A PERFECT LOVE

A/N: This story is partly inspired by my own experiences as me and my family have been moving around a lot over the past couple of years. I sincerely hope you will enjoy this little one-shot. Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated…

Empty Room

Legions of opaque dust particles graciously hovered around the empty room. Any traces of previous inhibition was certainly sparse. It was almost ghostly; a vacant space filled with countless memories

Marron discerned the conflict which had been wrestling restlessly from within her. Today should've been a joyous occasion; she, along with her family were finally ready to move into their own place. A place the Chestnuts could call their own.

They had all immediately fallen in love with the house; the interior design of the kitchen oozed with sophistication and class, as well as the living room, which possessed a spaciously intimate quality about it. The wide glass doors led to a picturesque garden, brimming with all kinds of blossoming flowers and plants.

All of the bedrooms were perfectly sized; no longer would they be forced to stumble into their rooms to get their beds. They even had a spare room, giving the family plenty of options on what they could add to the house. Krillin was adamant of turning the room into a home gym, despite Eighteen's stern objections. One thing they knew for certain, the house met all their wants and needs; it was simply perfect for them.

Consequently, as the day of moving into their new place rapidly gathered pace, Marron came closer to the unwanted reality that she would have to leave behind the place she had always known as her home.

As her eyes peered at the window, the walls of Marron's mind swiftly became invaded by the bittersweet memories of her and family playing together by the shore of Kame House. A small smirk appeared; how she would miss the hours spent in the scorching sun, drawing her pictures as she blissfully hummed along to the music being blared out of her parents' stereo. She looked away from the window in disappointment; those days were now wistfully coming to an end.

It didn't help that for the past several weeks, Marron had to endure the arduous labours of packing. Each day seemed to blur into the next; she had officially grown tired of being interrogated on a daily basis with questions such as, "Do you want to keep this or can we throw it away?"

And thanks to all of the chaos caused by the packing, she felt as if her voice wasn't being heard. Her parents, particularly her father, had become so involved with the move that any unrelated conversations she'd bring up would be overlooked. She knew they didn't do it on purpose, but it would have been nice to have spent some time together before they departed to live in the city.

Her train of thought suddenly halted at the sound of a familiar, yet chirpy voice being echoed from the entrance of the room, "Are you okay, Marron?"

"Oh! Hey, Dad." She responded, instantly recognising her father's voice, "What are you doing up here?"

"I noticed that you haven't been downstairs in a while and I wanted to see what you were doing." Krillin assuredly reported, meeting her at the centre of the room. Krillin gingerly knelt down to Marron's line of sight, acknowledging her attempts to disguise her sadness with silence.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He enquired with growing concern.

"Yeah! Of course!" Marron's answer failed to match up with the saddened glare which watered her eyes.

"Marron, I need you to be honest with me," Krillin stated with a comforting firmness, "Is there something you're not telling me?

"I-I don't know, Daddy." She began to explain, "I used to be really excited about the thought of us moving, especially since it would be just you, me and Mommy living together. But, lately, I've been thinking about just how much I'm gonna miss this living here and miss playing in this room. I also haven't really seen you that much because of all the packing. I guess I just want things to be normal again."

Krillin's eyes broadened at his daughter's confessions, "Oh, Marron. I had no idea just how much this move has been affecting you." He perceived with a sense of regret.

"It's okay, Daddy. I understand that you've been busy." Marron calmly reassured her father. However, he wasn't letting himself get off the hook so easily,

"No, it's not. I've been so caught up getting us ready for the move that I haven't given you the attention you've needed."

Krillin couldn't deny that he had been like a machine these past few weeks. He shook his head as the sound of his wife's previous warnings circled around his head. "You need to take a break," and, "Stop rushing so much," had become prevalent proverbs of her's. He knew the reason as to why he had been hurrying to complete the move,

"To be honest, Marron, I'm gonna miss living here too."

"Really?" Marron answered with a surprised timbre, "How so?"

"Well, for starters, Kame House has been my home for pretty much my whole life. Whenever I look down on the shore, I envision myself as a young boy, training with your uncle Goku. Day and night, we used to train under the guidance of Master Roshi, who has helped me so much over the course of my life. I mean, if it wasn't for this little place in the middle of nowhere, your mother and I wouldn't have gotten to know each other, fall in love, and receive the greatest gift in the whole world."

"What gift was it, Daddy?" Marron naively enquired. Krillin briefly paused to chuckle at his daughter's adorable ignorance, before proclaiming proudly,

"It's you, sweetie!"

An overwhelming tide of joy swept over Marron's heart. Her delight manifested itself in a stream of tears. Krillin gave his precious child a warming embrace, trying to hold back tears of his own. It wasn't easy for him to reveal how much Kame House had meant to him. He absolutely adored this place and everything it had provided to him.

They promptly broke apart from each other, rapidly erasing any evidence of sadness from their faces.

"So, what are you gonna miss about living here?" Krillin asked out of curiosity. Taking no time at all to think of her answers, Marron gleefully listed along with her fingers,

"I'm really gonna miss building my sandcastles, playing with Turtle, and watching Mommy beat up Master Roshi!"

Krillin couldn't help but let out a small burst of laughter; Marron could really come out with the most bizarrely innocent, yet truthful responses imaginable. Marron too joined in with the giggles, adding along to her list,

"I'm also gonna miss the view of the ocean from my bedroom, as well scaring Oolong in the dark!"

"Oh, I'm sure you will!" Krillin returned, fully aware of Oolong's distaste of Marron's cheeky pranks. He then arose from the floor and made his way over to the windowsill. As he gazed upon the vast horizon ahead of him, he recovered his confidence. Marron followed her father, mimicking his peaceful expression as she stood on the tips of her toes.

"You know, Marron," Krillin gladly declared, "because of our little chat, I think I'm more excited for our future now than I was when we first bought our new house. Through our reminiscing, I'm finally prepared for all the new memories our family are gonna create together. It's gonna be awesome and I wouldn't wanna share with anyone other than you and your mother."

Krillin's newfound optimism naturally spread unto his daughter, "I'm excited too, Daddy." She hugged her father's left leg tightly; today had finally become the joyous occasion it should have been all along.

"Thank you." She sincerely added. Her father beamed down at her, giving her hair a little tussle before replying,

"No worries, my little firefly."

"There you are!" Another familiar voice announced with relief. Krillin and Marron turned around to find Eighteen standing by the bedroom door "I was wondering where you two had disappeared off to. Is everything okay?"

"Yes, Momma!" Marron answered with her typical exuberance. She then made a run for it down the stairs; Marron was going to make sure she enjoyed her last few moments as a Kame House resident to the fullest. Her parents watched in bemusement as she vanished down the staircase.

"She seems much happier now." Eighteen remarked, scratching the top of her head.

"We actually had quite the heart-to-heart just now." Krillin returned with an affectionate smile. Eighteen gently closed the door behind her as she approached her husband standing by the windowsill. She keenly noticed the more relaxed demeanour her husband was displaying,

"I can see it did you some good." It certainly helped that she had slid her arms around his waist.

"It sure indeed." He confirmed contently as he willingly got lost in the unexpected kiss he found himself in. Sure, Krillin was certainly going to miss living in Kame House and he would always be grateful to what this place had done for him. But as he broke apart from his wife's tender lips and watched his daughter race around on the beach below, he couldn't wait to see what the future had in store for him and his family.

Eighteen took Krillin by his soft hand and led him to the bedroom door. She pushed the door open, guiding him away from the empty room. As Krillin looked back at the room behind, a satisfied sigh followed him out the door. His time in Kame House was finally over. With that, he silently closed the door, let go of the rusty handle, and walked away with a comforting thought; the best days were yet to come.

THE END

A/N: Thank you so much for giving this a read. If you enjoyed this one-shot, be sure to follow and favourite this story so you can keep updated with my latest work. I'm also trying to write shorter stories such as this one so I can get more K18 content out to all you awesome people. Thank you once again and until next time, peace.