Notes: Here we'll see a bit of Chichi's life and how she held up the ends during the seven years that Goku was dead after the Cell Games.

Written for Chichi Week 2021 on Twitter.

Day 1 - Stories/Twilight

The person who had the idea for this chapter, was my friend Ally who draw about Chichi reading stories to her children. So I asked her to use her idea in the story too and she agreed.

The two half-sayan boys were already in their pajamas and lying on their respective beds as they waited eagerly and obediently for their mother to pick up the box of storybooks. She smiled at them, her two precious boys.

Every night she read them bedtime stories, it was practically a tradition. It started as soon as Goten was born, even though he didn't understand a word they said, Chichi read Gohan to sleep and Goten was already in her arms, so he ended up participating of the moment too and grew up and got used to the night read. And even though Gohan was already a teenager, he still liked to spend time with his mom and little brother and liked to hear Chichi reading stories.

"So, what's it going to be?"

"Umm... Robin Wood?" suggested Gohan.

"Which one is this, brother?" Goten questioned.

"It's the one about the guy who steals from the rich to give to the poor!"

"Ahhh... That's nice, but mommy read it a not so long ago." exclaimed the younger one. "How about the one about the boy who buys magic beans?"

"Again?" Gohan grimaced.

"Yes, I like that one!

"But I don't like it that much!"

"Okay, okay... How about the Ugly Duckling?" Chichi suggested with a smile trying to convince the boys.

"Ahhhh no... I'd like the one with the magic beans!"

"Aww, Goten, every time it's your choice!" Gohan frowned and pouted as he crossed his arms, his little brother always had the upper hand in these kinds of things.

"Hey, no fighting or there won't be a story tonight!" she warned them, and the boys quickly straightened up in their beds. "I'll choose!"

Chichi pulled book after book out of the box and sighed. She needed to buy new books urgently, all those books had already been read, more than once. She made a mental note that she would go downtown during this week to buy some new reading choices for her children.

"Puss in Boots… The princess and the frog... The princess and the pea..." she mumbled name by name aloud as she took the books out of the box. "You don't like princess stories much, right?" she giggled with her hand in front of her lips. "And to think I was a princess..."

"I got it!" Gohan's smile brightened as he heard his mother's statement about her being a princess. "Why don't you tell the story of how you and Dad met?"

Chichi stopped the movement and, with the books in her hands, looked at her son, who was staring at him expectantly. Goten widened his eyes and smiled broadly.

"Yeah, good idea, brother!"

"Well, but... This is not a bedtime story..."

"But it is a story!"

"Yes! Please mom, please, please, please!" Goten clasped both hands together in front of his chest in an act of supplication.

He loved to hear little stories about his father that he had never had the opportunity to meet. All he knew about Goku were the stories that Gohan and Chichi told him, some were told by Bulma, when she came to visit and brought Trunks to play with him, or when he went to their house to play with his best friend.

Chichi smiled sweetly as she saw the eyes of her two little boys sparkling. She never told Goten this story, but Gohan already knew it, because when he was a little boy, before all the crazy changes that happened in their lives, Goku and her told it to him once. So, it's only fair to tell Goten too.

She put the books in her hands back inside the box. Slowly, she settled into the chair in the room, placing it between the two beds, and sat down, taking this moment to take a deep breath and swallow dryly without being noticed by her children. It had been a long time since Goku had left, Goten was already three years old, but even so, Chichi missed her beloved husband every single day, and remembering the moment they met would still be a little bit tough to her, but she was willing to give her best.

"Okay then… I'll tell you..."

"Yaaay!" The boys cheered.

"Once upon a time..." she started with the traditional line from all fairy tales, even if her story itself was not a fairy tale at all. "There was a little princess who dreamed of marrying a strong and brave warrior. One day, the little princess and her father, the King, were having a picnic on the grounds of the castle where they lived..."

And so, her mind kept remembering that moment, as she was telling them...

That morning Chichi was excited about the picnic with her father, who had prepared some sandwiches and brought some fruits for them to eat. However, they had not counted on a fire in the castle that had taken over most of the Fry-Pan mountain. Seeing that he needed help to deal with that fire, the King sent his daughter in search of her former master behind the bashousen while he tried to contain the fire from spreading further. Although the little princess was still very small, she could fend for herself and didn't hesitate to run to meet his father's master.

But she had hardly been out of the Fry-Pan region and because of this, not only did she not know much about the places, but she also had no idea of all the dangers that this world possessed. She ended up getting lost and, on her way, she came across bad and hungry dinosaurs which she defeated mercilessly, because the princess was not only royalty, she was also a fighter and knew how to defend herself. She also came across desert thieves who tried to take advantage of her innocence and naivety, and this she almost believed, because even if she was a fighter, she was still silly little girl, who knew nothing about life and love, not yet at least.

And then, just as she was about to fall for the talk of that shameless thief, her prince charming appeared...

"IT WAS DADDY, IT WAS DADDY!" Goten shouted excitedly, interrupting his mother who smiled sweetly at him.

"Yes, yes, it was Goku." Chichi agreed.

But he wasn't a prince!" Gohan added.

"Oh no, not at all, he wasn't exactly Prince Charming and, besides, he had a tail!" she giggled, covering her mouth with her hand.

"I had a tail too!" Gohan exclaimed proudly. He kind of missed his tail.

"Why don't I have a tail, Mommy?" Goten asked curiously. He had seen the old pictures of Gohan with a tail when his big brother was a child and he also had seen pictures of little Goku with tail, at Bulma's house.

"I don't know sweetie, neither you nor Trunks were born with tails, but we don't know the reason…"

The boy shrugged when he remembered that his best friend didn't have either, besides, neither did Vegeta, so he didn't have to worry about that.

"And the little princess was very curious when she saw her savior approaching…" Chichi continued. "He had a different hairstyle, he certainly wasn't a prince and even less did he come riding a big, beautiful white horse as in fairy tales tell, no… The small, strong and brave warrior appeared riding a golden cloud!"

"It was the flying cloud!" Goten exclaimed. It was the little cloud that his brother used to ride, and sometimes he rode on it together with him.

"Exactly! A yellow cloud that looked like cotton candy and that only people who have a pure heart can climb on. Since the little princess had a heart as pure as crystal clear water, she was able to climb on the little cloud, and together, with her savior warrior, they both went to Master Roshi's house to retrieve the bashousen. During their ride with the flying cloud to Master Roshi's house, however, that curious and clueless little warrior made the little princess fall in love with him..."

Chichi hesitated for a moment when she remembered the part where Goku touched her in inappropriate places, but she preferred not to tell this detail, after all, her boys didn't need to know this sordid detail about their parents' past, much less were they old enough to know about such matters. Of course, it was only years later that she understood that Goku had done this only because he really didn't know the difference between a boy and a girl and was as innocent as she was, but at that moment she thought that he liked her and she had liked him too, maybe because of his silly and direct manner, maybe because he was a strong and courageous person, someone she would surely want to be the father of her children…

Her beloved children!

She told the story happily, how Master Roshi put out the fire on the mountain with his Kamehameha and that Goku learned just by looking at it, how she asked him if he would take her as his wife in the future, how she met him again when he was defeating the Red Ribbon army, and so on, up until the moment she arrived at the 23rd martial arts tournament, when she finally met Goku again as an adult, but by the time she realized it, her two boys were snoring loudly.

Chichi smiled tenderly and her heart warmed deep in her chest. She silently got up from the chair where she sat and turned off the lights in the room, but before she left, she still took one last look at them. She was the luckiest woman in this world to have two beautiful, wonderful children.

Two gifts from Goku, to her.

For her life!

The best gifts she could ever have!