"I don't care about that right now!" She spat, running out of patience.
"Then... What is this all about, ChiChi?" Asked a very confused Goku.
"Why DID you marry me, Goku?" ChiChi asked.
Damn, Goku thought to himself.
Goku hung his head, the battle was lost. "Chichi, you know I'm real bad at this stuff...", He could never find the right words to express his feelings, he just wasn't that type of guy. He could make her laugh, he would protect her from an infinity of evil, he would give his life for her in a heartbeat... but he could never quite put those feelings into words. "I know that look. You want me to tell you something real romantic that'll make ya feel better, but you know I'm drawing blanks here. I'm just not built that way." He knew she'd be disappointed.
"Wow." ChiChi blinked whilst rubbing her temples with her fingertips. "Really Goku? It's a simple question. Why did you marry me? Even you can come up with an answer... any answer is better than this." Her big, brown eyes welling up with sparkly tears; Heartbroken. She wasn't asking for too much, it wasn't an unreasonable request and yet he refused.
"You've always said I didn't force ya, so... there must be a reason. Why did you marry me?", she pleaded.
The harder he tried to think of something to say, the more empty his thoughts became. There's just no use, Son Goku couldn't think of anything to say to his hurting wife.
"Babe! Snap out of it! I've died and come back to you so many times I've lost count, why am I on trial here? Do you not think I love you or somethin'?", Goku attempted one last time, trying to forget the whole thing happened. He loved her deeply, wasn't that enough?
"Goku-Sa..." Chichi straightened up and put her hands on his shoulders, "I know you love me now... but I always wondered. What if I hadn't come along to remind you of your promise? Or worse, what if you decided not to keep the promise; after all it was unreasonable of me to hold you to it. It was something you said as a child, not fully aware of its meaning."
"I could have said no, you know? You didn't force me.", He smiled and put his hands around her waist, kissed her hand resting on his shoulder.
"Okay, so what made you KEEP your promise then? Even after realizing bride was not something you eat.", Chichi chuckled at the memory.
Goku smiled at his stupid, young self, of course he would assume it was something food related. I'm so clueless... Goku tried his hardest to think back on that day and remember something meaningful that might satisfy his wife. He drew a blank, damn his brain!
Several minutes had passed and Chichi had taken a seat by their bed. Sitting there with her messy hair and brassier pushing her breasts together. She was looking up at him with her pretty, shiny, bright eyes. Goku looked at her and with her looking all cute and sexy he became distracted.
"Can we just leave this for another time? I promise to think of something", he inched closer to her and kissed her sweetly on the lips.
Chichi began sobbing.
"I can't believe it, Goku-Sa... I did force ya didn't I?!", She said in-between sobs.
He lifted his tiny wife and placed her higher on the bed and cuddled her, putting his arm around her and pulled her onto his chest. She covered her tear-soaked face with both hands and fully let herself fall into self-pity and cried into her husband's bare chest.
Goku was heartbroken, his wife was unhappy and he didn't know how to fix it. His face filled with angst and preoccupation, he wished so badly her sadness was a live enemy, someone he could punch with his fists into obliteration. But no, this time his mighty strength was useless. He took a deep breath and took in both her hands with his large paw, and wiped away her tears and pushed her hair back so he could see her. "Okay babe. Let's figure this out, but you're gonna have to help me because I'm real bad at this, kay?"
Chichi looked up at her husband and saw how worried he looked and how hard he was trying and she stopped her sobbing. "Okay", she said. "I'll do my best not to let my emotions get the best of me", and gave him a half-smile.
"Alright", he smiled at her and rested his hand against hers on his chest.
"How about you tell me what your first impression was of me? Back then, at the 23rd tournament..." Asked Chichi, initiating the conversation.
A memory popped into his head and widened his smile.
"Well If I do remember correctly, you tapped my shoulder and I looked at ya and I didn't recognize ya and then you started screamin' in my face, 'YOU IDIOT!', and walked away all kinds of angry".
"Oh yeah", she cringed at the memory. "You were so rude to me Son-Kun, you said 'Who are you?' all careless, crushing my heart. That is not what I had in mind, I thought you'd be happy to see me."
"Haha I'm so sorry ChiChi, I had NO idea. But you know me, I've always had terrible manners", He said.
"You don't have to tell me, I live with you.", She playfully elbowed his ribs, and smiled. "Okay, go on".
"So after you left all kinds of angry, I thought, WHO THE HELL WAS THAT?!", Goku said, reliving the memory. "HAH! And then", He continued, "All my friends were so shocked by you, they all thought you were so pretty and wanted me to introduce you to them. But I was just trying to figure out who the hell you were. But you know me... I was never going to figure it out..."
He paused to try and remember what had actually happened afterwards. "...After watching some of your fights I began to realize you were not a bad fighter at all, and started to kind of look forward to having a match with you."
"You did?", asked ChiChi surprised and flattered.
He gave her a nod.
"Krillin kept looking at ya saying how pretty you were, it kinda forced me to look at ya in that same way too and I remember trying to figure out what he meant by 'pretty' and then I realized it and I thought 'Oh yeah she is real pretty'..."
"Aww... that's so sweet.", ChiChi squealed, delighted by her husbands confession.
But Goku continued, "I was also thinking 'Wow, this girl is kinda crazy, blowing up on me like that. Who does that?'", narrowing his eyes at her, playfully accusing.
ChiChi couldn't really argue with that so she glared at him and stayed silent. "Ok, moving on... Continue, please."
"Um... let's see...", Goku sctratched at his jaw, trying to remember the rest. "I kept trying to remember ya, I didn't recognize you at all, you changed so much since I last I saw ya."
"I was trying not to get too distracted because my main focus was Piccolo, but I gotta be honest. I ended up noticing your face, the little frowning look you gave me every time you glanced at me. It made me feel something I don't really know what... Like a little flop in my stomach." He said, motioning in circles at the pit of his stomach.
"I started to look forward to your little death glares, and bumping into you at the tournament and seeing you storm off in the opposite direction." He half-chuckled. "No one really ever paid attention to me so much, in that way, it was... exciting." Goku blushed a little, remembering his young self and the things he felt. He curled his arm back and scratched the back of his neck, feeling sheepish.
Chichi never knew this and she felt butterflies in her stomach. She didn't want to interrupt so she let Goku carry on with the story. She sat up and was now facing him at eye level, she really wanted to see his expression. A light shade of pink had taken over her husband's cheeks, she found this adorable.
"By the time our match came, I was so excited to fight against you. I knew I could beat you in a second, I just really wanted to talk to you and figure out where we'd met before." He confessed.
"Hey!", Chichi protested at his comment and playfully punched his shoulder. "You could have beat me in a second?! Really?", and pouted while crossing her arms.
Goku shrugged, "I'm just being honest." And he was, Goku was being completely honest.
This made Chichi realized something, Goku was looking forward to spending time with her, back at the tournament. She felt so many butterflies in her stomach... no these were no butterflies, these were seals flopping about in her stomach making a ruckus. She couldn't keep her hands to herself and put her arms around Goku's neck and pulled herself closer to him.
"So anyway," Goku continued, not noticing the effect his words had on his wife. "I was really excited for some reason, yeah I'm always excited before a fight but this time it was different. I kept thinking about your hair the smooth way it trailed behind whenever you'd flip directions, and how gracefully your body moved during a fight. I'd never seen anybody fight that way before... It was like watching a leaf in the wind." He placed the palm of his hand in the air and slowly zigzagged down, mimicking a leaf. "Before our match I decided that we should be friends and I think I said 'hello, or good luck', or something to ya and smiled at ya and you just gave me a look like you wanted nothing to do with me." Goku chuckled at that. "I was NOT expecting that at all, I thought you'd said something like 'Oh, hey, good luck to you too!' or whatever, but no, not you, you were full of surprises." He smiled.
Chichi just looked at her husband at that moment and realized he liked her. Back at the tournament, he liked her. It was overwhelming after 18 years... she never knew.
"I was so happy to finally get a chance to talk to you and find out who you were... but as soon the fight started you went straight for the punches, and I REALLY didn't want to hurt you. I never fought back, I just kept avoiding you and I tried my best not to hurt you."
That's because you liked me, you big goof, Chichi thought to herself.
"I wont lie, I was using the fight to figure you out, but you wouldn't sit still. Oh man, something about getting you all riled up and angry, pushing your buttons... You REALLY wanted to kick my ass and I couldn't get enough. I was so excited to be chased around by you." Goku sat up straight, getting a little aroused by the conversation.
"So, you liked it when I chased you around all angry?", Chichi looked him square in the eye with a puzzled look on her face.
"It's just thought, 'Wow this girl is not giving up that's really cool', and gosh you were so darn cute and interesting I just wanted to know all about you." Goku's eyes sparkled a little, thinking about the crush he developed on his wife during the fight.
Chichi realized that Goku liked her persistence. He was not afraid of it or pressured by it and this made her feel so happy inside she wanted to just kiss him already, but she didn't. Goku was so close to remembering the proposal, she fought the urge to kiss him and continued to listen patiently."Ok, so what else were you thinking?", she asked trying to seem casual, like her heart was not about to explode with happiness.
"Hmm... Let's see...", Goku squinted his eyes as if trying to get a better view. "I knew that my friends thought you were real cute, not to mention the guys in the audience that kept drooling over you... making comments." A small frown appeared on his forehead. "I didn't care for that at all, I remember their words didn't feel right with me. Can't really explain why, it made me feel angry...like they didn't have a right to say those things about you."
ChiChi looked at Goku surprised and confused, "Were you jealous?"
"Maybe? But I think I was just being protective. I didn't want anyone even thinking of harming you." Answered Goku. "So after you reminded me of my promise to make you my bride, and Yamcha told me that it meant living together forever... I thought, yeah that sounds pretty nice, I want to live together forever with this girl."
"Really? Just like that?" Asked ChiChi, not fully convinced it was a romantic gesture.
"Yeah." Goku nodded, completely confident. "That's why when you challenged me to win the match to know your name I said, 'Good, I thought I was going to have to live with you forever and not know your name.', because honestly I'd already made up my mind at that point."
"Just like that? You decided it would be okay to live together with me? Forever?", ChiChi wanted to know why Goku decided to take this seemingly impulsive decision.
"Well... yeah. I mean, that's what you wanted and you were so darn adorable I just wanted to please you." Goku looked at ChiChi fully convinced, "ChiChi had you asked me to blow up the moon I honestly think I might have done it, for you."
"WAIT, but this was before you found out who I was.", ChiChi was staring fully shocked.
"Yeah, so?", He didn't see where she was going with that question.
"Ok! So then what happened after you found out?!", Asked ChiChi impatiently,curiosity was killing her.
"Well, then you told me who you were, and then everything made sense.", said Goku.
"What do you mean everything made sense?!", asked Chichi.
"Well everything, why I liked having you around and stuff." Said Goku, cool as a cucumber.
"You mean?... When we were children... you, you liked me back then too?" She asked, her eyes widened and sparkled.
"Hell yeah, I liked you, I liked you very much." Goku's heart melted seeing his wife looking at him the way Goten does when he sees a treat.
'OH MY, OH KAMI.' Chichi was speechless.
Goku smiled, "You really don't remember? You rode Nimbus and pulled my tail... and punched me right in the face for being a pervert... No one else managed to send me flying through the air quite like you, Babe." He chuckled. "Yeah, It was nice bein' around ya, I remember that time we shared some apples. Then we took a nap by the river... Yeah. It was nice... just the kind of things I like to do on my own, but with your company."
She laughed at the memory. He took a nap by the river while she fantasized about their relationship. She giggled at the thought of the short, sweet little boy giving her apples trying to make her happy and then looked at the man in front of her, now towering over her still giving his all, still trying to make her happy...
She felt so foolish, he'd been hers all along. Chichi couldn't keep her emotions any longer and planted sweet kisses all over her husband's face.
Goku carefully paused her kisses by pulling away. "Wait, don't you want to hear the rest? I finally remember, why I married you."
"Of course!", She said as she sat back down and listened intently.
"So I felt the pressure to act fast, like when I'm cornered...", Goku began.
Chichi cocked her head in irritation, at the word cornered.
"... in a battle, when you have to choose and make an important decision in split seconds. I followed my gut, quickly made my decision and I never looked back. " He gave her a big grin.
"What exactly did you choose? To keep your promise?", ChiChi asked somewhat needing clarification.
"I choose to go with my gut instinct, and my gut told me to marry you." Goku remembered completely now.
"Oh honey, do you really mean that? I mean, you kept backing away from me, anytime I tried to show any affection...", Chichi simply could not believe his words.
Goku looked at ChiChi in the eyes and said, "ChiChi, I wont lie to you, you terrified me. The last time anyone had ever shown me any kind of real affection was my Grandpa, and... I was just not used to it. It made me feel real uncomfortable at first."
"Oh, I'm sorry honey, I couldn't help it! I'd been waiting forever to touch you..." Chichi said, blushing.
Goku pulled her even closer and rested his face on hers. "It's okay, I quickly warmed up to it, remember? Anyway, yeah. I won the tournament AND your heart on that day."
"You won my heart?" Chichi pulled back and teased him.
"Yeah, I mean that's why I'm posing like a winner in all our wedding pictures and have that stupid grin on my face". Goku extends his arm and grabs the photo of their wedding on their night stand.
In the frame, a young Chichi clinging to her new husband's arm and young Goku standing proudly with one arm lifted in the air while forming a fist and a grin on his face.
Chichi looked at the picture and realized the answer had been sitting there all along.
Goku put the picture back on the night stand and turned back to his wife.
"I'm glad I married you, I'm glad you are my wife, ChiChi". He said in a playful, husky tone and began kissing her neck and buried his face in her hair, taking in the sweet coconut smell.
"You big goof... I love you." She responded, and let her husband take in her scent, while she took a moment to let everything sink in.
After that night, ChiChi never brought up the subject ever again because she knew full well that Son Goku had ALWAYS been hers.
And that moment their oldest son Gohan walked in the door and shouted loudly so she could hear him from their bedroom, "Hey Mom, I'm home! I'm starving! Hey did you make anything for dinner?"
Chichi got up from their bed and began putting on her shirt.
"Aww man!" Pouted a disappointed Goku. "There goes our alone time." He whispered in a soft tone so as to not be heard by his oldest son."Wait..." He grabs her by the wrist and pulls her against his hips. "It's not over young lady, you have wifely duties to attend to."
"Oh really? Well I have motherly duties to attend to first." She smiles, and teasingly strokes his hair.
"Don't forget about me okay?" Goku says to her, wanting to keep the playfulness going.
"Just give me ten minutes, I'll just make him some pancakes or something." Says Chichi.
"Aww man, now I want pancakes", pouts Goku.
"Okay. You can have pancakes... or you can have ... you know 'pancakes'... what is your gut instinct telling you this time, eh?"
She winks at him, hoping he'll get the hint.
At that moment Goku places two fingers against his forehead and instantly transmits himself and his wife. They disappear from their bedroom and reappear in a remote, deserted location.
"ChiChi, I really want pancakes." Says Goku.
The End.
Thank you all for the positive reviews! I'm thrilled! Nothing makes me want to keep writing more than positive reviews! Really, thank you all for taking the time to leave kind, positive words. They mean the world to me! ^_^
