Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ A Light in the Darkness ❯ Return of a Prodigal ( Chapter 7 )

 

A Light in the Darkness - part 7: Return of a Prodigal
by Mia Skywalker & Wataruo

PAIRING: Goku/Chi-Chi
RATING: G
WARNINGS: None
DISCLAIMER: Neither of us owns any of the DBZ characters or anything about DBZ, but we both wish we owned Vegeta. And Goku. And Yamcha. These characters are owned by Toei, Viz, Akira Toriyama, and FUNimation. We do own what we've written here, and our specific storyline, just not Dragonball itself. We make no money off of any of these guys, nor off this fic.
SUMMARY: Return of a prodigal
NOTES: Goku is an idiot, but so is Chi-Chi. No, this fic isn't only about Bulma & Vegeta, although the first dozen chapters or so mostly concentrate on those two. There are at least three major couples involved in this fic. No hints on WHO those couples are, but I'll bet you can guess the first two! ^_~
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thank you to Selenity Jade, W-chan, and Lady Lark for beta-ing this, and ripping it apart just the way I like! ^_^

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~~~ Early afternoon, day 1 ~~~

 

Goku looked out the window of his space pod and sighed. He had hoped that Hakusai would come with him. Well, she could always change her mind, he mused as he watched the stars go by. He knew if she met Vegeta, her opinion of him would change. But he hadn't been able to convince her to give him the chance.

 

~~*~~

 

"Why would I want to meet him?" she had asked incredulously as she finished fixing the pod for him.

 

"Well, he is your brother," Goku had pointed out. This had only earned him a snort from the tall Saiyan woman. "He can change."

 

"Sure, Goku. And I might cut off my own tail."

 

"Hakusai...."

 

She had held her hand up to him to get him to stop speaking. "Goku, I know you think he can change. But he really can't. It's in his blood to fight and destroy. Everything I've heard about him tells me that Frieza honed those instincts. It's not just something that you can stop like that." Hakusai snapped her fingers.

 

"You changed," Goku had pointed out.

 

Hakusai's jaw had dropped open to give him an angry retort, but then she had snapped it closed again. "I didn't grow up on Vegeta-sei."

 

"Neither did he."

 

Hakusai had made a face. "Forget it, Goku. You are my friend, and training with you has been great. But I am not going to Chikyuu with you."

 

"But..."

 

"No buts! Now go and blow up something while I finish this, or you are never getting home." Hakusai had shooed Goku away from the pod and two hours later he had left Yardrat without her.

 

~~*~~

 

"Well, maybe she'll come on her own," Goku said aloud. 'Yeah, and I might cut off my own tail.' He grinned. He could just hear her saying that now.

 

"Planetfall in fifteen minutes," the computer voice informed him. Goku smiled. At least he would get to see his friends again. He settled back into the seat and watched as Chikyuu appeared in the distance, signaling to the Saiyan he was home.

 

~~*~~

 

Goku fidgeted in his seat as the pod approached Chikyuu. It had been a whole year since he had seen his son. He found himself wondering how big his son had grown, and if Chi-Chi had missed him. He smiled at the thought of his wife. He really should learn to be a better husband and stop taking off to train all the time. He would tell her where he was going in the future, he decided as the space pod broke through the atmosphere and headed toward his home.

 

The pod struck the ground and skidded to a halt a little ways from his house. Goku winced at the huge crater it left. Chi-Chi would have a fit.

 

"Chi-Chi! Gohan! I'm home!" he announced to the air.

 

~~*~~

 

Gohan was a few miles away, playing with his dragon friend. His mother didn't know he still played with the dragon; if she had known, he knew she would be angry. She didn't like him playing with Hiya Dragon. She didn't seem to like him having friends at all. Sometimes he was tempted to run away from home so he could have some friends, but he loved his parents too much so he never did.

 

Besides, he knew that his father could always find him by his ki. Of course, it had been a while, so maybe he couldn't anymore. Other than their time together on Namek, his father hadn't seen him in about two years. Gohan knew his ki had increased drastically; it was possible his father wouldn't recognize it. But he realized he really didn't *want* to leave home and never see his parents again.

 

He just wished his mother wouldn't be so hard on him.

 

The young demi-Saiyan had run away a few times this past year since his father had been gone. Sometimes his mother stifled him, and he felt the need to burst loose, to go off on his own. Chi-Chi would yell at him when he returned, angry because she would feel that he had neglected his studies if he took even a single day off. But it would be worth it for that day or two of freedom. He hadn't done it very often, just when he had felt completely suffocated.

 

He didn't understand why his mother was always so angry with him. He still got all A's, so why was she upset?

 

Ostensibly, he had gone off that day to study, and although he had done a little work, he was having more fun having the dragon fetch sticks that he tossed high in the air.

 

He laughed at the way the dragon wagged its tail, begging him to throw the stick again, when he heard a voice calling his name. He paused, wondering if his mother was calling him to lunch, and then his entire body stiffened and his face brightened when he recognized the voice.

 

"DADDY!" he cried out, pure joy in his voice, as he shot towards Goku.

 

~~*~~

 

Chi-Chi had grown used to her husband's absence during the past two years, although she still felt the void he had left behind. He had died, and she had blamed him for their son being kidnapped by Radditz, although secretly she was aware he had done everything he could have. After she had ranted for a while about how it was his fault Piccolo had stolen Gohan, she had found out he had allowed himself to die to prevent an alien from capturing Gohan and taking him off Chikyuu entirely. She was too proud to admit she had been wrong in blaming Goku, but she did stop vocally blaming him.

 

Instead, she waited.

 

She was a little resentful when she found out he had asked not to be returned to life when they first gathered the dragonballs, but she understood his need to train with Kaio-sama in order to fight those aliens that had wanted to take Gohan in the first place. She understood his need to protect his son, although she couldn't completely comprehend his need to protect everyone else.

 

Then he had snuck away and followed the others to Namek. Once again, she had been furious that he had left her, but had known, deep in her heart, that he had had to. Once again he was protecting their son, a son who had run off to save the world. She was still angry and feeling a little rejected that he had left so easily.

 

But what really hurt, what really infuriated her, was when she found out that the others had been wished back to Chikyuu and Goku had chosen to stay behind. She had sort of understood that he was still fighting a villain who would otherwise choose to come to Chikyuu and kill all of them, but at the same time, she had wished someone else would do it. Why did Goku have to do everything? Why couldn't someone else be the hero for once? And then when the second set of wishes came around and they were wishing the others back - Tenshinhan, Yamcha, and Chaozu - Goku told them that he did NOT want to come back.

 

The humiliation Chi-Chi had felt at that moment was overwhelming. Everyone had stared at her as though she must be some sort of monster her husband didn't even want to come back to, and she had fled in tears, unable to bear the shame any longer.

 

She hadn't left her house much since then. She had been harsher on Gohan, driving him at his schoolwork even harder than before, demanding he become a scholar instead of a warrior. She didn't want Gohan to do to her what Goku had done... although she knew, subconsciously, it was too late. But she was afraid, afraid he would leave her the way Goku had. She already knew Goku didn't want her anymore, or he wouldn't have refused to come back....

 

She heard his voice calling out to her, and her ears perked up momentarily before she sighed, once again beset with loneliness. She knew it was only her imagination; Goku had already refused to return to her. She was never going to see him again. She continued washing dishes, determined to live her life the best she could, when she heard Gohan's voice calling out 'Daddy!'

 

She froze. Could it be? Was he truly back? She heard her son's excited voice and waited expectantly, then almost fainted when she heard her husband's deeper voice reply. He was back? He was really back? But... why did he come back now? Did he still want to be with her, or was he just back for Gohan?

 

She was abruptly afraid to face him, to find out that after all this time, he still didn't want her, he still didn't need her. She stood frozen over the sudsy water, eyes filled with unshed tears, uncertain about what to do.

 

Goku laughed as his son shot out of the woods that surrounded his home and tackled him. "Wow! You've certainly gotten stronger," Goku told him as he ruffled his son's hair. He smiled as he stood Gohan up and studied him carefully. "You've grown a lot, too."

 

Goku barely managed to get to his feet when Gohan embraced him again. "I missed you, Daddy," Gohan said, his voice muffled against Goku's clothes.

 

"I missed you too, son." Goku hugged his son back. "Now, have you been good for your mother while I've been gone? Studying hard?"

 

Goku knew how important studying was to her. It was an obsession of hers he really didn't understand. All he cared about was that his son was happy and healthy, and from the looks of Gohan, he looked very happy indeed. "Do you think Chi-Chi will have anything for me to have for lunch?"

 

Gohan giggled. "No, Daddy. We just ate lunch. Mommy wants me to have a regular schedule, so we don't eat as many meals a day as we did when you lived here. She said she wants me to get used to living with real people, since you were gone."

 

He didn't realize how that might sound to his father, and continued obliviously. "Mommy makes me study all the time," he said sadly. "She won't let me have any friends or ever play with anyone. She says I have to study and not be a warrior like you are." He looked confused. "Daddy? I get all A's. Why does she make me study so much?"

 

"You ate already?" Goku suppressed a pang of disappointment at that, and looked down at his son. "She wants what's best for you, Gohan. But I am going to have to talk to her about making you study all the time." Goku decided that for once in his life, he should stand up to her. His son was a warrior; he needed to train and to be with his friends. With Gohan studying constantly, it wasn't making him very happy.

 

"Thank you, Daddy!" Gohan beamed at his father, hugging him again. Goku noticed that Chi-Chi had once again dressed his son in a Chinese robe, which wasn't very good for running around and being active. He didn't notice that Gohan had apparently discarded the robe for a while today. He had decided to run around with nothing on, and there were wrinkles on it in odd places. But then, Goku wasn't that observant, and would have done the same thing himself.

 

"Are you hungry, Daddy? Mommy put lunch away, but maybe she'll make something for you!" Then he looked at his father seriously. "Mommy cries a lot, Daddy. I think she misses you. Are you going to stay home for a while?"

 

Goku nodded. "Of course I am," he told his son. "After all, Chikyuu is safe again. I have no reason to run off. Except when we are training with Piccolo," he said in a conspiratorial whisper. "Let's go say hi to your mom."

 

Gohan placed his hand in his father's and the two entered the house together. "Hi, Chi-Chi," he greeted her. "You look nice." Granted, she was up to her elbows in soapy dishwater, but she was still pretty. Goku had always thought so, ever since they had first met.

 

"I'm home."

 

 

To be continued.....

~~~*~~~

And in the next exciting episode of DragonBall Z: A Light in the Darkness... Sometimes ya gotta wonder just WHY Chi-Chi married Goku.

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Reviewer responses:

KT: You're right, the Maron scene was anime only; Maron didn't exist in the manga. She was only used in the Garlic Jr. saga and one episode of the Android saga, but the Garlic Jr. saga is purely anime filler, not created by Toriyama, and not in the manga. And she was inserted into the Android saga just for the humor value in that one scene. Still, she IS an amusing character. ^_~ Irritating, but amusing. And the scene in the Android saga with her was pretty darn funny. "Oh! Krillin went to get me a red ribbon!" ^_^

And since you're the only one that reviewed, and I feel like writing something else here, I'll do a little quiz for the readers. ^_^ Let's see who can tell which of these things is canon, and which are purely fanfic creations:

1) Goku and Vegeta like to spar together occasionally.
2) During the three years before the androids arrived, the Z warriors got together a lot for little reunions and parties.
3) Yamcha cheated on Bulma.
4) Bulma is a bad cook.
5) Bulma and Vegeta like to insult each other all the time.

I wonder how many people will HONESTLY get these questions right? ^_^ I'll give the answers next chapter, for those that can't figure them out. ^_~