3. Twitch
"Goku, honey? I need some help: we're low on firewood, and I'd love it if you'd make up a small pile for me."
Goku paused in the middle of his kata, then sighed as he stepped out of his stance, dropping his hands to the side. "Be right there," he replied, walking round to the back of the house where felled tree trunks stood. He went to the pile, picking up a giant log with one hand, the other on his hip.
"Isn't this Gohan's chore?" asked Goku, spotting Chichi at the back door.
She wiped her hands on her apron, tilting her head to the side. "Well, he has been busy of late: he's working so hard to try get into medicine and I didn't want to disturb him for something I know you can easily do."
He put the trunk on the grass, then went over to the axe embedded in a tree stump. "But I want to train, Chichi."
She allowed herself the luxury of counting to ten before she replied.
"Goku, med school is so important to Gohan. He wants to help people and I won't stand in the way of that. The entrance exams are in two weeks' time and he has to make up for all the school he missed while he was helping me raise Goten."
Goku rankled at the underlying message: because you weren't there.
"I did say I was sorry for staying dead, Chichi. Look at how peaceful it was when I was gone: the day I came back everything went wrong."
She watched him chop the tree up, the axe going through the six foot thick trunk as though it were butter.
"I know, Goku. I just wish you'd stop taking it so personally every time I ask you for help. With Vegeta gone, Piccolo AWOL and the boys leaving the house every moment they can, I don't have anyone else."
Goku paused, straightening up, the axe hanging at his side. "Wait, what? What does Vegeta have to do with this? Or Piccolo?"
Chichi smiled and leaned against the doorjamb. "Vegeta helped Gohan survive his own power, and Piccolo helped him grieve. Between those two, they helped me around the house and with the boys. Vegeta knew so much about Saiyan babies that he was invaluable when it came to raising Goten, who was just so much more powerful and restless as a baby compared to Gohan. Piccolo used to enter tournaments and give all the money to Gohan, claiming he had no use for it. Gohan used it to pay for fees and groceries. I don't know if I would have made it without their help."
Goku dropped the axe, sitting heavily on what remained of the tree trunk with his hands dangling between his knees. "Wait, are we talking about the same Saiyan? I can kind of see Piccolo chipping in, but Vegeta? He can't see past his own aura, never mind help anyone else, least of all hated 'Kakarot's' family."
Chichi frowned, folding her arms. "Vegeta didn't just walk in here and become my bosom best friend forever, Goku. He knew that Gohan's new power would destroy him and possibly the planet if he didn't learn to harness it. When he found out I was pregnant with Goten, and consequently about another member of his beloved race, he decided that I, 'the shrew', needed to be watched in order to ensure Goten would survive to term. He was gruff and difficult most of the time, but he tried, Goku. Piccolo and Vegeta would take the boys off my hands and take them sparring, giving me time to rest. They would help me with food by hunting. By and by, they became my friends when no one else was bothered."
She sat on the step, her toes wiggling in the grass. "Bulma did her part to help, but the rest of our friends fell away when you died. That's when I realised that they were only your friends and that I had to turn to unlikely sources. But what concerns me is your problem with Vegeta. Goku…since when were you so hard on him? This isn't like you. Every time Vegeta came round you rebuffed him, and Piccolo has stopped visiting as well. They're my friends, Goku. My only real friends. I deserve to know why you're treating Vegeta the way you do. He isn't a bad man."
"As far as you know," said Goku, gathering the wood into a pile. "I shared a mind and body with him, Chichi. I know him better than you ever will. He was evil, just like Frieza, and Cell, and everyone else I've had to fight. He did such terrible things before he came to Earth, and it hurt me to realise that I had forgiven him so many times and he didn't deserve it. He killed half a stadium to get my attention, and allied himself with Babidi to get even with me. He released Buu and is directly responsible for all the shit that ensued that day."
Goku's face fell further. "He let Cell become perfect. He is responsible for me dying and missing out on everything that happened in seven years. I missed the birth of my son and lost my family. Vegeta has caused me more pain than is worth mentioning."
Chichi knew she often yelled for the silliest of things, but she felt that strong words would not be amiss here. She stood up, and clenched her fists at her side.
"Goku. You had a choice to come back. You didn't. You never acknowledged Vegeta's power, forcing him into the shameful desperation that led to Majin Buu and Cell. And now here you stand, whining about the bad choices you made that you have made Vegeta's fault. If you knew anything of what he has become in the time you were gone, you would know he has changed, and that he is trying to make a better man of himself. He is a dedicated father and mentor and has wanted nothing more than to prove himself in your eyes. He mourned you, Goku. So much so that he stopped training for two years."
She turned away, and Goku saw the anger that tensed her back and whitened her knuckles.
"Don't you ever speak of Vegeta like that in front of me again, Goku. He is the reason Gohan is still alive and so powerful and helped this family survive after you left us to go train."
With that she slammed the door behind her, leaving Goku alone and hunched in the twilight.
***
Gohan smiled as he landed on the lawn in front of Capsule Corp, unnoticed by Goten and Trunks as they hurled snowballs at each other. Gohan upped his energy to avoid freezing and quickly went through the front door, almost bumping into Kami's own gift to Saiyans.
"Gohan, you handsome man! Welcome!"
"Hi, Mrs. Briefs! How are you?"
She smiled and kissed him on both cheeks before clasping her hands in front of her chest and leaning back on her heels. "Well enough, I suppose. I have been somewhat bored since that gorgeous Vegeta left…no man has ever had his eloquence when it comes to describing my food. Do you know where he is?"
He stepped back, still somewhat disturbed by how she managed to leer at him while smiling brightly like that. "Well, I'm here to talk to Bulma about that: I'm looking for him at the moment."
"Oh, that's great! Can I offer you anything to take with you to her lab? I baked quadruple chocolate cake this morning – inspired by that lovely Nigella Lawson, of course – I'm sure you'd love some."
He smiled and nodded. "I'd like that very much, ma'am."
He was hustled along to the kitchen, where half a cake was lovingly cut and put on a plate. He was then directed towards Bulma three floors down. He ate all but one slice before he got to the password-controlled door to Bulma's steel echelons. He pressed a button on the intercom.
"Bulma? It's me, Gohan. Can I come in?"
"Be right there!" chirped Time Magazine's Woman of the Century, before the doors opened to reveal her in a two-piece suit, lab coat and looking both amazingly good and distantly sad.
He held out the chocolate cake with a smile. "For my aunt."
She thwapped him on the shoulder. "Hush, sweetie. You make me sound old. Come in, sorry about the mess…android collapsed all over the place."
He followed her in, making sure he stepped clear of the door before it slid closed. Bulma collapsed into her wheelie chair, sending it rolling back a foot.
"What brings you here, kiddo? Not bad news, I hope."
Gohan sat on the floor, crossing his legs and folding his hands in his lap. "Besides coming to fetch Goten for dinner, I thought I'd ask you about Vegeta. Um, I saw him today, he came to help us out with that alien I called you about earlier."
"He's still alive! Thank god, Gohan. I was so worried…"
"Bulma?"
She leaned forward in her chair, biting the tip of her thumb, her gaze dropped to the gleaming blue tiles. "I thought he was dead. When he sacrificed himself to defeat Buu, I felt something echo through my heart. I just knew then that he was dead. And then, a few hours after he told me he was going to 'sort things out with Kakarot', I felt the same thing. Then Trunks and Goten came running in here and they told me that they couldn't sense him at all."
She ran a hand through her hair with a sigh. "I tried everything, Gohan. We got Piccolo to check with Enma if Vegeta was dead. The boys disappeared for days trying to find him, and we can't use any of the dragonballs yet because of the wishes we made after that awful Buu debacle. What really destroys me, though, is that Vegeta was just trying to make things right with Goku when he disappeared, and it seems now that he won't have a chance."
Gohan reached forward and took her hands in his, squeezing them gently. "I'm going to make it all right, Bulma. Baba has gone to consult the libraries and archives in the Otherworld…she thinks there's a cure for whatever curse Vegeta has that makes him invisible to Saiyans and unable to withstand their presence. I'm going to Piccolo now to see what he can do. We'll get your husband back!"
Bulma chuckled nervously. "Um, Gohan…Vegeta and I aren't married. We just have a strong parent bond because of Trunks. Oh, honey, don't look so awkward…I was married to my work, he was married to training. It was never going to work in a marital sense, but he is still important to me as both my friend and as Trunks' father."
Her face fell. "It's just especially tragic that he's disappeared when he was trying his hardest to be a good friend to Goku and really make it up to him."
Gohan pushed to his feet and hugged Bulma. "I'll do my very best: I miss him too and want to bring him back from wherever he is."
She stood up, her hands falling into the pockets of her lab coat as she smiled. "I know you will, Gohan. If anyone can, you're the best bet. Have you asked Goku to help you?"
He didn't think he could bear to tell her that his father didn't seem to care very much about what happened to Vegeta. "I'm going to ask him tonight…I'd thought I'd go to him when I had information to work with."
"That's a good idea. You have my number…please call me if something comes up or if I can help at all."
"Sure thing, Bulma. Sorry to have disturbed you."
She waved this off. "You're one of my adopted sons, kiddo. You could call me at 5am and I wouldn't be bothered."
He grinned, letting her lead him to the door. "I know. I'll be in touch as soon as I have information."
"Alright, Gohan. Good luck."
AN: The ooc continues! In the next chapter, Goku gets tons of screen time and all will make sense, I hope. Thank you for the reviews!