Goten walks outside and is greeted by the warm autumn sun. He sighs, wishing Trunks could play today, but he went out on vacation with his kaasan and tousan. He sits down in the grass and picks up a stick, he twirls it between his fingers for a while and finally throws it at his side with a frustrated sigh. His kaasan always made Gohan study and he pouts, crossing his chubby arms before him and sticking out his bottom lip. Goten stands up, growing even more ansty. He decides that maybe a short walk to the lake and back to home would be nice,maybe he'd find something to do along the way.
He reaches the lake in minutes and he stops at the edge and stares down into the lake at his reflection. His kaasan always told him that he was a spitting image of his father and he acted like him too... So care free... his hair that went in 7 different directions... So young, innocent, and full of life and the latent powers that promised to someday emerge from his growing body. He sighs reaching out to the sad the little boy that stared back at him from the lake's surface. He often wonders what his Papa is like and he wishes that he could have the chance to meet him. He wanted to have a papa to play with every day, someone to watch movies and eat up all the popcorn... a shoulder to cry on whenever he scraped his knee. Someone to help him sneak the cookies from the jar that kaasan kept on the top shelf. Somebody to help him lick the chocolate ice cream that melted on its cone in the summer heat...Somebody to swim in the lake with...There was so much he wanted to do, but that would never happen cause his father was dead....
He died before he was born.... "Papa..." The water of the lake ripples as his tears fell, the sobs that racked his small little body, causing him to shudder violently. He whipes his eyes on the back of his blue long sleeve. His kaasan had made him a gi that mirrored his father's and he wore it every day. The only thing that was different about his little gi was that his blue shirt was long sleeved but everything else was the same. Although, he was still too small to wear boots like his papa, he wore little black slip on shoes with white socks. He blinks trying to hold back the next round of tears, but he couldn't help himself. He was a little boy, not even 5 years old yet... The urge to cry was so tempting and so he cries some more...
"Don't cry," a voice replies soothingly.
Goten looks up his eyes red and teary and his vision blurry. He sobs even louder, wondering if he was just imaging things. He buries his face into his hands.
"Please, don't cry."
Goten looks up, wondering again what it was that he'd heard. His eyebrows furrow as he looks around him, only to find nothing there. Tears continued to roll down his pale cheeks. He looks back down at the lake's surface, at his reflection. He was a pitiful sight... His sadness quickly turned to anger. "Why aren't you here?!" He punches the water's surface, splashing himself with a big wave of water, drenching him. He frowns his bottom lip trembling. "Dooshite?" He began to cry again...
"Gomen nasi Goten Chan... I never knew I made you this sad... I hate to see you cry... It hurts me..."
Goten looks up again and his eyes widen when he finds the reflection of man inthe lake standing behind him with a yellow halo hovering above his head. Hewhirls around. He begins to tremble as he took a step back in surprise, thus falling into the water with a splash.
The man laughs. "Here, let me help you out." He extends his hand and Goten stares up at him for a moment. A timid smile crosses his lips as he reaches up and rests his small hand into the man's bigger one. The man's hand was calloused from so much fighting, but it was warm and Goten squeezes the man's hand as tightly as he can as he is pulled up.
The man laughs. "You've got quite a grip. You are going to be very strong someday."
Goten gasps, he could hardly contain himself. "Ar...are you my tousan?!"
Goku smiles with a nod. "How do ya know my name?!"
"I've been watching you for a long time from heaven... Kaio Sama is a kind god... He's the one who helped me get here. I wanted to meet you...," Goku replies as he kneeled before his wet son
.Goten shivers a little as water dripped from his bangs. "Papa..." He flings himself into the man's arms and hugs him tightly as tears streamed from his eyes. "Papa!"
Goku returns the hug, holding the small boy to him. "You look a lot like me..."
Goten smiles, resting his head on the mans broad chest. "Kaasan says I look like you... Sometimes it makes her cry when she looks at me... I hate when shecries..."
Goku sighs, "I know, but... *sigh* Gomen..."
Goten looks up into the man's face.
"If things had been different, I wish I were still alive. I miss them.... I miss them all, but I came to see you cause you looked so lonely... and so sad..."
Goten nods. "I want ya ta be with me..."
Goku sighs, "I can't be with you physically, but.... I will always be here." Herests his large hand over Goten's heart and smiles.
Goten grins, resting his small hand over his father's.
"I can't stay long... Perhaps I'll take you home before your kaasan getsworried. I know how she is..."
Goten nods.
Goku takes Goten's hand and walks with the boy to the home he'd grown up in...the home that Goku had helped build. He smiles, wishing that he could be withhis family again and he looks down at the smaller version of himself. "Don'tworry Goten. If you ever get lonely.... I want you to hold this to your heart and talk to me. I'll be able to hear you and talk back to you." Goku hands Goten a small pendant the size of a dime with a small clear stone hanging on a simple string. "I know it doesn't look fancy or anything, but I promise that it works."Goku grins wide as he brough the necklace over his son's head and it hung losely around his neck.
Goten tucks the necklace beneath his gi shirt and he smiles up at the tallerman. "I'll wear it forever tousan..."
Goku smiles. "Maybe someday I'll come back, but till then... Just try to bebrave, cause someday your going to save the world like I did. I know it... I cansense it..."
Goten nods and grins wider, mirroring his father in another way.
Goku smiles back and gives his son a salute before disappearing into thin air.
"Guh bye tousan..."
Chi Chi steps through the front door and looks at her son whom was staring atthe blue sky with a big smile. "Goten chan? Where you talking to someone?"
Goten turns to his mother, his coal black eyes shinning with a hidden knowledge that only he knew... "Naww, jus' talkin' to myself kaasan."
Chi Chi smiles then realizes that her son is wet. "Goten! You're all wet!"
"I went swimmin' in the lake... I guess I forgot to take my clothes off... Hee hee.."
Chi Chi shakes her head as she placed her hands on her hips. "Sigh, just likeyour tousan. Come on in so you can get into something dry. Dinner will be readysoon."
Goten's face brightens upon the mention of food. "YAY!" The boy darts past hismother and to his bedroom to change.
Chi Chi stares out into the sky and for almost a moment she could see Goku smiling down at her with that same dopey grin.
Goten pulls off his clothing and he looks up into the mirror before him at theclear stone that hung on a string around his neck. He smiles, clutching thestone, remembering what his tousan told him.
"If you ever get lonely.... I want you to hold this to your heart and talk tome. I'll be able to hear you and talk back to you. I know it doesn't look fancyor anything, but I promise that it works."
The End
This fan-fic is brought to you by… Royal Vegeta.
