Makafushigi Adventure
By: RisanF
By Reid M. Haynes
Disclaimer: Dragon Ball and all characters within are the property of Akira Toriyama, TOEI ANIMATION, and various other companies. I am using them without permission, and I am making no money off of them.
Legend:
( ) Denotes thoughts.
Tale 1: Home Sweet Home
*****
"Hey, Chichi I'm home!" The Super Saiyan known as Goku called for his wife as he strode casually into the house he built years ago. His instincts lead him over to the kitchen area, where he was sure she would be cooking something. Indeed, the smell of boiling noodles was already reaching his nose. This pleased him greatly. Nothing better than a hot meal after a good fight, he always said.
Entering the kitchen, he saw Chichi bent over the stove, stirring some simple ramen in the pot. An apron was wrapped around her waist, and she seemed really intent on her cooking, as she hadn't responded to Goku's greeting.
"Yo, is dinner ready yet?" he asked her. "Hey, Chichi!" But she gave him no verbal response, continuing to stir the pot diligently. He tapped her once on the shoulder, but she ignored this.
"C'mon, listen to me!" Goku tried again, starting to become irritated with the whole thing. After a couple more taps and nudges, she finally turned to face him.
But it was a scowl that she greeted her husband with. "Well you've finally shown up, have you?" she said coldly. "What's your excuse this time?"
"Huh?" Goku was confused. "What's up with you?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Son Goku!" Chichi placed the spoon on the counter rather harshly. "You were suppose to be here over two hours ago! Now, where were you?" She stomped up to him, looking at him straight in the eye. Her glare was vicious, despite her shorter height.
"Ah, do we really hafta go through with this now?" Goku groaned halfheartedly, his nose still sniffing the noodles. "I'm hungry!"
But this only set her off further "Gohan and I have already eaten," she pointed out angrily. "You'd have missed your dinner if I hadn't PLANNED on you being late, which of course you are!"
"Ah, don't overreact!" he waved off her anger with his usual tact. "Look, I was just trainin' with Piccolo, that's all."
Chichi took her first good look at Goku, and was appalled by the sight. His orange gi was tattered and shredded, revealing fresh scars on his chest. His hands were red with the blows exchanged, especially at the knuckles. Dirt and grime coated his boyish face, and his raven black locks was turned brown by the dust clinging to it.
And there was nothing that irritated her more than a sloppy appearance.
"Goku, you march up there and get cleaned up right now!" She directed, pointing her finger to the lavatory.
"Chichi…"
"MARCH!" And Goku was sent to clean up.
*****
He was seated at the table now, a plate of Ramen noodles before him. Chichi perched over him like a hawk, ready to clean up after her husband's. And young Gohan, who decided to join his father for the meal, stared between the two of them.
As usual, Goku made no precedence for politeness, gorging on the noodles as a starving man gorges on a carrot. His chopsticks morphed into a blur as they scooped up noodles faster than the human eye could see. In no time at all, the plate was completely clean.
"More please!" Goku held out his plate expectantly.
"Goku, chew before you swallow!" she chided, putting her hands on her hips. "You'll give Gohan bad manners!"
"Mmpgh…?" Raman noodles hung out of his mouth, a light drool coating his lips. With a sickening slurp, he sucked the food into his bottomless orifice known as his stomach. "What'd ya say, Chichi?" he asked.
"Never mind…" Chichi sighed, reading another batch of Raman. She scooped it on the plate, and Goku immediately started shoveling it down again.
Chichi turned her head to look at Gohan, who was eating MUCH slower than his father. "So, Gohan honey how's school?" she addressed her son, somewhat overly casually, trying to ignore the slurping and smacking sounds from behind her.
"It's going fine, mom!" Gohan said cheerfully. "Everyone's really cool there, and I've already got some new friends," He took another small bite of raman, chewing thoroughly before swallowing.
"You're keeping up with your schoolwork?" Chichi continued with her interogation.
Gohan wiped his mouth gingerly. "Um, yeah," he said, once finish. "It's kinda easy, actually. I mean, I've only been there for two weeks, and the professor already thinks I'm the best in the class."
"That's my Gohan!" Chichi was all smiles now, patting him on the shoulder. "That's my little scholar! Still…" she put her hand to her chin, stroking it thoughtfully "I wonder if they're challenging you enough? Maybe I should put you into the Hyper Accelerated Gifted class…"
"So Gohan," Goku started, having finished his second plate. "You meet any girls yet?"
Gohan stared at his plate. "Well, there is this one girl…you see, her name's Videl," he smiled bashfully, fidgeting with his chopsticks.
"Ah hah!" Goku nudged him with his elbow, a grin. "Cute?"
"Well…"
"Now that's quite enough of that!" Chichi stepped between them. "I don't want anything distracting Gohan from his studies!" Sometimes, Goku could act so childish.
"Ah, there ain't nuthin' wrong with looking at girls," Goku folded his arms behind his head. "At least that's what Master Roshi always said."
"That's what I was afraid of," Chichi rolled her eyes at the mention of the old pervert.
The chime of the doorbell cut off all further conversation. "Goku, answer the door," Chichi said absently while sweeping the crumbs off the floor. "I've got to clean up."
"No prob'" Goku hopped out of his seat, heading to the door. He swung it open to meet his visitor.
"Hey…Yamcha!"
*****
Chichi was in the process of brushing the crumbs off the table when Goku walked back in.
"Who was it's Goku…huh?" Chichi cut off when a second person entered the kitchen.
Right behind him followed a man roughly Goku's age. He stood a few inches shorter than him, and had long black hair that fell to his waist. An orange gi similar to Goku's adorned his muscled body, and almost made him indistinguishable from the other. But the faded scars on his face gave him away.
"Oh, welcome Yamcha," she greeted politely. "Nice of you to stop by,"
"Yo, Chichi!" Giving her a somewhat obnoxious grin, the young man leaned against the counter top, folding his arms in a cocky gesture. "How've you been?"
"As well as can be expected," she answered honestly. Yamcha regarded this with a nod, taking an apple from a basket. "And how have you been?"
"I'm still kickin'" Yamcha shined the apple on his shirt before taking a bite. "It's been kinda dull lately, but things are about to heat up!"
He suddenly slapped himself on the forehead. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" Yamcha's grin brightened three notches. "Why don't you tell 'er, Goku?"
"Oh, right!" Goku suddenly looked up from the Raman noodles he was eyeing. He cleared his throat before starting. "Well, you know things've been pretty quiet lately," he explained. "And since there hasn't been anything to fight, I have lot's of free time."
(That's for sure.) Chichi thought sourly, noting her husband's unemployment status. She restrained herself from comment, not wishing to embarrass herself in the presence of company. Instead she nodded her head, prompting him to continue.
"Anyway, 'turns out that everyone else has been taking it kinda slow lately." Goku went on. "You know, Bulma, Oolong and even Puar. No one has much to do these days, "
"Continue," she said.
"Well, as you know, the Dragon Balls have revived by now."
"Yes, I noticed that Sushinchu has regained its shine," Chichi noted. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well…" Goku stalled for a moment.
"We've decided to hold another Dragon Ball hunt!" Yamcha blurted out, unable to restrain himself any longer.
"Dragon Ball hunt?" Chichi was taken aback by this news.
"Yeah! We're inviting the whole gang! It's gonna be a blast!" Yamcha was rambling now, getting real excited. "And, of course, you're invited too," he amended carefully.
"Wow!" Gohan jumped up from his seat. "Hey, Yamcha! Can I go too?" he asked eagerly.
"Sure, kid!" Yamcha smiled. "We've got room!"
"Oh no, you're not!" Chichi stepped in. "You staying right here!"
"But, Mooooomm!" he complained, pleading with his mother.
"Your father and his friends may have free time, but you have school this Monday. I'm not going to have you getting behind." Chichi finished by crossing her arms, finishing the 'discussion.'
"Okay…" Gohan slowly crawled back into his seat, plunging into as deep sulk.
"Hey Chichi, you gonna come along?" Goku looked back at her over his shoulder. "I bet we could squeeze you in Yamcha's cruiser."
"Yeah, it's no biggie," Yamcha agreed, coming up beside Goku. "Come on. It'll be cool!"
She waved them off with one hand. "No, I think I'll stay here," she respond, taking a reasonable air. "Gohan might need some help on his homework. Besides, I've got a million things here to keep me busy,"
"Whatever," Goku shrugged nonchalantly. Turning his back once again, he headed to the back room of the house. "I'm picking up a few things, then I'm off. Yamcha, can you stay for a second?"
"Sure," Turning his back, Yamcha strolled to the door. "I've left the engine running in front. Be ready to get going soon. Gas don't come cheap! See ya Chichi!" With two fingers, he gave a salute of departure to her, then walked out.
Chichi was dumbfounded by this. She hadn't counted on them leaving so soon. She hadn't counted on him leaving so soon.
Despite her attitude toward her husband, she had been looking forward to Goku staying for more than a few minutes at the house. She had missed her husband when he went on another one of his numerous training exercises.
And now he was leaving her again.
Chichi barely noticed when Goku had returned. "Hey, I'm off!" he said cheerfully. She turned to look at him. Crossing his chest was a rope that bound the length-changing staff Nyoibo to his back. With it, he looked just like the little boy she had fallen in love with all those years ago.
"When will you be back?" she asked him quietly.
"Prob'ly in a couple of weeks," He raised his eyebrows. As dense as Goku could be, even he could tell when Chichi was bothered. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You alright? What's wrong?"
Chichi shivered at the feel of his callused palm. "It's just…" one look into his eyes cut off her speech. She stared and stared, searching his eyes for any sign of understanding. She found none.
"No, never mind," she shook off his hand, averted her gaze. "You…should probably get going. Don't keep Yamcha waiting."
Goku stared a minute more at her, then went to the door. A little while later, the sound of fading laugher and roaring engines emitted from outside as the cruiser shot into the sky.
And he was gone
*****
The house was quiet once more since he left, and Chichi sat on the counter-top, alone with her thoughts. An empty bowl lay on the tabletop, testimony to the hungry man who had been there previously. Her broom lay abandoned next to the crumbs on the floor, which she had neglected to sweep up. Gohan was in his room working on his assignments; he hadn't called for her, so he must be doing fine. Which left her with her ponderings of life, love, and the Saiyan known as Goku.
He was so innocent, she recalled. Swooping in on the flying cloud Kintu'on, his magic staff slung over his shoulder, he was the legendary fairytale hero coming to save her from the darkest of evils. The dream of every young girl searching for her prince.
But that had faded into the past, when she did finally managed to wed him. He never spent much time at home, or with her. Rather, he spent his time in an endless war, fighting the hoards of Saiyans and Aliens and Changelings that never seemed to run out. Often times, he would drag Gohan into the battle as well. This she had no control over either, after all, what would she be to stop her son's desire to save the world.
The few times he was at home, a wall of misunderstanding stood between them. He seemed to have no idea the extent of her feelings about him. Likewise, she guessed she knew little about what went through that head of his. It was obvious that they were almost perfect strangers living the same house.
Walking to a small desk, Chichi flipped though some papers, and found she was already looking at the calendar. When would he be back? Two weeks…that would mean right around the 30th. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, he'd be back on one of those days. If he wasn't, he'd be just a couple of days later.
(Goku always keeps his promises...)
Chichi marked off the dates with a felt pin. That done, she picked up her broom once again to start on the job she should have done earlier. As she gathered all the crumbs into a pile, she took glances at the door, which Goku never bothered to shut. The country side rolled and curved beyond it's frame, the dirt path disappearing behind a hill. Beyond that, she knew Goku was beyond those hills, and that he would be coming back to her.
(Goku always keeps his promises...)
Authors Notes: This concludes the first chapter of Makafushigi Adventure. At this point, I'd like to explain a couple of things about my story. First of all, this is a bit of an alternate universe. It takes place after the Cell Saga, but has two major changes to it.
1#: Goku is still alive.
2#: Chibi Trunks hasn't been born.
I'm doing this to give myself a little leeway in writing this. (after all, it's kinda hard to write a story about DB when everyone's always having babies or when your main character is dead.)
One more thing, Nyoibo and Kintu'on are the Japanese names for the Power Pole and Flying Nimbus (respectively.) Sushinchu is the Japanese name of the Four Star Ball. Just in case you didn't know…
Until next time, Ja ne! ^_^
Chapter 2
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