Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Forgiven ❯ Just Things ( Chapter 5 )

Gohan groaned, realizing suddenly he hadn't had a chance to warn his little brother of what was on the disk he'd given him. "Man, if Mom sees that…" He sighed, cradling his head. The words on the paper beneath his nose blurred, and he wiped at his eyes. He still had a huge stack of papers to grade, and he had to get them finished before he went to job number three of the day.

"Gods, today has just been too long," he moaned. "I even had to miss the party… he probably thinks I gave him a lecture for a present."

His head popped up. "Oh, no! I hope I wrapped the right cube!" He groped frantically in his pocket, pulling out the cube in it and feeding it to the machine on his left. To his great relief, he'd wrapped the right one. He returned his attention the pages once more, and continued correcting them.

Four hours later, he stumbled into the small restaurant where he bussed tables most weekends. This job, at least, he could do mostly asleep. He also got a small percentage of the waitresses' tips, which certainly helped at home. On his break, he took the time to check his calendar to see where he was due next, and saw that he had the entire next morning free.

Which meant that when he left the restaurant tonight, he got to go shopping before he went home. He made up the list carefully, then double-checked the figures in his checkbook. He also had to go hunting. "I can do this… I have to."

A four hour shift that morning, then two eight hour ones. Gohan spent over an hour filling shopping carts at the grocers, and another two before he even sighted any game. He took it out easily, butchered it on the spot, and added the meat to one of the empty capsules he carried. He'd been gone from home for over 24 hours when he finally crept in through the door, and put away all the supplies he'd brought with him.

If it wasn't for the fact that he was simply too tired to sleep, he might have gone to bed. Instead, knowing his brother had likely gotten up, he went over and rapped at Goten's window. "Hey little bro," he said wearily when it opened. "I come in?"

"Sure. Gosh, Goten, you look dead on your feet!" Goten guided him to the bed and let him sprawl on it.

"I am. I'd be asleep now if I could be." Even as tired as he was, Gohan realized something was different. He sat up, slowly. "Where's all your stuff?"

A tight, suddenly heavy silence. "Oh, I outgrew it. Threw it all out."

"Threw it out?" Senses sharpened momentarily, taking in exactly what was different. "Even the game I got you a week ago? And the books you wanted so much just last month? The poster of that girl you thought was so hot?"

"Yes." Goten whirled, opening his closet to pull out a school uniform. Gohan blinked at how empty it seemed.

"You… outgrew all your clothes, too?" Gohan tried not to sound disbelieving, but there was no help for that. He didn't believe Goten. A person didn't just outgrow nearly everything they owned overnight.

"I guess."

"Goten… you just had a birthday. Why don't you show me what all you got?"

"Nothing much. Dad got me some shirts with my name on them, and I got that cube from you."

"What about your school friends, and Trunks? Didn't he get you something?"

"He promised me a camping trip."

Gohan waited, but his brother didn't say anything about the other gifts he'd received. "Go…" he started to say, but was interrupted by a massive yawn. His brother had left the room by the time he could see again. Gohan turned his head, burrowing into his brother's pillow, and fell asleep.

Something was shaking him. He roused slowly, seeing his brother again, and made an unintelligible noise.

"You got to go to work, don't you? It's almost noon."

The questions he had meant to ask flew from his mind. Gohan glanced at his watch and sprang from the bed. Within seconds, he'd gotten to his own house, changed clothes, and started off for work. He was half-way there before he realized he hadn't even caught a glimpse of his wife and daughter.

"I'll make it up to them. One day, when we aren't so strapped, I'll make it up to them…" he murmured, and landed on the building of job number one. The next sixteen hours would be a grueling attempt to stay awake and productive.

Goten watched his brother blur out of sight, and sighed. Good thing he was so tired. He might have noticed just how much was gone… an' he noticed too much as was. I better take the cubes to Trunks' or something. I don't dare leave them here. I don't understand what I did so wrong!

His chest tightened, and he fought for breath as he fought against the tears that threatened to spill. "I won't cry. I won't! It was just… things. Things aren't so important." He chanted that a few times, until the tightness finally went away. He turned to find his father staring around his room. "Hi, Daddy."

Goku didn't answer, just took another step into his room and turned a slow circle. "She took it all, didn't she? What did she do with it?"

"Burned it."

"Burned?" Goku settled to the bed, held out his arms. Goten collapsed into them, allowing the tears to fall. When they had begun to taper off, Goku said, "I'm sorry."

"Why? You didn't do it."

"If it wasn't for who I am, you wouldn't have the problem with her."

"No, Daddy… that's not true. She loves Gohan, and he's Saiyan, too."

"Gohan looks nothing like me. You… you do."

"It's not your fault, Daddy. I know it isn't. You weren't even alive when she stopped loving me. I was six. You didn't come back for a whole year after that. I was six."

There was a time of silence then, neither speaking. They merely held each other, the embrace more eloquent than any words possibly could be. Love and compassion, sympathy and regret, a silent commitment to each other. Goten released his father's waist at last and stood up. "Don't worry, Daddy. It was just things. Things are replaceable."

Goku stood, staring down at his young son with obvious pride on his face. One hand touched the boy's shoulder. "I'm so proud of you, Goten. You'll be a fine man, a strong one."

Eyes shining, Goten looked up at him. "Thank you."

"So… want to go fishing?"

"Sure! Oh. Um, can you take me to Trunks' first? I have something I want to leave with him." Goten went to the computer and pulled out the two cubes. "Please?"

"Sure. What's that?" Goku put an arm around him, raising fingers to forehead. He brought them out right next to Trunks, and it was his grip that kept Goten from falling into the pool.

"DAD!" Goten got his energy under control and hovered above the pool. "Hey! Trunks! I wanna leave these here, that okay?"

"Sure, whatever. Wanna swim?"

"No, I'm going fishing with Dad."

"You can join us if you want," Goku said when Goten vanished into Capsule Corp.

"Naw, that's okay."

"Why did you kiss him?" Goku settled on the edge of the pool, eyeing the water longingly.

"Wha…" Trunks' startled exclamation was drowned when he went under. He shot out of the pool a moment later, landing next to Goku. "He told you I kissed him?"

Goku looked down at the teen, an almost militant light in his eyes. "Do you love him?"

Trunks stared up at Goku, suddenly feeling very small. He very nearly summoned his power to him, then realized that would be a foolish move. "I do."

Goku nodded. "Good."

"You don't mind?"

"No. Chi-Chi will."

"She doesn't need to know. Besides, he doesn't love me."

"Ah…"

Trunks had glanced toward the house, but looked up at Goku when he sighed, surprised by the understanding in the tone. "Am I missing something?"

"No, Trunks." Goku turned to watch his son come from the house, a happy grin on his face. "Sure you don't want to come fishing?"

"Naw, I'd rather wait 'til I can take him camping."

Goku shrugged, and Goten grabbed his father's hand. "We better go back and tell Mother. She'll fuss otherwise."

"Later Trunks!" The two vanished, leaving a rather baffled Trunks behind.

"Well…" he murmured at last, "that's one thing I never expected. I thought his dad would have a fit."