Reading of dispair
Chapter nine: Chariot
Disclaimer: I do not own DB, DBZ, or DBGT.
Gohan had woken up bright and earily the next morning and quietly slipped out of bed so as to not wake up Sky. He sighed as he walked out of his room and down the hall way to the kitchen. The smell of breakfast wafted into his nostrils as he yet again had no desire to eat. He had already threw up late last night when Chichi was asleep. Sky, Jasmine, and Piccolo came into the bathroom at that moment to comfort him. A little blood was present in his vomit, but that was to be expected because Calife makes the inner lining of the stomach bleed a little occationally. Once he was in the kitchen he saw Jasmine cooking breakfast and Piccolo outside meditating. Chichi was still fast asleep just like Sky was. Jasmine looked behind her at the kitchen table to see Gohan taking a seat.
"Good morning, how are you feeling?" She asked.
Gohan looked up at her with sleepy eyes,"In pain in every single asspect." He answered blandly.
"You have to take your meds Gohan. And I checked on your mother, she's better after the blood transfusion. She's still sound asleep and I decided to make breakfast to take some load off her." Jasmine informed.
"Thanks Aunt Jaz, I really appreciate what you're doing for this family. It means a lot to us. And yes, I do have to take my meds before I eat because if I don't I'm just gonna throw everything back up and my stomach is gonna start bleeding again." He said as he walked to the fridge to pull out a glass vile of medicine.
"Okay, I went over that cook book Doctor Reich gave you so I know what you can and can't have to eat. I also went to the super market this morning to pick some stuff up." Jasmine replied as Gohan continued to pull out his med supplies.
Gohan had a lot of med supplies. This cancer did indeed invoulve so much medicine. He had to drink a nasty twenty ounce medicine shake to coat his stomach before he ate to keep it from bleeding on the inside. Then after his meal he'd have to drink a special tea to calm his nausea, and then take an injection in the stomach through a tube for the pain. The injection was a huge knock out to him literally. It put him out for two hours. But the up side to that was he only had to take one of those shots a day. The tea he drank whenever he felt nauseated which was most of the time and the tube in his stomach he had to change once a week. The shake he had to keep refridgerated like the vile of serium and only drank that before each meal.
His stomach was so sensitive that he'd start bleeding if food so much as touched it. He had to be on a strict diet because of it too. No sugar, startch, carbanated drinks, salt, citric fruits and vegetables, and some artifical presurvatives. The truth was, he hated it. He had to cut most of his favorite foods out of his diet completely. But he delt with it the best he could and stuck to his diet. Gohan sat at the table and pulled out two sheets of paper towels and placed a sterilized tube cleaning and changing kit on top of them. Then he pulled off his shirt and placed it on the back of his chair.
Jasmine watched as she finished cooking. She couldn't believe Gohan, her favorite little guy had a tube surgically embeded in the side of his stomach. It was located on the right side next to his third ab muscle. She cringed in pain as she watched him do his weekly tube change. Gohan opened the sterilized pack and pulled on the gloves. He pulled out the cleaning packet with the iodine swabs in it and tore it open. Jasmine made sure she was at least ten feet away from him when he did his cleaning. If she stood too close he could risk airborne bactirial contamination that could result in a nasty infection. Because of this he could no longer train for he was really fragile and the risk of the tube getting lodged dangerously into his stomach.
Gohan placed the packet down on the paper towels next to the kit and unscrewed the used tube from his stomach to throw it away in the red hazmat ben the hospital gave him with his supplies. Once that was done he took the three iodine swabs and cleaned the screw cap and opening in a circular motion. He threw those swabs away in the ben and pulled out another packet of swabs that was saturated in rubbing alcohol. He then repeated the action with those swabs and threw them out. After that, he pulled out a new tube and opened the starilized pack and screwed it on the cap and pulled his gloves off trashing them. Then he pulled his shirt back on and opened the shake to start drinking it.
He paused after drinking half of it. Usually he downed it due to how nasty it tasted. He looked up at Jasmine only to see a look of pain on her face.
"I'm sorry, I'm just not use to seeing this." She stammered.
"I know. You're a military doctor. You're not use to working with cancer paitents let alone seeing me with it. I understand." Gohan sympatized.
"Yes, you were always my favorite little guy sense I knew you at newborn stage. I feel sick seeing you suffer." Jasmine said sorrowfully as she hugged him.
"I know. And by the way, you still call the groscery store the super market?" He asked jokingly while trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, why?"
"That's what they called it in the fifties! You're not that old. You were born in nineteen seventy for god's sake." Gohan laughed.
"Well I grew up with people calling it that. And when you have kids they'll laugh at you too for saying things in past terms." Jasmine lectured.
"Hahahahahahah! Please don't get mom started about grandbabies. She's like a pringle can on that subject. Once she pops, she just don't stop." Gohan moaned trying to not get depressed.
"Oh, man her. I've seen some grandchild nuts worse than her, trust and believe." Jasmine laughed.
"Don't even go there about the people you use to hang out with. I know you hung out with some crazies." Gohan replied.
" I know with as much shit as I told you and your mother about the things I did when I was her age, oh you'd think I was on crack or something." She laughed.
"Anyway, where's Piccolo?"
"In the front yard meditating and listening in on our conversation." Jasmine replied.
"Okay, because I didn't see him on the couch when I came down here." Gohan replied.
"He was outside before I got up to go to the store." Jasmine informed.
Just then, Sky came out rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Jasmine looked up with a smile on her face.
"Hey, good morning just in time for breakfast! Take a seat."
"Okay, I just took my medicine." Sky yawned.
A embarrassing idea popped into Jasmine's head, she was going into mother mode. She had the habit of embarrassing Gohan like a parent would their child. She held off on it until she served breakfast and they started eating. Jasmine took her seat and picked up her fork.
"Sooooooo, what'd you two do last night?" Jasmine pried.
"We talked about my father and went to bed." Gohan answered.
"Yeah, uh huh."
"What? We didn't have sex if that's what you're empling." Sky cut in.
Gohan spat out his food at the word "sex".
"WHAT? We didn't do that! Were eleven!" Gohan screatched.
"No no no no, calm down. I mean your mother wanted me to periodically check on you two and I just had to snap a picture." Jasmine chuckled as she pulled out her digital camera and showed them the picture.
The picture revealed Sky and Gohan sleeping together in his bed cuddling. Jasmine laughed as their faces turned bright red.
"I'm keeping this bitch as black mail." Jasmine chuckled.
"Awww, come on Aunt Jaz!" Gohan whined.
"Hey, all's fair in love and war my friend."
"That is so true." Sky chuckled embarrassed.
Chichi came down the stares and sat at the table. Jasmine surved her breakfast, but Chichi didn't say anything. It took Jasmine thirty minutes to convince her to eat. She finally did and Jasmine decided to do something with all three of them to take their minds off the reacent tradgic event. They went to the park and took a canoe ride. They talked about their memories and laughed as Jasmine cracked open a bottled coke.
"Jasmine? How in the world are we friends again?" Chichi asked.
"I don't know. Maybe I grew on ya? You're guess is as good as mine."
"True?' Sky agreed.
"I'm worried about you Gohan." Chichi stated.
"Mom, worry about recovering first. I'm more concerned about you." Gohan answered.
"Gohan you're my concern. You're my son. Now's a perfect time to tell me why you're upset with your father. And I heard your talk with Sky last night. It wasn't hateful but I just want you to know I'm here for you."
Gohan sighed,"I know he left for the good of the planet but it wasn't necessary. I defeated Cell the planet was not in danger anymore so he should've come back. He had other responsibilities to tend to besides the planet. I felt like he took everything he had including his family for granted. Do you know how many people would kill just to have a chance at life again or to have all the stuff he has? Great friends, a loving son, and a wife that stays loyal to him and does everything for him? It just doesn't make sense at all." Gohan explained.
"I see your point Gohan but why do you hate him?" Jasmine asked as Chichi agreeed.
"Because he took us all for granted, left when he didn't have to, tossed us a side when he should be here being a husband and a father, put unnecessary stress on both of us, that stress caused our recent loss, and it also caused my cancer. And when he was home he was gone most of the day and didn't come back till dark. He should've been more involved with his family than he was. Now I know why you always complained at him as much as you did because...deep down you wanted the same thing out of him." Gohan finished choked up.
"Gohan, honey. You know he did his best. You can't blame or hate him for that." Chichi interjected trying to reason with him.
It was true, Chichi wanted Goku to be more involved with the family with every day life but she didn't want her son to hate his own father. She didn't want that kind of pain or any other added stress on Gohan. If he got too stressed then he'd wind back up in the ER and she was trying to avoid that. Gohan begain to cry as he looked up at Chichi.
"You guys don't get it," he muttered saddly,"I needed him to be a father to me, not a hero or a teacher."
With that he took off in tears.
"Gohan wait!" Chichi and Jasmine cried in unison.
"Sky, stay here with Chichi. I'm gonna go after him." Jasmine stated as she took off.
She then took to the sky fallowing Gohan's energy. It fluctuated oddly as it held such emotional tremoil. A wave of worry came over her as she continued to fly after him. Then she felt another energy signal. It was Piccolo. He stopped her in her tracks as he sent a telepathic message to her.
"Jasmine, I have Gohan. I'm going to talk to him. It's best if you went back to bring his mother and girlfriend home."
"Alright, bring him back home when he's done venting. I want him relaxed when he comes back."
With that she turned around and headed for the canoe to take Chichi and Sky back home.
Another chapter done!
Once again thank you to my reviewers :D
The Chariot means Mind over matter.
Until next time