Season 2: Ch 3- Aftermath: Adjustments

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z except my own characters

Chemistry-Deaf: Chi-Chi is going to get some surprise guests.

Saxophone allowed Gohan to run towards his dying father and followed. Piccolo panted and started to walk. He passed Raditz who couldn't believe that he's dying. Piccolo spared him a glance as he mentioned Kakarrot giving up his own life. "He has people to protect here. If giving his own life would save theirs, he would do so," Piccolo told him. "You have nothing." Piccolo continue on as Raditz slowly died.

Gohan collapsed on Goku's shoulder and cried. Goku hissed at the sudden pain and slowly got his hand to pat Gohan on the head. "Gohan," Goku said softly. "Now, you have something to wish for."

Gohan barely heard it, but he sniffed back and looked up. "W-wh-what d-d-do you me-an, d-dad-dy?" he asked.

"The dragon can bring me back to life. I'm sure you can ask my friends to help."

A hopeful look appeared in his tearful face.

"Saxophone, Piccolo, could you two look after my son and Chi-Chi while I'm gone? I hope it's not too much to ask-"

"It's not. Don't worry about it, Goku," Saxophone replied. "We will."

"Thanks. Would you like that Gohan?"

"Y-yes, daddy."

As this was happening, a small plane housing four people arrived. Bluma landed the ship as Krillin and Master Roshi got out of the ship in a hurry. Launch had a concern expression as she picked up the basket.

"Goku!" Krillin shouted as he ran to him. He picked up his hand as Goku turned to face him. "Don't give up! I'm sure Korin have some beans for you!"

"It's ... a little late for that, Krillin. But, you can help Gohan collect the Dragon Balls," Goku told him. He looked up at Bluma. "Same goes for you, right Bluma?"

"You can count on me, Goku!" Bluma promised. They watch Goku exhale his last breath and died. What happened next surprised everyone. Goku's body had disappeared.

"D-daddy?"

"Hmm, I see. Kami's behind this," Piccolo said.

"Kami?" Krillin and Master Roshi asked.

"I don't know who else could do this. Seems he had a plan with Goku."

"I got lunch set up!" Launch called. The rest looked over to see her on a large blanket some meters away. On it was the basket, plates stacked, drinks out, and the rest in a box.

"Are we seriously eating here?!" Krillin yelled.

"Well, she got everything set up. Might as well," Master Roshi said as he started walking.

"This was a battle ground! We still got a corpse here!" Bluma protested pointing at the remains of Raditz. Krillin and Bluma felt ignored and gave up. They followed Master Roshi to the picnic.

"Piccolo, are you alright?" Saxophone asked when he saw Piccolo being quiet and thoughtful. He was going to get Gohan since he didn't move.

"I guess. I felt liberated for some reason."

"You know Goku will come back."

"Funny, that doesn't bother me so much."

"Looks like King Piccolo's hold over you had finally broken."

"Yeah, I still have some of his memories though. So, we're handling a crybaby and a shrieking harpy?"

"His wife will be difficult to handle, I'll give you that." Saxophone picked up Gohan and carried him to join the others. Piccolo followed him to get their places.

"Ah-CHOO!" Launch sneezed and her hair turned blond. "That damn Tien! Making me sneeze, so he can-!" She noticed where she was and had a confused look. "What's going on?"

After explaining the battle and everyone finish eating, they discussed on what to do. Saxophone planned on taking Gohan to Chi-Chi with Piccolo to explain the situation. He got various comments of "good luck", "that's brave of you", and "hope she doesn't kill you". Bluma discussed about scheduling time to search for the Dragon Balls. Since the Son's family had three already, there's four more to look for. Gohan wanted to help out to look at least one. This week, Krillin decided to look for one.

Once the topic of Raditz being an alien, it was speculated that he must have a ship. The first one to meet him was Piccolo, and everyone went to the meeting spot. Piccolo vaguely recalled the direction Raditz was. They set off a slow search for the ship. It took them nearly 2 hours to find the unusual crater. They found a dead farmer and a broken truck nearby. Bluma somehow managed to get the pod to Capsule Corps.

Gohan was starting to fall asleep, and Saxophone took this as cue that it's time to leave. Gohan rode Saxophone's back as Piccolo flew behind to make sure Gohan didn't fall off as they soar through the darkening sky. Launch, Krillin, Bluma, and Master Roshi have the picnic packed in the plane and flew back to the Kami House.

Chi-Chi's day was hectic as usual for her. She woke up early to dress for checking out the borders of her kingdom. She took papers that were due and delivered them before meeting up with various people interested in staying. Ever since the fire had extinguished, families that want to live in a country side had been requesting to live there and the population been growing. While her father could handle it, she wanted to make sure the people living were a good influence to her son. So far, there weren't any children for Gohan to hang out with.

She came back to make a big breakfast for her large appetite family. She had Gohan play in the woods after breakfast because he finished all the assignment early. Goku did his training routine as she looked over other paper works. After finishing half of them, she got some housework done and worked on lunch. Then she realized how late Gohan was out, she called for him and had Goku look for him after collecting firewood. They came back safe and ate up lunch. She already ate and started working on cutting up the large tree Goku got.

Goku came out and finished the job for her before taking Gohan to Kame House. She took a quick shower and got dressed for work. She realized she was late and rushed there. As soon as she entered, her work mode started. She relieved the woman working first shift and continued her work. She stayed overtime to make up lost time. By the time she got home, she was exhausted. Taking a quick break to relax herself and out of work clothes, she started dinner. She was waiting for the second meat to finish cooking when a knock sounded.

Confused, she made sure she was presentable, checked the food, and opened the door. What she saw was not what she wanted to see before the day end. "Piccolo?! Why the hell are you here?! And, IS THAT MY SON?!" she shrieked when she saw Saxophone holding a sleeping Gohan who awoke to his mother's voice. Saxophone and Piccolo resisted the urge to cover their ears.

"Mommy?" Gohan asked sleepily.

"Yes, I got the pleasure to meet your son," Saxophone replied. He was going to continue when she made a grab for Gohan. Gohan really woke up by the transition. He allowed his mother to hold him protectively.

"HOW DARE YOU! WHY DID YOU HAVE MY SON?!"

"Long story. I rather explain it when you're more comfortable and I'm not Piccolo. He's behind me." Saxophone stepped aside to allow the inside lights to show her Piccolo.

Her rage was replaced by fatigue. She didn't want to deal with this, but she needed to know. "Where's Goku?"

"Not coming for a while. I'll explain inside."

"Mommy, I'm hungry," Gohan told her. She looked at him and sighed. She set him down and told him to wash up.

"I suppose you're staying for dinner?" she asked them.

"If you please," Saxophone responded. She sighed and allowed them in but had Piccolo take his weighted cape off.

Dinner was awkward. Chi-Chi got another chair and made Saxophone and Piccolo sit next to each other and as far away as possible from Gohan. Gohan was also the closest to the exit. Gohan had the most food in front of him due to his Saiyan heritage, but he learned manners and the tense atmosphere had him eat quietly. The rest had one plate of food and their required drink. Piccolo ignored everything unless something got his attention and focus on eating his dinner. Saxophone kept a more watchful eye on Chi-Chi just in case she decided to talk as he ate.

The silent except for chewing dragged over dinner until Chi-Chi, Saxophone, and Piccolo were finished. Gohan was almost done eating as Chi-Chi gathered the plates. Chi-Chi made no move to relocate everyone to the living room and had her tea. She sent Gohan upstairs to study when he finished. "Now, tell me everything," she said to them.

"Piccolo, would you like to start?" Saxophone asked him.

"Huh? Why?" Piccolo asked.

"You were the one who met him first."

"Oh. I was at one of the wastelands when he showed up. I didn't have enough power to face him alone, so I went to get Saxophone. Then, we followed him." Piccolo finished talking and refused to continue.

"We got to the house on an island where he introduced himself as brother of Goku. He's from Planet Trade Organization and came to check on this planet. He wasn't happy to discover that this planet hadn't been wiped out. He was going to use your son as a bargaining chip before I took him away. Goku and Piccolo followed me and we managed to end him but at the cost of Goku's life.

The rest came and we discussed some things. Bluma will be analyzing the space pod he came in earlier, Gohan wanted to find the rest of the Dragon Balls along with Krillin and us if needed, and we promised Goku to look after you and your son," Saxophone explained as clearly as he could.

Chi-Chi gave him a quirk of an eyebrow near the end but continue sipping her tea. She set it down and stared at it as she thought about the story. "Well, in any case, I'm happy that Gohan was safe and didn't participate the battle. There's no need to look after us; we can handle ourselves."

"I would be incline to agree if your son's ki level wasn't higher than yours."

"What?"

"You probably can't sense ki, but Gohan have a lot in reserve that could blow up. It's a good thing you got a good tempered son. Otherwise, he could explode with each temper tantrum he had."

This shocked Chi-Chi. "Are you saying that I can't handle my son?" she asked in a threading voice. She was used to seeing the other person, typically a male, sweat in fear, but Saxophone remained neutral. That annoyed her.

"No, I'm not saying that. It would hurt him terribly if he accidentally killed you because he couldn't keep his power in check."

"SO YOU WANT TO TEACH HIM HOW TO FIGHT, IS THAT IT?!"

"I wasn't planning on teaching him how to throw punches and stuff! Just learn how to detect his ki and learn how to fire them if needed."

"...What?"

"I was thinking along the lines of meditation, physical endurance, and manipulating ki. You can come and watch us if you're still worried."

"I haven't agreed to this yet!"

"I know. Since it was a long day for all of us, I'll let you think about it. Would you prefer three days or a week to think about it?"

Chi-Chi sighed and sipped her tea. "It has. Give me a week to work this out. You two are dismissed."

Piccolo was the first to get up and out the house with Saxophone close behind. Saxophone managed to bid her farewell before chasing after Piccolo. Chi-Chi finished her tea, checked on Gohan, and get to work on the kitchen. For once, she was going to have leftovers instead of refusing Goku more food.

Saxophone and Piccolo arrived to the waterfall for the night.

"Are you going back to your area?" Saxophone asked him.

"No, I was thinking that I leave after tomorrow morning jog with you."

"Sounds good. Good night, Piccolo."

"G'night, father."

A week passed. Bluma and her father worked on the pod and discovered how the pod was able to move quickly. Piccolo decided to stay by himself for around a month. Krillin managed to find one Dragon Ball. Yajirobe arrived to the Kame House and notified Krillin and Master Roshi to hold off wishing Goku back to life. Chi-Chi managed to rearrange and changed Gohan's schedule for Saxophone's training since she was no expert on ki. Saxophone arrived when she was out doing her duties and waited for her.

Chi-Chi was frustrated that morning. She yelled at least two incompetent men for slacking or forgetting paper work. Gohan was late for study school because she couldn't get home in time to make a reasonable breakfast for him. When she came back after shopping for food, she saw Saxophone meditating near the house. She pinched the bridge of her nose and attempted to calm down. "How long have you been waiting?"

Saxophone opened his eyes and looked at her. "Not long. Roughly 30 minutes."

"Where's Piccolo?"

"By himself. He decided to stay alone for a month rather than a week or two."

"And the reason was...?"

"To give us time to get used to each other before he comes along."

"Are you planning to move in or something?"

"No. I plan to find a suitable resting spot for me nearby."

She sighed and opened the door allowing Saxophone to follow in. "Sit where ever you like." She gestured the living room as she put away groceries. Saxophone watched her go back and forth at least three times before she put everything away. Saxophone had picked the couch and chose the left side. As Chi-Chi put the food away, he took the time to look around.

The living room was clean and simple. There's four entrances: one lead to outside, another to the kitchen, third to the stairs for the second floor, and the fourth probably went to the basement. The couch faced the kitchen entrance against the wall. There's a window above it. To the left and right of the couch was a chair. In the middle had an oval shaped coffee table. There's a total of three lamps set up.

Chi-Chi came in and settled herself on one of the chairs. She had some papers with the schedule she made. "I managed to give you at least 2 hours to do your training with Gohan during the week and 5 hours on the week end. The rest of the time is where he's supposed to be doing or at."

Saxophone looked at the indicated schedule and could not read a word. "Maybe this is a good time to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"I can't read English."

"What!"

"Hear me out. I was grown up with a different language and can read that language well. Since coming here, I only spoke well because I had an ability to figure a way to translate what I wanted to say and what others were saying. So, I never bothered to learn how to read it."

"You want a reading lesson?"

"Sort of. I could write down in my language what your schedule said. Should I write on this or you got a blank sheet of paper I can use?"

"You can write on this. It's your copy."

Chi-Chi proceed to tell Saxophone what each block was as he quickly wrote down his language. Some had barely enough room to squeeze it in. She also told him her time for work, so he could look after Gohan while she was away. They then discussed living quarters for Saxophone and, much to her displeasure, Piccolo. Saxophone had suggested a cave or some natural habitat nearby, but she refused saying it's too far. Since neither wanted to live right inside of the Son's house, the compromise was to build another house nearby.

Chi-Chi allowed Saxophone free reign what he wanted the interior to look like while she indicated the area. She also pointed out where she wanted the front door to be. Saxophone could determine where the back door could be. Chi-Chi decided to pay for the expenses and the workers since Saxophone had no money. He's repaying it by watching Gohan. She didn't want to scare away the workers by having Saxophone there, she did that herself. Due to the project taking a lot of time, Saxophone remained living by the waterfall until it was done.

One thing that annoyed him was the need for a disguise. Chi-Chi didn't want his presence to scare off the workers and had him wear clothes that cover certain parts of his body. He also couldn't wear some of his normal clothes due to her freaking out about causing attraction. He put up with it. Once the workers were done (around 4 months), he could start wearing normal clothes.

A/N: I noticed this been read, so REVIEW please?