that was it. You went off to your little cabin in the woods and clearly you've been having a good life since then" Chichi accused him, folding her arms over her chest.
"A good life?" his mouth gaped open in shock, "A good life?" he repeated, his voice becoming high pitched and loud.
"You heard me! Meeting up with your friends when you want to, you meet up with the boys, spar with Vegeta! Clearly that's all that you want!"
"Are you fucking serious right now? That's all I want? I want YOU!" He roared, arms swinging around in front of him, his angry expression more pronounced.
"You had me! You had EVERYTHING! You had a home, a clean home, clean clothes, meals cooked for you every day! You didn't have to lift a finger, except tending to the farm, which let's face it, is a damn warm-up for you!"
"I don't care 'bout none'a that! I would give up all of that to have you!" He bellowed, his body staggering closer to her.
"Bullshit!" she called him out, her hands balling into fists at her side, "You have had every opportunity under the sun to make things right between us, and you haven't tried! So, as far as I'm concerned, you don't want me! So why don't you just run on back to that tribal girl, 'cause I'm pretty sure she would be more than happy to have you with the way she was touching you and looking at you" she spat, turning on her heels to storm away from him, but he grabbed her roughly by her left arm and yanked her back round to face him.
"NO!" He shouted, "You do not get to walk away from me! I'm tryin' to talk to you and you are tryin' to avoid me again!"
"Let go of me! Or I'll-"
"You'll what? What will you do?" he darkly questioned her. If she wasn't so angry right now, she would find it hard to take him seriously with his haggard voice and those stupid sunglasses on. Instead, she used his vulnerable state to her advantage, knowing his guard was completely down, and she yanked her arm free of his grasp and then swung her right hand around and slapped him hard across the face.
And It wasn't your average slap. It was a slap from one of the most powerful women on the planet. It echoed throughout the trees and damn ... it stung. Goku lurked over her, and unveiled his eyes, pushing the sunglasses up on top of his head. His eyes held an array of emotions, but it was almost chaotic. She was waiting for a response from him, but she got nothing. She was tied between feeling disappointed that he had nothing to say, but also feeling like nothing had changed, because as usual, he did nothing.
She went to walk away again, putting several feet between them before he reacted.
"Chichi, please ... please don't leave" he croaked out. The pain in his voice made her stop in her tracks, and she was conflicted by how it made her feel.
"I need to go, Goku" she lowly responded.
"I don't want you to go" he hoarsely confessed to her, walking towards her, closing the gap between them, reaching for her hand again.
"Goku, please-" she tried to tell him, but he took her hand and pulled her close to him. So close that she could feel his breath on her skin.
"I miss you" he spewed out, "you're right here ... and I miss you!"
She couldn't stop her eyes from meeting his glassy ones. And they were so hard to look at. Her mind soared with the things she could say, things she should say, but as he clumsily pressed his lips onto hers, she found herself frozen on the spot, and she couldn't push him away.
She could hear her heart pounding in her chest as his mouth completely consumed her, his free hand coming up to cup her face eagerly as his mouth moved sensually with hers. Her hands moved to rest on his bare chest, and she felt herself completely lose control as she melted against him. He slanted his mouth over hers and plunged his tongue into the hot depths of her mouth, the taste of alcohol unbearably strong as he swirled his tongue around hers.
She could barely stop the moan escaping her gaped mouth as the kiss intensified and his left hand gripped her by her hair at the back of her head. The hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stood up, her small hands practically clinging to his clammy bosom as he continued to ravage her.
She wasn't sure what did it ... but something snapped her back to reality. She peeled her lips from his, leaving only inches between them, his staggered breath fanning her face, his eyelids heavy as he peered down at her in question.
"I can't do this, Goku" she whispered, gently pushing on his chest to make space between them.
"You don't want this?" he whispered back, lurching forward and pressing himself against her, preventing her from making any distance between them. She swallowed hard, his lustful expression all too familiar and so potently alluring. But she had to say it.
"I don't" she breathed. Her eyes darted back and forth his, watching intently as his expression completely changed. He took a shaky step back from her a few moments later, his gaze never leaving hers. His gorped face suddenly hardened and with his free hand he lightly tapped the sunglasses on top of his head, allowing them to drop back down onto the bridge of his nose. She watched as he clicked his tongue, one of his knowing ticks that communicated to her that he was pissed off.
"Fine" he uttered, raising the half empty bottle into the air as if to toast to her, "I won't bother you again" he rasped before bringing the bottle to his mouth and downing the remainder of it's contents. She observed helplessly as he emptied the bottle completely, flinching as he flung it aggressively to the ground when finished, the bottle smashing into pieces. He then stumbled back the way in which he came, his arms hanging dejectedly at his sides.
She just stood there and stared at his shrunken stumbling form as he continued to walk away from her.
She was so lost.
What was she supposed to do?