“That was pretty intense." Trunks remarked, looking at Goten warily. "I honestly thought that your dad was going to start fighting with yours."
Goten gave him a wide-eyed look as he flounced into one of the kitchen chairs. "I know!" He lowered his voice and stared at him seriously. "I'm really worried about him, Trunks. He just isn't himself anymore."
Trunks's handsome face clouded over with a hint of anger. "Well that might not be a bad thing. Maybe he'll actually start acting like a father to you now instead of running off to train with Ubuu."
His words made Goten’s breath catch in his throat. Trunks had tried to hide it, of course --- his anger at Gokuu, but Goten knew better. When he had first met Trunks, the boys quickly became friends. There was a special bond there, a link between the two of them that no one else could possibly hope to share. Trunks had immediately assumed the role of a protective older brother, and Goten became so dependent on him that he used to have nightmares about Trunks leaving. Then Gokuu came back, after a long seven years, and Goten was caught up in the blissful flurry of having a father again. Trunks, though he never said anything, was a little jealous. For the longest time, Goten had looked up to Trunks and just Trunks, practically idolizing the boy. But with the return of Gokuu came another bond, a bond between father and son, that Goten cherished more than anything. The years he spent with his father were the happiest years of his life. For once, he had a normal, perfect family.
And then Gokuu left again. Goten could still remember the days he spent watching the clock tick by, watching the calendar flip month after month, with no sign of his father. The first couple of months, it wasn’t so tough. ChiChi tried to remain cheerful, so that he wouldn’t get upset, so that he wouldn’t realize that they had been abandoned. After the visits grew further and further apart though, even his mother couldn’t stand it anymore. She began to grow more and more tired, and her eyes lost every bit of sparkle and life. When she started to change, when she lost her anger and her fight, Goten began to despise what his father had done to them.
It wasn’t that Gokuu was a horrible father --- that wasn’t it at all. When Gokuu was there with them and able to spend time with them, it was wonderful. Goten couldn’t possibly ask for someone more kind and caring to have for a father. The only thing was….Gokuu didn’t seem to want to come back. And ChiChi was so broken up after one of his visits, that Goten wasn’t even sure he wanted Gokuu to come back anymore at all. Somewhere along the lines, Goten had lost his sweet innocence, and along with that, he had forgotten who his father really was. Was he the man that tickled him mercilessly and brought his mother flowers from the forest, grinning recklessly and eating enough to feed an army? Or was he the terrible father that Trunks made him out to be?
“Iie, Trunks….It isn’t like that. He’s a good father.” Goten said quietly, trying to convince himself of it too.
Trunks took a seat beside him and raised an eyebrow. “Look….I know my father isn’t perfect or anything, but at least he’s around. He might snap at me and hit me and rave like a lunatic when something doesn’t go his way, but he is always there. Has Gokuu even said anything to you this entire trip?”
Goten looked down at the table. “He apologized.”
His friend snorted. “About time. Did you tell him to shove off?”
“I forgave him….sort of. I mean, I told him that I did, just because I couldn’t stand to see him like that….but I guess I haven’t really forgiven him ---At least, not in my heart.” Goten stuttered through the sentence painfully, avoiding Trunks’s eyes.
“Well think of it this way.” Trunks began, but cut off when a tall figure appeared in the doorway.
Goten looked up as well, and found Piccolo standing in the shadow of the door, staring at them. He leaned his head to the side, trying to see if anyone was behind him, hoping that his father hadn’t heard their conversation. Piccolo was alone though, and from the look on his face, he was very upset.
“Uh….Hi Piccolo.” Goten stammered. “Is something wrong?”
“Come with me.” The Namek commanded, and he turned and walked back into the hall.
Trunks and Goten glanced wearily at each other, but jumped up from the table, neglecting push the chairs in or clean up their mess. They skidded out of the kitchen and into the well-lit, all white hallway, looking around for Piccolo.
“What do you think is going on?” Goten whispered out of the corner of his mouth, quickly striding to meet with Trunks’s gait.
His blue eyes narrowed in thought. “I don’t know. It looks like we’re heading towards the cargo hold. Nothing else is down this hallway, really. All of the rooms and everything are down the other way.”
Goten grinned. “Do you think Piccolo is lost?”
Trunks snorted. “I doubt it.”
Piccolo stopped walking abruptly, and turned his head to the side slightly, so that they could just barely see his glare. “I am not lost. We are going to the cargo hold. And we would get there a lot faster if you would shut your mouths.”
“What’s in the cargo hold?” Trunks asked, looking ahead of him down the hall at the door to the hold.
Piccolo resumed walking, and the boys scurried to catch up with him. “You’ll see.” He muttered in a deep voice, his eyes flashing.
I wonder what’s going on. Goten thought. Piccolo is acting really, really strangely. The Namek usually didn’t socialize with him, or Trunks either. The only person that Piccolo ever really granted conversation to was Gohan, and even then it was strained and angry sounding. Goten had never really understood the relationship between Gohan and Piccolo, but he knew it had something to do with that fact that they trained together.
He smiled fondly then, remembering how his mother first trained him, delicately, as if he were a baby. She had been a kind and patient teacher to him, and though his father had taught him to fight, she had taught him the basics. He knew that it had been hard for her. Gohan had told him long ago that ChiChi hated it when he fought, and always used to make him do homework instead. With him though, she had often told him to put his homework aside, taking him out into the sunshine to train, all the while calling him her ‘little fighter’.
He missed her. With a shaking hand, he brushed his hair away from his face and focused his eyes on the back of Trunks’s head. He missed her a lot. They had grown awfully close in Gokuu’s absence. They had both needed someone to love, and with him gone, all they had was each other. He didn’t know how many times he had hugged his mother while she cried, but it was too many to count. Who’s taking care of you now, Kaasan? He wondered.
They reached the door, a heavy metal thing with a lot of padding around it, and Piccolo opened it with ease, almost shutting it in their faces. A rush of noise came out at them, and Goten guessed that the engine must be right below them. A steady, ear splitting humming was coming from inside the door, down the dimly lit hallway that was crowded with ropes and machinery.
Goten caught the door before it closed again and he in Trunks stepped inside, following Piccolo down to the cargo hold of the ship.
| Thinking of You Index | [ Chi Chi's fanfic ] | E mail Me |
