Chapter 3

Plan

If anyone thought time would pacify Chichi's ire they were incredibly wrong. A week had passed by since the wedding and in protest of her newly forced situation she refused to unpack her trunks, or tidy, or clean and of course, speak to her husband. Chichi remained in the smaller second bedroom all night, and was careful to hear for the sound of the door closing in the morning before she came out for breakfast and even to relieve herself in the bathroom. In spite of her anger Chichi was shocked when she set foot in the kitchen to see the dishes she had neglected washed and drying on the rack. Not understanding the phenomena, she assumed there had been a cleaner, who tidied up occasionally, it would explain the rose petals on the wedding night. She shrugged the thought along with her shoulders, it wasn't an unusual thing for her when she lived in the castle, so she paid it no mind.

On the fourth day, she had misheard and thought the front door had closed, thinking she was safe to descend down to the kitchen. However she was mortified to find herself in the same space as her husband, and then completely floored to see him washing her dirty dishes from the previous night. Turning around from the basin with soapy hands, Goku's face journeyed from confused to surprised to beaming. With an initial hesitance, Goku proceeded to wish her a good morning and asked if she had slept well, stunned Chichi didn't reply, or move. Goku's smile had faltered a little, but recovered as he carried on attempting to converse, her silence remained and she grew even more stunned at the ease at which he took her non-answers, if he felt any disappointment he was very good at not showing it. When the eventual return to her senses occurred, Chichi, red in the face and wide eyed, turned tail and returned to her room like a scared rabbit. Not leaving until ten minutes after she heard the front door close.

It wasn't the first time they had been in the same room together, they often crossed paths when Goku returned from work in the late afternoon. He would try to talk to her then, before going out to hunt them some dinner which she always declined with a shake of her head, choosing instead to cook herself some food, and always a portion for one.

Chichi was certainly persistent in her anger, but what had managed to permeate her feelings was the fact that no act of forcefulness or coercion had come from her husband. When he spoke to her he didn't demand her to reply, when they met he didn't impose his presence on her, when he offered her food he didn't force her to eat and as for her biggest fear, that he would expect sexual contact… after two nights of keeping herself wide awake, staring at the handle of her bedroom door in case it sinisterly turned, she finally fell asleep solidly on the third when it had not happened as her fear had dissolved. She was impressed, despite herself, that he didn't seem to expect her to deal with his disappointment which she calculated he must, to some degree be feeling, whether that be for the lack of a traditional housewife that she was most certainly not going to play the role of, or from a lack of sexual gratification, or from her stony ghost like company, she did not know which was the cause, but she was certain he must be disappointed.

At least she had been certain, it slowly turned to indecision as the first week of their marriage came to a close. She had expected that the cold treatment she had been dishing out would have impacted her new housemate in some way, and aside from that first surprised and hesitant greeting at the kitchen sink, she didn't detect any emotion from him other than simply happiness in all of their other sparse interactions. Chichi could only surmise, astoundingly, that Goku was content, and it was a reaction Chichi had been very unprepared for.

The good thing about not having a honeymoon was that she got to avoid Goku, which alleviated a lot of awkwardness for her. The bad thing about it was that it left her rather bored and lonely. Being removed from a busy castle, along with its associated kingdom, had left Chichi jolted for amusement and occupation. She had been used to knowing her kingdom and dealing with any issues that arose in the mostly peaceful parishes, the sudden change to the stillness of the mountains was jarring for her.

Though Chichi was known far and wide for her stubbornness, she was not unadaptable, so she took to exploring the woods and mountain routes near the house, though she took care to avoid routes that appeared too hazardous. Initially, in her sleep deprived state, she had embarked on the exploration to plan an escape route, and though she had not laid that plan to rest, she deprioritized it in favor of enjoying the scenery and nature on offer.

It was during one of her walks through the woods that she was reflecting on the non forcefulness of her husband and what she should do about it, if she were to leave, where would she go? Where could she live? What would she do? The answers felt frighteningly out of reach and incomprehensible, she had always been a princess, things were always easily ready for her, but being forced to marry dramatically changed how she thought of her life. So distracted was she in her muddled reflections that she didn't notice the cheetah prowling a short distance behind her.

Goku was not incapable of unhappiness, but it took a lot to get him there, which was something he prided himself on. He was usually a happy spirit, but his current predicament had him weighed down greatly. Goku wouldn't say he was unhappy, more very concerned, and he didn't know much about people or relationships, but he knew there was something very wrong in his marriage. Action was more his style, which made all the thinking he had done tire him our greatly, he knew he couldn't fight his way to make his wife happy. But for all the thinking and reflecting and considering he did, Goku just couldn't understand how his marriage had become so terrible when it had barely started. The little he understood about marriage was that it involved teamwork and communication, not living apart and ignoring each other. He had seen happy men and women together, he wanted that too, Grandpa said it would be good for him, and he trusted his Grandpa, he wouldn't give up, he was not a quitter.

All his training for tournaments had made him unaverse to conflict so he had tried communicating with his wife directly, but was always met with silence. He didn't understand why she wouldn't talk to him, but he hoped she would soon, not being able to fix whatever the problem was was beginning to unsettle Goku, he didn't like leaving problems unsolved. Especially if it upset his family so much, and even if she wouldn't talk to him, Goku considered Chichi his family, it was what his Grandpa had taught him how a wife should be treated once you married them.

After one week of getting nowhere, and deliberating about whether to discuss such intimate problems to anyone, and whether it would compromise his new wife in some way, Goku decided to visit a friend for some discreet advice.

Krillin was busy running a barbecue by Kame house's pink exterior, "Oh hey Goku! Good to see you, if you let me know you were coming I would have gotten more food." He greeted.

"Oh that's okay, I'm not that hungry anyway."

"Excuse me? Not hungry? Who are you and what have you done with Goku?"

"What? Krillin! It's me! Goku! Don't you recognize me?"

"Oh forget it, it was just an expression of surprise that you're not hungry."

"Ah…" Goku scratched the back of his head sheepishly, this sort of thing didn't come up as often as it did when he was a child but it still made him feel inadequate, especially as being a grown man he felt slip ups like these were less forgivable. "Sorry, I get it now"

Krillin shrugged, "don't worry about it, but what's made you lose your famous appetite?"

Goku sighed audibly, where should he start? He supposed he could start with what bothered him the most "My wife won't speak to me."

Startled, Krillin dropped his sausage, "did you have an argument?"

"No, she's been like this since the wedding day"

"But it's been a week since you married!"

Goku nodded sadly, "she won't speak to me, every time I try talking to her, she doesn't answer. I think she's upset about something but I don't know how to fix it if she won't tell me what's bothering her."

Krillin nodded sympathetically, "yeah that's hard to deal with."

"Why do you think she's not talking to me?"

"Don't know, but maybe because she moved to a new place she might find it a lot to deal with."

"She used to live in a castle."

"That would be a big change then to move into your house in the mountains, and you're not exactly close to a town." Goku wanted to reply that he thought of their house as a castle, but he knew it would sound juvenile so he kept the thought to himself. "Why don't you do something nice for her, get her a gift or something. Women love getting gifts."

Goku couldn't understand the origins of this wisdom considering Krillin never dated anyone, but then again here he was asking for advice. "What sort of gift should I get her?"

"I don't know, what stuff does she like?"

"I don't know, I've been working a lot so haven't gotten to find out what Chichi does during the day."

"Wait.. What?!" Exclaimed Krillin suddenly, taking Goku back a little, "you mean you've not taken time off work? You've not gone on a honeymoon?"

"What's a honeymoon?"

"Oh God, no wonder she's not talking. Usually when a bride and groom marry they spend the first month together, couples usually go away for a holiday."

"Do you think Chichi was expecting a holiday?"

"Probably yeah, but you have the mountains, you could take her hiking, spend some quality time together, get to know each other. Youu mentioned before it was an arranged marriage right?"

Goku nodded, dazed a little from all he was being told, "Yeah, Grandpa wrote it in his will. He was friends with Chichi's dad, so they had planned it when we were kids even though we hadn't actually met each other."

"Maybe that's also something Chichi is dealing with."

"What do you mean?"

"You know… living with someone she doesn't really know. For you it's probably nothing because you've traveled everywhere and slept in every tree and every barn. But your wife's come from a castle, it's probably her first time moving out of her home, that's a big adjustment for some people, especially with someone new." Goku nodded his head, but he felt still more weighed down, with every answer two more questions popped up. "Look, go home and spend some time with her, forget work for now, your students will survive a week or two without training." Goku flinched, the idea of not training for so long felt blasphemous, especially for his students who he felt needed consistency, but Krillin was right, his wife mattered more right now. "And err.. sorry to have to ask buddy but… if you're not speaking, I guess you haven't… you know…"

"Know what?"

"You know… did it."

"Did what?"

"The deed… the thing couples do when the marry…"

"I don't understand, what deed?" And it was at this moment that Krillin recognised what his friend did not.

"Okay… okay…" resting his barbecue tools to the side before he dropped them and accidentally pierced his foot, Krillin let the information sink in that his married friend, currently strongest man on Earth, did not know what sex was. "You know what Goku, we'll talk about this another time for now, probably get Yamcha too, yeah a team approach would be a good idea. For now, just go back to Chichi and be with your wife."

"Okay, thanks Krillin, it's good to have an idea of what to do now, I feel better. I'll be going now," but the smell of the chicken drumstick was calling him, "do you mind me eating that?" And before he got an answer Goku had snatched the drumstick and jumped on Nimbus before waving goodby at a fondly miffed looking Krillin.

"See you soon!" He threw back at his friend as Nimbus whooshed him back home.

Even if still a little overwhelmed, Goku pushed open the front door of the house with excitement to try and engage his wife again, but he was confused when he found no sign of her. After checking all the rooms, even the bathroom which he had been drummed into by Kami never to do when a girl was in one, he reasoned that because he was home early Chichi probably didn't expect him now and had gone out. Switching on his energy sensors, he easily detected Chichi in one of the nearby woods, following her ki, Goku hopped onto Nimbus again to find her.

On the way he vaguely thought she might be picking apples, or collecting firewood or just walking. What he did not expect was to see her running away from a cheetah at full speed, it's powerful strides catching up to her frantically propelling legs. Worried, he quickly geared to save her when he was halted in his tracks by what he saw next. Rather than avoiding a tree directly in front of her approach, Chichi, aided by the momentum gathered from her running, propelled herself so she ran up the tree, flipped over in mid air and landed perfectly on the Cheetah's back, disabling it from further movement while she dug her foot into the back of the cheetah's head so it's face was planted firmly in the ground, rendering it knocked out and immobilized incredibly effectively. Chichi knows martial arts? Chichi does martial arts!? The thought struck him like lightning.

Stunned by the beautiful display of strength tempered with grace, Goku didn't notice the heat that bloomed over his cheeks, astonishment and awe won over his physical reaction to discovering his wife knew and practiced martial arts, and very well too. His blush further deepened when he saw Chichi smoothing her black sleek hair away from her face where it fell out of place during her exertion. Being distracted by her, and she being preoccupied with the finalization of her work, made both unaware of the sharp toothed dinosaur that had remarkably appeared out of nowhere for such a large animal.

Goku was the first to recover but held himself back, hoping for another spectacular display of skill from his wife, who shortly afterwards made her own realization, took a few moments to be shocked, took a few more to assess, realized this was a battle she couldn't win and then began to run in the opposite direction, which caught the attention of the dinosaur who instinctively ran after her. Realizing this situation was unlike the Cheetah's, Goku steered Nimbus towards the distressed damsel and without warning picked her up from the ground mid run, causing Chichi to scream in fright for the first time.

"Aaaaah! What the?! Who! What's going on?!" Exclaimed she, Goku distantly thought it was nice to hear her speak again as he registered they had sufficiently escaped the dinosaur, but her face morphed to angry mortification when she laid eyes on her rescuer, "YOU!" Then realizing she was being held close to himself, with his large hands on either side of her waist, she blushed furiously and seemed to panic in her vigor to be released. The fear was strange to Goku considering she had just been running away from a dinosaur, why should she panic about being close to him? After struggling for a moment to free herself from his clutches she continued yelling "Put me down now!"

"But if I do then-"

"PUT ME DOWN NOW!"

"But Nimbus- you might drop!"

"CAN YOU NOT HEAR ME? PUT ME DOWN OR I'll CUT YOUR DICK OFF!" At such a threat and with such a monstrously angry face, Goku obeyed immediately, thinking he could just catch her if she fell. But to his immense joy she remained standing on the soft secure cloud beside him.

"Oh wow you're standing on Nimbus!" Chichi completely confused at the multiple confusions of being found by the man she was forced to marry, seeing a flying cloud, standing on it, and then receiving an elated response that she was indeed standing on it. But Goku's blinding smile was what took her aback to the point of taking a step backwards, but he swiftly reached for her arm before she took another because she was about to walk off the cloud.

"Woah, careful there Chichi." His smile was still there, like nothing in the world could remove it, it made her blush slightly despite herself. It did not escape Goku's notice, and something in his chest multiplied at seeing the colour on his wife's face, he couldn't name it but… it gave him pleasure to see her like that. Realizing she had almost fallen off the cloud, Chichi moved closer to Goku and was almost about to hold his arm but held herself back, she was not about to throw herself on him just because of a little altitude.

"What.. what is this cloud?" She finally managed to ask.

"Oh, this is Nimbus, Nimbus this is Chichi, my wife." The introduction made Chichi bristle slightly, she didn't like his claim of her being his wife.

"You talk to the cloud?" Her question immediately made Nimbus halt in offense.

"Sorry Nimbus, please take us home." Nimbus forgave them easily and carried on their journey, Goku returned his attention to his wife "Nimbus just likes to be respected, I guess everybody does."

His insight impressed her despite herself, and pretty quickly made her feel sheepish for disregarding the cloud "How did you get… Nimbus."

"Master Roshi gave him to me, he was my first martial arts master, he gave him to me, probably because he couldn't ride Nimbus himself."

"But why couldn't he ride it?"

"Only those pure of heart can ride Nimbus, and hopefully you can meet Master Roshi one day, Nimbus doesn't think he's pure of heart, Yamcha says it's because he's a skirt chaser, but I don't know about that, I've never seen him with any skirts." Chichi gave him a cautious appraisal, only those pure of heart can ride Nimbus? That would mean… but Goku beat her to it, as he couldn't drop what was currently dominating his thoughts "it's really great that you can ride Nimbus Chichi, it makes me really happy that my wife is pure of heart." This time Chichi blushed heavily and couldn't maintain eye contact, having to look away in embarrassment, she usually took compliments well, but from this man… it felt… intimate, an intimacy she wasn't yet ready for. But if Goku could ride Nimbus too that made him pure of heart also, Chichi at first wanted to deny it to herself, but logically she knew she couldn't, he had done nothing wrong, he hadn't mistreated her, or neglected her… all the sin she had been punishing him for the last week was for simply marrying her. Not liking her train of thought she tried to distract both of them.

"Is Yamcha a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, he's also training with Master Roshi, maybe one day you can meet him and the others." Said Goku happily. She was surprised, she had expected Goku to want to hide her from his life, feel intimidated or jealous at the idea of other men meeting her, but he appeared devoid of such malignant feelings, did he trust her already? Or was he just naive? "What about you Chichi? Do you have many friends?"

Surprised yet again, she decided to answer with an attempt at the simple honesty of character Goku had displayed. "A lot of people want- wanted to be my friend when I was at Fire Mountain because I was the princess, but there were two who were my true friends."

"Are you not still the princess of Fire Mountain?"

"Well, yes I suppose as am, but it's different now, I can't really be the princess I was, especially because I'm so far away from the kingdom."

"I don't understand how being far away stops you from being the princess. Why don't you go back to them?"

This question both made her angry and want to cry, "because I'm married to you, I can't just get up and leave, I wouldn't even know how."

"Take Nimbus."

"Nimbus?"

"Yeah, you can ride Nimbus, so Nimbus can take you to Fire Mountain when you want to go back. He's really fast, get you there in no time at top speed."

"But… aren't you afraid I won't come back?"

The question confused Goku, "No, why would I be?" His answering question threw her off, he had no idea about what she had been feeling or about her animosity to the marriage. He was willing, encouraging even for her to have her own freedoms, even if it risked her running away. It made her feel valued, and trusted. He wasn't a bad man who wanted to chain her into domestic servitude, he wanted her to be herself, even if that meant she wasn't there for him all the time.

With these revolutionary thoughts in her head, Chichi noticed Goku's kind black eyes, the rustle of his hair as Nimbus skied them through the air, his broad back facing her as he steered them with his body to… home. Now that she could feel comfortable that Goku was actually safe to be with and talk to, she felt the stirrings of attraction begin in her lower abdomen. Perhaps it was the relief of being saved from the dinosaur, or of learning they were both tested pure of heart, or that the person in front of her was not a jealous machismo man, or the stress of the past month suddenly dispelling, but she felt a strong compulsion to lay her head along his back and simply relax. Catching herself before she could act on the impulse and actually hug her husband, Chichi hugged herself instead.

"Most men would be worried about their new wives running away,"

"Well, if they're running away they couldn't be very good husbands, Grandpa told me that you have to be really nice to a girl, and even nicer to your wife. Aha! We're here!" Nimbus landed them smoothly in front of the house, Goku got down first and was about to enter before he turned around with an outstretched hand that trembled ever so slightly, to help Chichi to come down from Nimbus. Was he nervous? She could just as easily come down from Nimbus too, but wanting to satisfy the compulsion for connection after a tumultuous afternoon, Chichi took the offered hand and gracefully came down, letting go of it almost immediately, frightened by the electric sensation she got from his touch, and of her immediate pleasure in the feel of his skin… his well contained strength in his arm as he helped her down. Goku however looked very pleased by her acceptance.

"Hey Chichi, I know I've asked you before and you always say no, but would you like to eat dinner with me today? I'm gonna start a fire and get a fish to grill, I know it's early but I'm kinda hungry."

Chichi appraised him, he appeared his usual calm and welcoming self, but there was something else mixed in his tone, something that hadn't been there before, something hopeful and… wishful. It was indeed early, but she wasn't keen on being by herself after all the adrenaline she had worked through, and she really wasn't in the mood to cook. But more than that, it was his genuine desire for her company, his persistent efforts for her attention despite how much animosity she had thrown his way, that made her nod her head for the first time.

"Ah yeah!" Replied Goku, "aw this is great Chichi, I'll make sure we get a really really big fish for us. Or do you want your own one?"

She shook her head, her dark hair swishing around her head, "No, I'm happy to share with you".

Author's note: Yay they talked! Hope you enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! They are little packets of motivation for me!