Chapter 6: Charmer
Rei woke up feeling more at ease, finally being able to meditate in the morning like normal. Yesterday the girls went back home by early afternoon as they all had things to sort out for back to school season. To her gladness, Grandpa had looked like he had gotten much better. She couldn't put into words with how relieved she was to not hear him coughing anymore. Apparently that sleepover with the girls did her some good to her mood as well. She had found herself much more tolerant around Goten's presence. After all, why get so riled up over such a blockhead?
"Whoa..!" A sudden crash was heard at the house and Rei dropped her broomstick to run back to the source of the sound. Goten winced as he got up and paled at the demolished rice paper doors that divided his room and Rei's.
"She's gonna kill me." He held his head in panic.
"What happened-" Rei gasped as she caught sight of the wreckage.
"I-It was an accident, I swear! I just-I got up and I tripped and… I'm real sorry, Rei." His lower lip quivered as he lowered his head, looking like a guilty dog ready to be scolded by its master.
Rei clenched her fists as she felt the rage level shoot up to her forehead, her skin flushing bright red. Suddenly, she caught sight of the remorseful expression on his face while he looked upon his mess and paused. She'd never seen him look so upset. She somehow found the will to mentally count to ten as her pent up boiling wrath came to a simmer. She placed a hand to cover her face and took a deep breath before exhaling.
Goten blinked, wondering what was taking so long for her to yell at him or hit him. He thought he'd be toast by now! He timidly glanced up to see her covering her face with her hand in order to compose herself. He didn't dare to say anything else until she had spoken first, fearing he'd provoke her. So he sat there quietly, waiting anxiously.
"I-" She began, taking in another deep breath. "I am going to make myself some tea and then get started on breakfast." She said and held up her hands in the air, signifying this was literally all out of her hands. "You clean this up. And when I come back, there better be something dividing, covering…just keeping our rooms separated! You got that?" She massaged her temples, hoping she was getting her point across on what she wanted from him.
Goten gave a brief nod in understanding before she stormed off. He sat there for a moment and blinked. "Did she just cut me some slack?" He wondered out loud.
When he came out of his shock he began to clean up the mess of torn rice paper and broken wood from the door frames. These doors really were flimsy. He'd have to watch it and not try to do so much as sneeze too hard or else he'll bring the whole house down. Like the big bad wolf with the pig's twig house.
He looked up and bit his lip when Rei's room was fully exposed. Sure, he had seen it well enough before during the sleepover, but now it seemed so intimate without the other girls there. His mind drifted into wayward fantasies of them carrying on living with the doors down like this. He could just be like a fly on the wall. Rei would walk in oblivious to his presence and begin to slowly undress like she did every night. A blush crept on his cheeks and the tips of his ears as he swallowed hard. He never looked directly at Rei through the doors when that happened. He was too scared of getting caught and the worry of getting caught overrode the temptation to peep. Nevertheless, he couldn't do that. But listening to the sound of her slipping out of her clothes and hearing them drop sent his mind on frenzy every time.
'Rei's right. I totally am a pervert.' He thought while sighing gloomily.
Hopefully he'll hear back from Trunks soon. He needed someone to talk to and help figure out what to do with all of these raging hormones.
The mess was cleaned up and the rooms were now divided by a clothesline holding up a long bed sheet to act as a curtain. It was simple but it'd have to do. He couldn't really make her new doors from scratch, much less pay for new ones. He groaned at the idea of her charging him for the damages. He didn't have much money on him anyway.
He cautiously approached the brunette in the kitchen while she was setting the table for breakfast. "It's done, Rei." He said quietly.
Rei turned to look at him as she set the third plate down. Goten felt a flicker of hope that Rei wasn't going to go back to tossing ramen noodle cups at him for what he did.
"All right, let's have a look." She said while taking a deep breath.
Goten gulped and led the way back to the room, praying she'd be pleased with what little he could do.
Rei studied the clothesline dividing the room intently. The sheet didn't seem too sheer so it was no different than the doors they had. The pins looked like they'd hold unless someone roughly pulled the sheet off by force. She'd need not worry of it slipping off without warning then. "I guess it'll do." She said confirming her approval.
Goten audibly exhaled happily in relief, a big smile tugging at his lips.
"Hold on a second." Rei spoke up, making him stiffen.
The miko walked over to the makeshift curtain and held her hand over her head to see where her height range was. It was a good few inches over her head. "Come here." She ordered him.
Goten blinked yet obliged, standing next to her. Rei casted her hand over the top of the line and moved it horizontally to measure when it stopped right in front of Goten's eyes.
"It's at your eye level." She stated.
Goten fidgeted and felt like he was going to start sweating. "Is that a problem?"
"Can you see over this curtain, into my room?" She asked.
Goten checked and then stood on his toes to compare. "Barely but I can see better standing on my toes like this. Why?"
"It just means you're going to have to crouch whenever I'm in there changing. And I can tell when you're not. That hair of yours sticks out from the top like a shark's dorsal fin in water." She said with her hands assertively on her hips.
Goten chuckled. "I guess I'll have to hum the theme from Jaws whenever I come in my room then."
"Please don't." Rei covered her eyes with her hand.
"Ba-bum, ba-bum…" Goten started, grinning while trailing across the curtain like the underwater predator.
"Goten," Rei's lips twitched as she looked up at him, trying desperately to hide the spark of amusement on her features.
"Ba-dum, ba-dum…" He continued humming.
"Goten, stop," She said, trying to muster some annoyance in her tone. Her lips curled upwards briefly before they pressed in a pout.
Goten stopped and glanced at her with a grin. "Was that a smile?"
"No." She balked under his gaze, trying not to falter.
"I think it was." His grin grew wider upon spotting the chink in the shrine maiden's armor.
"Was not, conceited." She crossed her arms and turned her back to him.
"Guess I'll have to keep digging for that sense of humor then." Goten mused with a hand behind his head.
"Just get ready for work." Rei grumbled before leaving the room.
Goten balled his fists while glancing up in determination. 'This is great. If I keep this up, maybe she'll warm up to me.'
After breakfast Goten was ecstatic to find Grandpa Hino being so lively around the shrine. He sure was a people person! He'd strike up a conversation with anyone and wasn't ashamed to tell people they were good looking, regardless of gender. He sort of reminded him of Master Roshi with the way he hit on women. It suddenly made sense why Rei was so wary of him being a lecher when they first met, having to live with someone like her nutty grandfather.
"He better not chase any customers off." Rei grumbled to herself in the charm stand while resting her chin on her palm.
"I didn't think Grandpa would be this much fun." Goten snickered.
"Don't you have things to clean?" Rei narrowed her eyes at him.
"Touchy." Goten said and playfully stuck out his tongue at her, grinning when he made her fume.
Rei crossed her arms and turned her head away from him in a huff. He was getting way too fresh with her. He better count his lucky stars she hadn't mentioned there wasn't much need for him around now that Grandpa was better and there's been no recent threat from the Typhoon Gang. He'd be right out the front door. She then regretted ever thinking that. Where would he even go? He said he had a hard time finding a job. She believed him without any doubt, his short attention span was quite troublesome. Not many hirers would take a chance with a guy like him. The guy still did good work regardless. He just needed a firm kick in the right direction, sometimes literally. The raven-haired girl shook her head to clear her thoughts. Why should she let herself get so concerned about that idiot's future anyway?
"Hey, Grandpa…could I talk to you for a second?" Goten asked.
"What do you need, son?" Grandpa asked cheerily.
"I was wondering if you could give me some pointers on how to talk to girls." The teen sheepishly scratched his cheek.
Grandpa burst out laughing. "Now I don't think you'd need any help with that seeing as you had all of Rei's pretty friends fawn over you the other night." He said with a wiggle of his gray eyebrows.
Goten blushed. "Well…" He did have a point. It was pretty easy to act friendly with women, but he needed something that could come in handy in the romantic playing field. He usually made a fool of himself when it came to trying to pick up women.
"Well what? You're a strapping young lad. If you have your eyes on a special lady, don't hesitate to woo her!"
"I don't know…I'm not pretty good at wooing." The teen responded timidly, running a hand through his wild mane.
The priest then looked at him seriously for a moment as if to ponder on what to do. He then smiled. "All you need is practice."
He stared blankly at his elder while the old man motioned for him to look around. "Plenty of lovely ladies come here all the time. Go ahead and talk to them. I'll be right back."
Goten nodded as his landlord scurried away inside and took a deep breath. It shouldn't be too hard. All he had to do was pick one.
"Oh shoot!" The voice of an older woman could be heard near the entrance as she was knelt on the floor picking some things up. The contents of her fanny pack spilt out on the floor. The wind seemed to be blowing some of her things away from her, important things. The way she desperately reached out for them gave it away. Goten dashed over to help her pick them up before the wind would carry them off.
"Here, let me help." He said and picked up some old Polaroid photographs.
"Oh bless your heart." The woman spoke with gratitude. "I should've fastened the belt tighter before jogging up these steps. But I guess it's a good sign I lost weight if it slid right off of me."
Goten looked at the pictures and back at the woman in front of him. The stranger looked like she was in her mid-60s, streaks of gray in her wavy light brown hair giving away her age. If it weren't for that he would have estimated her much younger. He looked down at the photos and saw a woman in her 20s in marathon clothes and swimsuits. Her face looked very similar to that of the woman crouched before him.
"I don't mean to pry, but is this you?" He asked while handing her the photos he picked up off the ground.
"I figured carrying these around will help keep me motivated. Wasn't I a dish?" The woman jested.
"Well, I wouldn't know about that. But you sure were a foxy lady." Goten laughed as he scratched his head, not quite understanding her use of the word 'dish'. She was certainly an odd one, spunky too. It sure reminded him of somebody he knew.
"My, aren't you a charming young man!" She chortled. "You kind of remind me of my late husband."
Goten's interest was suddenly reeled in. So she was a widow?
"Oh, I'm sorry about your loss." He said sincerely.
The widow shook her head. "Don't be, I'm past that."
"My name's Goten." He introduced himself when they were back on their feet with a small smile.
"Pleased to meet you, Goten. You can call me Nana." She smiled and shook his hand.
"Well Nana, would you like some water? I'm sure jogging up all those steps worked up a thirst." He grinned while inwardly plotting. It seems the girls at the sleepover had gotten to him.
"Oh, you are so sweet. I'd love some." Nana said looking very flattered.
"I'll be right back then." Goten said and hurried to fetch a bottle of water from the fridge.
"Where are you going? You still have stuff to restock." Rei nagged while leaning out of the charm stand to watch him come back with some water.
"In a minute, Rei," He boldly dismissed her command to look around for the kooky old man that ran the place. "Hey Grandpa, there's someone I want you to meet!" He called out into the shrine.
"Is it a woman?" Grandpa asked eagerly.
"Single too." Goten nodded.
Grandpa was immediately at his side and followed him out to where Nana was. Goten tried to contain his laughter when Grandpa got hearts in his eyes. "Nana, this is Grandpa Hino. Grandpa, this is Nana." He said, presenting the two after handing Nana the bottle of water.
Grandpa kissed her free hand. "I'm honored to be in the presence of such a dish."
Nana burst out giggling in delight. "Oh my..!"
Goten's work here was done as he cracked a satisfied smile. "I'll leave you two alone." He said before walking away, giving them their space.
"So you were setting Grandpa up?" Rei crossed her arms.
"Yup," Goten muttered.
"Unbelievable." Rei shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Aw, come on. Gramps could use some fun. Besides, don't they look cute together?" He grinned and pointed at the couple looking like they were having quite an animated conversation.
Rei couldn't help but look on at the exchange the two were having. They sure looked like they had chemistry.
Goten bit his lip and slid closer, at least close enough for the stand between them could allow. "You know, Rei. I think you're one mighty fine dish." He said, letting the line hang in the air.
Rei froze and turned to him with a raised brow. "Seriously, Goten?"
Goten's lips fell into a frown. "Uh…"
"I know Grandpa's material is corny and ridiculous but you're going to have to try harder in order to make me laugh." Rei rolled her eyes.
"Ha, right. I was totally joking around." He said to save face while smiling nervously. If she found out that was an actual attempt to hit on her he'd die of humiliation.
"Here he comes." Rei said as the old man ran towards them.
Grandpa went up to give Goten a bear hug. "You, my boy, are the best wingman I've ever had!"
"Aw, shucks. You're making me blush, Gramps. But please, do go on." Goten said, feigning modesty.
"I got myself a date tonight! I better get ready." The priest said when he let go and skipped into the house.
Rei stared at her guardian's retreating form in wonder. "He hasn't been on an actual date in six years…"
Goten puffed out his chest triumphantly. "Guess I'm that good."
"Sure is nice of you to be so humble about it, blockhead." Rei teased.
He merely stuck out his tongue in response.
"Whatever, you want a snack after your finished restocking?" She asked.
"Would I?!" Goten beamed. Rei never offered him a snack before!
"Well, I'll be cooking slightly less tonight anyway." The miko shrugged. She may have not looked it but she was very excited that Grandpa had gotten himself a lady friend. He looked so happy and it was all thanks to Goten.
Yards away near the steps, a hooded man was talking into a cellphone. "Boss, I see the girl. But the guy, the hero guy, he's still here." He spoke into the device.
"Dammit! Well never mind the chick for now. Taking her for ransom can wait, I've got bigger plans. And when we finally have her, the payoff will be all worth it." The voice of his leader replied. "The Hinos haven't heard the last of the Typhoon Gang."
AN: That's right, there be trouble ahead. (How far up ahead? That's for me to know! Muahahaha!) Just what could those hooligans have in store for our star couple? Hopefully Goten will handle it smoother than he did with that pick up line, that awkward dork.
I want to give another quick thank you to all my faithful readers and reviewers. I'm so happy you're enjoying the story so far! Also I'm very sorry this took so long to publish again! Megakat has found herself with more than enough on her plate to beta for me at the moment. Be sure to show her some love by giving her stories a read. Reviews always make her feel better. Same goes for SeleneAnadyomene! Forgive me if these chapters aren't as pretty as the first ones without someone to beta them.