Chapter 56: Who's that?
As big brother is with Uncle Geta, me and Trunks play. Aunty Bulma gives us yummy cake. Soon big brother comes over all sweaty, and sits next to me. I try to give him a piece of my cake. "Cake!" He takes it as says thank you. Seeing big brother smile at me is nice. Soon he gets ups and leaves again. I don't like that. At least Trunks is here. Well, till Uncle Geta takes him away. Now me all alone. I'm sad. I don't like being alone. Soon big brother comes back. "Up, up." I want him to carry me. He does, and says we leaving.
When home, he goes study. At least mommy is keeping me company. Mommy is cleaning, and she picks up that picture up again. Why does she kiss it? That's weird. Mommy can be so silly sometimes. Like when she kisses pictures, or she gets sad out of nowhere. I don't like mommy sad. When mommy goes back to kitchen, I go see the picture. It's a picture of someone. I sit, and just look at it. He has funny hair, almost like mine. He has a big smile. That's when I look at the other pictures. He's in all of them. Who is he? How does he know mommy and big brother? And why haven't I haven't seen him before?
I take picture up to mommy. "Mommy." She looks down at me. "Who he?"
…
It's almost Goten's first birthday, what should I do for him? What am I going to cook? Oh, the boys are back. Looks like Gohan got a good training session with Vegeta. He sets Goten on the couch, and gives me a hug. "I'm going to study mom." With that he goes to his room.
I get back to my cleaning, and I come across one of the pictures of Goku. Out of habit, I pick it up and kiss it. I miss you honey. With that I put it down, and continued cleaning. Afterwards I head into the kitchen, and start on dinner. As I'm cutting up some vegetables, is when I hear Goten calling me. I look down and he's holding a picture. "Who's he?" I feel tears starting to build up, as I look at the picture, he's showing me.
How am I going to tell him? How am I supposed to say that it's his father? I knew one day I would have to tell him. But I didn't think the day would come so soon. How am I going to tell him? Maybe I could prolong it, just a little longer. "I'll tell you after dinner." He doesn't look happy with my answer, but doesn't say a work. I watch him walk back to the couch, and holds the picture.
During dinner, puts the picture next to him, as he eats. Gohan looks ready to question what's going on, but he keeps quiet. My poor Gohan. He sometimes can't look at that picture, without tearing up. I can tell it still hurts him. After dinner, Gohan is helping wash dishes, and Goten is trying to get my attention. I pick him up, and take him over to the couch. I tell Gohan to stop cleaning, and to join us.
When Gohan comes over, he picks up Goten, and hugs him. Is my little man bracing himself? I try my best to stay calm as I hold the picture. "Goten." He looks at me. "This is daddy." He gives me a confused look, and then looks up to Gohan. Gohan nodded, and is even tearing up. Goten tried to wipe his tears away, but it only makes Gohan cry more. Gohan then hugs Goten closer. My poor baby.
…
Today Mr. Vegeta didn't let up. It actually feels pretty good. Well it's getting late, and mom is excepting us back soon. I quickly check on Goten and Trunks, and Goten shares some of his cake. It's so yummy. I then go off to take a quick shower, and then take Goten home. Once home, I leave Goten with mom and I go finish studying for the day.
When I could out for dinner, Goten has dad picture next to him. I look over to mom, and she doesn't seem to mind it. I guess I shouldn't question it for now. After dinner, I watch Goten take the picture with him to the couch. I go start on the dishes, since it's my turn today. Mom tells me to stop, once I'm halfway. I then head to the couch, and pick up Goten into a hug. Is mom going to tell Goten about dad?
"Goten. This is daddy." The moment mom said those words an unspoken sadness washed over me. When Goten looked up at me, I couldn't stop the tears from falling. He tried to wipe them away, and I just cried harder. I couldn't help hold him closer. Goten isn't going to ever meet daddy. Goten isn't going to know how incredible daddy is. We could tell him all the stories, but it's not the same.
Once the moment passed, mom tried again explaining who daddy is. Goten would look confused, and he would look to me. I tried to keep a smile. Soon enough, it was bed time, and Goten wanted to sleep with the picture of dad. Me and mom gave him a big smile. From that day on Goten would ask for stories of dad, and we couldn't stop the smile we had as we told him. It felt nice to talk about all the happy memories of dad.
…
Today is little one's first birthday, so I'm just going to relax today. Maybe I could ask King Kai if I could contact them, and say happy birthday to them. "Don't you even dare!" I looked over to King Kai nervously. "It's against the rules. The fact you were allowed to communicate those two days were just a way of saying thank you. You shouldn't get used to it."
"Come King Kai." He had an angry face. "What about a letter? Or something." I almost was ready to beg. He gave me one more look, and turned away.
"Nope. Go train or something, and just forget about it." How disappointing, but I shouldn't be surprised. And so, I laid back down and was left in my thoughts.
I bet Chichi made them super special for them. I wonder what do they like. I wonder what they like to do. Maybe Gohan is playing all the games we played. I hope Gohan is following his dream. I hope they're keeping Chichi very happy. I wonder what happen when I meet them. That's when I realize something. Even if Baba can't bring me back, and I meet them when they… When they die. What if they hate me? Hate me for not being there. Hate me for leaving them behind. Hate me for making Chichi and Gohan miserable without me.
"Goku?" I looked over to Pikkon. "Are you ok?"
I sat up. "Yeah, why you ask?"
"You're crying." That's when I notice the wetness on my face. I wiped it away, and just smiled at Pikkon.
"I'm gonna go meditate somewhere." With that, I got up and left. I can't believe how lost in thought I was. But those thoughts still bug me. Even if I hope they don't hate me, I won't be able to change however they feel about me. I wonder if Chichi and Gohan hate me. Maybe they even have a deep anger for me. What am I thinking? They would never have negative feelings about me. They love me, and I love them. Maybe the little also does have any negative feelings about me either. Might not love me, but definitely not hatred or anger. With that in mind, I went to meditate at my favorite spot.
…
Daddy sounds super nice. I was so happy mommy allowed me to look through the family album. Everyone looks so happy with daddy. I want to make big brother and mommy that happy. But how I do that? maybe make them laugh a lot, and help mommy. Oh, mommy calling me. It's cake time!
…
Mom started asking me to hunt more, and I rarely go to train with Vegeta anymore. But that's ok. Whenever I go hunting, I turn it to a training game. And every catch mom gets so happy. She would even joke around, saying stuff like I could easily beat dad's time. I don't know about that, but it's nice seeing mom smile.
During my studies, I sometimes get bored. Since mom can't tell what I'm doing, I would put my textbook on the floor, and try to work while doing pushups. It always end with me losing track of what I was working on. So, I really need to only focus at one thing at a time. So, whenever I take breaks I would play, either alone of with Goten. Mostly with Goten. He can't keep up with me, but that doesn't make it any less fun. Sometimes, even mom join us in a game or two.
Mom say when I turn 13, I have to start high school. Something about needing high school credits to get into a good college. "Why can't I start at 14 or maybe 16?"
"Gohan. You need full high school credits. And besides." I look up from my book. "You could make friends your own age, instead all of us boring adults." Mom is funny. Why do I need friends my age? I like my friends. And Dende is about my age. "Gohan, no back talk. Now, finish up that book. Dinner is almost ready. Afterwards, we'll look at some schools you could go to, and what are their requirements."
…
Mommy is being silly. Big brother doesn't need to go to high school. He should go straight to whatever this college thingy. Big brother is super smart! And he doesn't need friends when he has me. I don't want big brother to ever leave me.
Oh no! Mommy made meat loaf. I hate meat loaf. "I'm not hungry."
"Nice try, but you're eating what I give you. And that's that mister."
"But mommy."
"Gohan is eating it, so why can't you?"
"But Gohan just loves to eat. Me don't like meat loaf."
"Nonsense. You're going to eat meat loaf and like it. End of argument." Gohan is snickering at me. Just you wait big brother, I'm going to draw in your books. If you do, say good bye to you stuff dinosaur. You wouldn't dare touch Mr. Happy! He gave me a very serious look. Try me. So, mean.
"Don't challenge me." You can be so mean sometimes. "Don't touch my books."