After a lingering moment, Goku stepped away from Chi-Chi putting on a brave
smile, "And that's that huh?"
She frowned, "Goku don't say it like that...."
"Like what?" he asked with a slightly more bitter tinge to his voice than he had wanted.
"Like it's all that simple." She placed a hand on his forearm, which she couldn't help but noticed he flinched at.
"I just....Chi-Chi I need time to take this all in." The Saiyajin took a defeated step back, rubbing his face fiercely with his hands. He had never lost at anything so thoroughly. Even when he lost a battle, there was the promise of being able to win after more training and honing of skill. Chi- Chi, however, had left him no promise of a second chance. It was finalized. She loved another man...a man that in his opinion did not deserve it one bit.
Vegeta...
He looked back at the house with a weary glance, he knew the shorter Saiyajin would be rousing at any moment and as much as he'd like to fight him and beat Chi-Chi's love out of him, he knew that it wouldn't work like that.
"Goku..." she reached out to him, but stopped short, not knowing what to say to make this better. She would do anything to make him understand. Kami, she'd do anything to see him smile at her and say it was okay, but she knew it was far from that....it would be a long time before it was okay. Her eyes lowered into sympathetic slits, Goku suddenly looked incredibly tired, as though he were carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.... Which in many ways, he always had been, she had just never taken the time, or had the time, to look at him closely enough.
"It's getting late." He said after an extended pause, still looking intently upon the small cottage, "Gohan'll be up soon. He's become so powerful in the past few months...."
Her son...Gohan, she hadn't forgotten him. Suddenly, Chi-Chi felt very alone, even with her husband standing before her...she was almost tempted to run into his arms and say she had been mistaken and take back everything she had just said.
Goku looked back at her and winced, as though he had just been burnt, "I won't tell Gohan, just yet...you need to talk to..." he paused, shuffling his feet, unable to say the name of the man who had taken his wife away, "Him...and I need to think. I'll come back with Gohan later on tonight for dinner and we can all talk to him and explain."
"You mean it?" She asked absently, a smile filling her still devastated features. She would finally get to see her son, "Has he grown any?"
Goku nodded, avoiding her gaze, "A couple of inches. He reads every night before he goes to bed too, he's very smart. He's missed you alot, he'll be happy to see you..." he paused again, chancing a glance up at her, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep him from you for so long."
She just nodded, looking down as well. She wasn't ready to forgive Goku for that. That too, like many wounds would take time to heal.
"I should be going." Goku finally said after the awkward pause, "It looks as though it might rain."
Chi-Chi's eyes shot up, as he turned to fly off, "Goku, I...."
He looked back at her with sad eyes and the two just stared at each other for a lingering moment before she muttered miserably, "N-nothing." His eyes lowered and he nodded curtly before shooting off into the soft morning sky, becoming nothing more than a spot on the horizon.
With a whimper, Chi-Chi fell to her knees. She felt as though she had just been hit by a train.... repeatedly. She had done....she'd let the man she had been so in love with for most of her life go.
"Hmph, so you got Kakarot to leave as well. I hope you enjoy your life of solitude, Red. I will not be seeing you again." Thunder cracked in the distance, as Vegeta finished.
She looked up to see a very angry Vegeta. She coughed miserably, she was in no mood for the Saiyajin prince's taunting, "What are you talking about?"
"What am I?!" Vegeta growled, stomping towards her, "I saw you trying to reconcile with that imbecile from the window! I will not be played as a fool! You chose him over me, just like the rest of the half-wits so don't act so damn clueless!"
"I...I.." Chi-Chi blinked at him. He thought....how could he think something like that? After everything they had been through. Then as she looked at his defeated yet defiant expression, she realized how truly insecure the prince was underneath his crude exterior. Seeing her holding Goku must have been too much for him, knowing that Goku had always been able to beat him in everything else.
"Just shut up!" he glanced off in the direction Goku had flown off in. He would make Kakarot pay for this....if it was the last thing he did!
She looked up at him and scowled, seeing what it was he was thinking. She stood shakily, practically falling onto him, "You brain dead idiot! You're not going to fight him, you're going to stand here and talk to me." She would MAKE him understand what had happened if she had to. She had let him leave once and had regretted it; she would not make the same mistake again.
"I will not take orders from a two-timing baka onna like you!" the price roared, pulling her off of his back, grabbing both of her wrists. Slowly however his glare, softened slightly when he saw the expression she wore. Why was she so upset over his leaving if she had chosen the other? And why in the galaxies did he care so much, even now?! She was making and even larger mockery of him! Wasn't she? Had he not just seen her and Kakarot embracing one another right under his nose?!
"Vegeta..." she said just above a whisper, "You don't understand. That's not what happened at all."
"I-I..." he stuttered and cursed himself angrily for it, "What do you take me for? I-I saw you two embracing one another like two long-lost lovers. So don't try to deny it!"
"I'm not denying anything. Me and Goku did hug."
Vegeta released her wrists in a fluid movement and went to fly off again as a few drops of rain fell upon his furrowed brow. He would not stay to hear anymore of her stories.
"But...it was a goodbye hug."
The few drops turned into a few more which quickly turned into a violent rain shower. Time stood still as he looked back at her, his eyes widened like a surprised child's. Had she said what he had thought?
"I told Goku we couldn't continue on as we had because..." another loud crack of thunder rang throughout the mountain valley, "I had fallen in love with another."
He turned to face her. She stood only inches away, her arms at her sides, as the raindrops slowly caressed down her shaking form. He never before felt such a need to reach out and touch another. "You have fallen for another..." he said it more for validation than anything else.
She nodded a bittersweet smile washing over her tear and rain stained face.
Without another thought or word, Vegeta had closed the space between them, clasping his arms tightly around her. She was actually his, all his. Any thought of his pride or anything else was momentarily lost as he realized he had won. He had actually won her heart, the one thing he hadn't been trying to win.
As the warm rain cascaded off of their soaked figures, Chi-Chi sighed contently. She had made the correct choice. As much as it had hurt to let Goku go, she knew that in the end, it was for the best for her and Goku, they both grew and in the process had grown apart.
She melted into the arms of her unexpected love, shutting her eyes as her head rested on his chest. She couldn't help but think her prince had finally come. Not on a white steed and definitely not in white shining armor, he was rude, brash, and helplessly flawed but he needed her, not for a millions things but just for one, love. And as he looked down upon her, his eyes holding a warmth that only she could find she knew that they would live happily ever after.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Notes: Right....and this is where I apologize for the longest wait ever and try to explain. For my spring semester at school, I moved in on- campus and took ridiculously hard classes, so I had no real time to finish the story and THEN when I actually did get some time my computer crashed! So I had to wait for summer vacation...and then I just got lazy...so sorry for the wait! But here it is and I hope it was worth the wait. Vegeta was a bit out of character, I realize but I figured, it was a momentary lapse of sanity after-all I put him through in the last chapter. I figure his defenses were down just enough to give Chi-Chi a hug of relief. If you think he was too out of character and have a suggestion on how I could fix it, do tell and I'll try to edit it.
Okay, well that's the end of the story. I hope you all enjoyed and once again THANKYOU!!! For all of your kind and encouraging reviews, you have no idea how many times I was going to call it quits on this story especially in the last few months. But gosh, I got so many sporks from Bucky (or Thunk), Electra, Penchy-chan, Cdkobasiuk and bunch more that I'm not thinking of at the moment that I felt compelled to finish. So thank you, I appreciate it so much. This fic. has helped me grow as an author and allowed to meet a bunch of authors and fans of DBZ.
Eh...I'm getting really corny. Anyhoo...I'm not sure I'll be able to write another fic. any time soon, or at least a chapter fic., maybe some one- shots, but I will be around on-line and reviewing other fic.s so no worries, this isn't the last of me by any stretch of the imagination....it is summer after all! so thanks again! It was quite a journey!
~*Secretsquirl*~
She frowned, "Goku don't say it like that...."
"Like what?" he asked with a slightly more bitter tinge to his voice than he had wanted.
"Like it's all that simple." She placed a hand on his forearm, which she couldn't help but noticed he flinched at.
"I just....Chi-Chi I need time to take this all in." The Saiyajin took a defeated step back, rubbing his face fiercely with his hands. He had never lost at anything so thoroughly. Even when he lost a battle, there was the promise of being able to win after more training and honing of skill. Chi- Chi, however, had left him no promise of a second chance. It was finalized. She loved another man...a man that in his opinion did not deserve it one bit.
Vegeta...
He looked back at the house with a weary glance, he knew the shorter Saiyajin would be rousing at any moment and as much as he'd like to fight him and beat Chi-Chi's love out of him, he knew that it wouldn't work like that.
"Goku..." she reached out to him, but stopped short, not knowing what to say to make this better. She would do anything to make him understand. Kami, she'd do anything to see him smile at her and say it was okay, but she knew it was far from that....it would be a long time before it was okay. Her eyes lowered into sympathetic slits, Goku suddenly looked incredibly tired, as though he were carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.... Which in many ways, he always had been, she had just never taken the time, or had the time, to look at him closely enough.
"It's getting late." He said after an extended pause, still looking intently upon the small cottage, "Gohan'll be up soon. He's become so powerful in the past few months...."
Her son...Gohan, she hadn't forgotten him. Suddenly, Chi-Chi felt very alone, even with her husband standing before her...she was almost tempted to run into his arms and say she had been mistaken and take back everything she had just said.
Goku looked back at her and winced, as though he had just been burnt, "I won't tell Gohan, just yet...you need to talk to..." he paused, shuffling his feet, unable to say the name of the man who had taken his wife away, "Him...and I need to think. I'll come back with Gohan later on tonight for dinner and we can all talk to him and explain."
"You mean it?" She asked absently, a smile filling her still devastated features. She would finally get to see her son, "Has he grown any?"
Goku nodded, avoiding her gaze, "A couple of inches. He reads every night before he goes to bed too, he's very smart. He's missed you alot, he'll be happy to see you..." he paused again, chancing a glance up at her, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep him from you for so long."
She just nodded, looking down as well. She wasn't ready to forgive Goku for that. That too, like many wounds would take time to heal.
"I should be going." Goku finally said after the awkward pause, "It looks as though it might rain."
Chi-Chi's eyes shot up, as he turned to fly off, "Goku, I...."
He looked back at her with sad eyes and the two just stared at each other for a lingering moment before she muttered miserably, "N-nothing." His eyes lowered and he nodded curtly before shooting off into the soft morning sky, becoming nothing more than a spot on the horizon.
With a whimper, Chi-Chi fell to her knees. She felt as though she had just been hit by a train.... repeatedly. She had done....she'd let the man she had been so in love with for most of her life go.
"Hmph, so you got Kakarot to leave as well. I hope you enjoy your life of solitude, Red. I will not be seeing you again." Thunder cracked in the distance, as Vegeta finished.
She looked up to see a very angry Vegeta. She coughed miserably, she was in no mood for the Saiyajin prince's taunting, "What are you talking about?"
"What am I?!" Vegeta growled, stomping towards her, "I saw you trying to reconcile with that imbecile from the window! I will not be played as a fool! You chose him over me, just like the rest of the half-wits so don't act so damn clueless!"
"I...I.." Chi-Chi blinked at him. He thought....how could he think something like that? After everything they had been through. Then as she looked at his defeated yet defiant expression, she realized how truly insecure the prince was underneath his crude exterior. Seeing her holding Goku must have been too much for him, knowing that Goku had always been able to beat him in everything else.
"Just shut up!" he glanced off in the direction Goku had flown off in. He would make Kakarot pay for this....if it was the last thing he did!
She looked up at him and scowled, seeing what it was he was thinking. She stood shakily, practically falling onto him, "You brain dead idiot! You're not going to fight him, you're going to stand here and talk to me." She would MAKE him understand what had happened if she had to. She had let him leave once and had regretted it; she would not make the same mistake again.
"I will not take orders from a two-timing baka onna like you!" the price roared, pulling her off of his back, grabbing both of her wrists. Slowly however his glare, softened slightly when he saw the expression she wore. Why was she so upset over his leaving if she had chosen the other? And why in the galaxies did he care so much, even now?! She was making and even larger mockery of him! Wasn't she? Had he not just seen her and Kakarot embracing one another right under his nose?!
"Vegeta..." she said just above a whisper, "You don't understand. That's not what happened at all."
"I-I..." he stuttered and cursed himself angrily for it, "What do you take me for? I-I saw you two embracing one another like two long-lost lovers. So don't try to deny it!"
"I'm not denying anything. Me and Goku did hug."
Vegeta released her wrists in a fluid movement and went to fly off again as a few drops of rain fell upon his furrowed brow. He would not stay to hear anymore of her stories.
"But...it was a goodbye hug."
The few drops turned into a few more which quickly turned into a violent rain shower. Time stood still as he looked back at her, his eyes widened like a surprised child's. Had she said what he had thought?
"I told Goku we couldn't continue on as we had because..." another loud crack of thunder rang throughout the mountain valley, "I had fallen in love with another."
He turned to face her. She stood only inches away, her arms at her sides, as the raindrops slowly caressed down her shaking form. He never before felt such a need to reach out and touch another. "You have fallen for another..." he said it more for validation than anything else.
She nodded a bittersweet smile washing over her tear and rain stained face.
Without another thought or word, Vegeta had closed the space between them, clasping his arms tightly around her. She was actually his, all his. Any thought of his pride or anything else was momentarily lost as he realized he had won. He had actually won her heart, the one thing he hadn't been trying to win.
As the warm rain cascaded off of their soaked figures, Chi-Chi sighed contently. She had made the correct choice. As much as it had hurt to let Goku go, she knew that in the end, it was for the best for her and Goku, they both grew and in the process had grown apart.
She melted into the arms of her unexpected love, shutting her eyes as her head rested on his chest. She couldn't help but think her prince had finally come. Not on a white steed and definitely not in white shining armor, he was rude, brash, and helplessly flawed but he needed her, not for a millions things but just for one, love. And as he looked down upon her, his eyes holding a warmth that only she could find she knew that they would live happily ever after.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Notes: Right....and this is where I apologize for the longest wait ever and try to explain. For my spring semester at school, I moved in on- campus and took ridiculously hard classes, so I had no real time to finish the story and THEN when I actually did get some time my computer crashed! So I had to wait for summer vacation...and then I just got lazy...so sorry for the wait! But here it is and I hope it was worth the wait. Vegeta was a bit out of character, I realize but I figured, it was a momentary lapse of sanity after-all I put him through in the last chapter. I figure his defenses were down just enough to give Chi-Chi a hug of relief. If you think he was too out of character and have a suggestion on how I could fix it, do tell and I'll try to edit it.
Okay, well that's the end of the story. I hope you all enjoyed and once again THANKYOU!!! For all of your kind and encouraging reviews, you have no idea how many times I was going to call it quits on this story especially in the last few months. But gosh, I got so many sporks from Bucky (or Thunk), Electra, Penchy-chan, Cdkobasiuk and bunch more that I'm not thinking of at the moment that I felt compelled to finish. So thank you, I appreciate it so much. This fic. has helped me grow as an author and allowed to meet a bunch of authors and fans of DBZ.
Eh...I'm getting really corny. Anyhoo...I'm not sure I'll be able to write another fic. any time soon, or at least a chapter fic., maybe some one- shots, but I will be around on-line and reviewing other fic.s so no worries, this isn't the last of me by any stretch of the imagination....it is summer after all! so thanks again! It was quite a journey!
~*Secretsquirl*~