Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Out From Under ❯ Icecream ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: *Meeps Akira Toriyama*

A/N: Ask and ye shall receive! Here's part two of "Out from Under" albeit really late! It's finals week right now so does that qualify as an excuse? (End of the semester crunch…ugh.) Thanks for all the responses you guys have sent me already! I loved reading every one of them (and I hope to see more! Hint hint). And before anyone says something, I am not very creative when it comes to naming characters…but I guess you'll see.

As I flew towards the nearest house, I wondered how I would explain myself to my prospective employers. I did not think people would believe that I left home with my baby brother because my mother could not accept that we were half alien. I opted for the standard run away story. The famous "my mom's new boyfriend beat me so I ran away" story sounded more believable. I would leave Goten out of the story. Most people would not like the idea of leaving a four-year-old to fend for himself in the wilderness.

I tried the first house I came to. The elderly couple that came to the door was not too surprised to see a kid at their door. It seems that kids from the city regularly ventured out to their house for employment during the summer months. The man just handed me a brush and a can of white paint. He then sent me out to their picket fence.

I worked quickly and was done by noon. I went to tell them that I was finished and the woman gave me a sandwich and a couple of cookies. I ate quickly but put one of the cookies in my pocket for Goten. The man came into the kitchen to find me stuffing my face.

"Ya done a'ready, kid?"

"Yes, sir," I replied as politely as I could.

"Heh. It usually takes someone all day to do that. You probably did a half-assed job of it," the man replied looking at me over his spectacles. He handed me a few bills and some change. "Since you did it in half the time and half-assed, you get half of what I said I'd pay you."
I numbly took the cash. I thanked the woman for lunch as I left. I walked down a country road looking for the next house. I went over and over what had happened to see my mistakes. I decided that people expected things to take a long time to do and the longer it too, the more I'd be paid. At the next house, I would do better. I can say that I really did do better then, too. I took all afternoon to fix a garden lattice and touch up the paint on it. I also got full payment for it and a welcome invitation to return in the morning.

I went back to our camp that night a few dollars richer and a cookie for my baby brother. I immediately got knocked over by the little guy hugging me tight. I chuckled and hugged back. I only let go when I felt something crawling in my hair. Reaching up I removed the critter from my person. It was a tiny lizard.

"Goten, I think this belongs to you," I said giving him the green reptile.

"You found Howie!"

I did not bother to ask. If he wanted to name his little 'friend' that ridiculous name, he could. I just handed him the cookie and went to find some dinner. Over our fish dinner, Goten told me of his day in great detail. He was especially excited to tell me how he saved Howie from a giant bird. After dinner, we sparred until the sun set and the stars came out.

When Goten fell asleep, I counted the money I had earned. It was barely enough to buy a cheeseburger at a fast food restaurant. It was not much but it was a start. Maybe on the weekend (I assumed people did not want to hire me on Sundays) I would take Goten into the city to buy him some ice cream or something.

The next few days were much of the same. We ate; we slept; we sparred; Goten played; and I worked. The money did not pour in but I did not think I was doing too badly considering the work I was doing. And let me tell you, I was getting really good at fixing fences.

Sunday morning came quickly. I made Goten get up and bathe. Then I told him to dress in his good clothes while I still kept our destination secrete. I combed my fingers through his unruly hair trying to tame it as best as I could. When I had myself ready, we took to the air. My little brother never questioned where we were going. He always had this blind trust in me, even after everything, he still does.

When we got to the nearest city, the little guy looked around wide-eyed. I had forgotten that he had never really been around other people that much. Sure, he had met people outside the family before. He had practically lived at the Briefs and there were many people in and out of there. But he had never been around a city full of people that he did not know. For the first time I could remember, the youngest Super Saiyan was frightened.

He grasped my hand tightly and looked up at me with blue eyes. I smiled reassuringly at him. I told him that no one could hurt him, he was a Super Saiyan but if anyone tried, I would protect him. He smiled and said that no would ever even try to hurt me because it would not work. In his eyes, I was his big brother and that made me completely invincible. I did not think of how wrong that would prove to be.

We walked down a street that to me was very busy for a Sunday. I would learn later that the scene before was actually just a fraction of what goes on during the week. Goten's fear was quickly being replaced by curiosity. He was never one to stay down for long. It went from him tightly gripping my hand for security to me doing the same just so I would not lose him.

We rounded a corner and I spotted our destination. I pointed to the sign with a giant banana split on it. He squealed as only a four-year-old could. He practically drug me the rest of the way to the little shop. The other customers chuckled as I tried to control the little bundle of excitement.

I ordered after letting Goten pick out what he wanted. The woman working at the counter had been quite taken with my little brother and put sprinkles on his rainbow colored cone without charging me for them. I paid and thanked the woman and took my chocolate cone. We worked on preventing the frozen treats from melting on to our hands with variable success. By the time he finished, Goten's face, hands, and shirt were covered with ice cream. I laughed at him as I grabbed a napkin to start cleaning him up.

"Here, use this," the woman from behind the counter said as she walked over to us with a washcloth in her hand.

"Thank you, ma'am," I replied taking the damp cloth.

"Please don't call me ma'am, it makes me feel like I'm a grandmother or something," the woman chuckled. "Call me Jeri."

"Pleased to meet you, Jeri," my brother said trying to bow while I was wiping his face. All it ended up doing was smearing more ice cream on his face.

"Gohan, you got my face all dirty!" Goten exclaimed glaring back at me. I could not help but laugh at the little guy. Sometimes my brother is just too cute to be a Saiyan. The woman also laughed at him.

"Now, I think you did a pretty good job yourself getting ice cream on your face," she said. "Does this sweet little boy have a name or am I going to have to call him 'ice cream face'?"

"Gohan told me not to talk to strangers," he replied innocently. Unfortunately, he did not realize that he was talking to one in saying he could not and that he gave her my name.

"So, Gohan? Does he have a name?" Jeri said emphasizing my name so that my brother might catch on that he had said it. The boy, being true to his heritage as the son of Goku, remained clueless.

"This little devil here, I my baby brother, Goten," I said cheekily. The little guy put his hands together and bowed again. This time he had another complaint though.

"Ew! My hands are sticky," he said as he extended them into my face. Jeri laughed as she took the washrag from me and began expertly cleaning the boy. From subsequent visits every Sunday, I learned that Goten reminded the woman of her son who was now away at college. Every week she would tell us another story of how her boy, Ben, would get into some sort of mischief. She would never ask us anything about our own lives - nor did she ask about our parents.

In those following weeks, we settled into a routine. It was not as fun as it originally had been before I started working but it was not too bad either. I would leave in the morning after eating with Goten to work at whichever home or farm I could and then return in the evening to spar with him and eat dinner. I would then read to him by the light of our fire and we would sleep under the stars. Every night, Goten would curl up by my side for comfort. It reminded me, sadly, that even though he was mature enough to stay out of trouble all day while I worked, he was still a four-year-old child who needed someone to protect him from the dark.

Another thing I was beginning to notice about our little situation was that as hard as I tried, Goten was not learning to read very easily. Sure he did not have his mother basically chaining him to a desk until he did advanced trigonometry but I had thought that he should at least be able to read a little. He had learned a little at home but even then he had been slower than I had been. This had also caused a lot of grief to his mother. I probably should not have pushed the issue but the truth be told, I am not a very good teacher for little kids. I could teach him fighting easily but that was probably because as a Saiyan he was predisposed to learn that kind of thing. Reading, writing, and arithmetic was another story. Goten was very much like Dad, brilliant when it comes to fighting but slow when it comes to common sense and intellect. I decided that when he was old enough that he was going to have to go to school. I did not have the time to teach him extensively myself when I was working all day. I think in those first few months of being on our own, I aged at least ten years. Raising Goten myself was a huge responsibility. Living on my own in the wilderness as a child was one thing but living in the wilderness and raising a child was another.