2009 A/N: This fic is going through some major editing, though the plotline is basically the same. If you had read it before, you may want to re-read some parts that were slightly changed in order to improve them, especially this first chapter.

Original 2004 Author's Note was: Hello, everyone! Some of you may already know of me, I'm an often reviewer in the DBZ and DBZ/SM sections. I usually sign as "Jay" or "Jay girl" (when I find it necessary to state my gender). This is my first fanfiction and the first time I post here, and I only ask for some patience since English isn't my first language, so please be tolerant if I made any mistakes. Anyhow, I haven't seen much of GT, so I'm relaying on what I found on the net. If there are any important mistakes within the description of the facts of the original series, I would appreciate if you let me know. Last, I wanna thank Nerf-for-Nothing a.k.a Chaotic-Kinky-Kitty for taking the time to read this and encouraging me to post it.

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is a creation of Naoko Takeuchi and Dragon Ball/Z/GT are Akira Toriyama's or Toei Animation's. I'm not making any profit out of this.

Okay, here's the story. I hope you all like it.

What Lies Ahead

Goku was walking through the Dark Forest feeling depressed and frustrated. His marriage was going downhill. It was frustrating, hearing his wife complain about one of the very things that made him enjoy life the most.

Chichi…why couldn't she understand him anymore?

It was in his nature. He had lacked all the other saiyan characteristics... their evil, their thirst for blood and cruelty, their search for profit no matter what the consequences, their denial of feelings. Why, why couldn't his wife let him have the only one that he had kept? Never good at just sitting and finding pleasure in the easier, safer things of life, Son Goku just wouldn't wait until trouble found him: he would get out and find that trouble before it even reached his house, and solve it. Even if, to the logic eye, that trouble didn't have much to do with him yet.

Even after all this years, he still couldn't resist getting involved. THAT was what Chichi hated.

It wasn't that Chichi didn't enjoy the arts of fighting, far from it: she was a martial artist herself, and that was one of the very things that had brought them together. The deal was that, to her, the joys of fighting lied in doing it in 'safer' circumstances, like the World Martial Arts Tournament, where one's life was never really at stake.

The truth was, Goku thought bitterly, she just had grown tired of worrying, of waiting, of their family life always being second place to the world's (sometimes the universe's) safety. Not that he couldn't understand her. He understood her realization of her aging, and the need to have a more traditional, stable, quiet home to grow old in. She was aging fast and all she wanted in what would, in all probability, be the last years of her life, was peace, let others do the fighting to keep that peace. She just wanted her husband alive and home and her children visiting often to show her their beautiful, if possible educated grandchildren.

The problem was, he wasn't aging. That's what had started to make them grow apart.

He just wasn't ready to throw it all away and settle for old age's tranquility. He could bet Vegeta felt the same way... Bulma didn't seem to have that much trouble with it. And she was becoming even older than Chichi was! May be it had to do with Bulma being involved in that kind of fights since longer: since their very first search for the dragonballs, she had experienced first hand the need for heroes, for people who fought for justice and good and stopped all the evil guys from getting what they wanted.

He also knew what had made Chichi change: it was the fact that he had already been dead for whole seven years, not present for his second son's birth and childhood. He already knew, now, that staying dead that time had been a mistake.

While in Other World, a woman, a queen or something, had told him that he didn't have to be absent to protect his loved ones. She had said that his family and friends would be more hurt by having to miss him all the time rather than by anything any enemy could do to them. She had also made him understand that, no matter what he did to protect them from it, bad things would always happen anyway, because pain and grief were inevitable, they were a part of life, and, the only thing he could really ever be sure to achieve, was to be there and try to help and comfort them when those bad moments happened: something he wouldn't be able to do if he stayed dead.

That had really opened his eyes to the unnecessary suffering he was causing, and he had felt terribly guilty. It was why he had convinced King Yenma to grant him a day among the living, for the Martial Arts Tournament, where he planned to tell his family he was ready to be wished back, that he had finally decided to return to them... Then, there was all the Majin Buu event and he had forgotten everything about it until it no longer mattered because the Great Supreme Kai had already given up his life in order for him to revive. Ten years later, when it was time for him to look for Buu's reincarnation, he had been glad his youngest son had already become old enough to take care of himself. He wouldn't have left to train Uub if he hadn't known Goten no longer needed him as much as he had had when he was little.

Goku made an effort to remember. That woman, that queen, she had really enlightened him. If it hadn't been for her, he would probably still be dead, and Buu would have killed everyone. She seemed so wise and gentle and, plus, she was very beautiful: she must have made the perfect ruler... What had been her name, then? She had told him. Was it Queen... Seliny..?

Or was it Queen Sarety..? Selinty?

Selene; Queen Serene, may be?

Damn, he couldn't remember. What a pity, if he did remember he would be able to find her if he ever died again, and may be she would help him out once more, may be. He could certainly use that kind of help right now.

Which brought him back to the matter at hand.

No problem with their grandkids going to school, but there had to be someone left to still focus on getting strong enough to keep the planet protected. Uub had been the perfect candidate: had already shown some skill and will to learn and get better, he lived in a village where everyone lived off the land so he didn't need to go to school and wouldn't be distracted by studies or other things. Goku had only wanted to ensure someone would take his place when he was no longer there, or no longer young. Or in case someone else killed him and for the first time he wasn'table to come back to fight.

He had spent three years training Uub, Evil Buu's reincarnation, to become a good defender. Today, the day of his birthday actually, Goku had decided to make a little visit home. When he had arrived, he had found Gohan, Videl and Panny had moved to Satan City and Goten had already moved out as well... and that Chichi didn't want to see him for at least another three years. She was that angry...

Well, he thought bitterly, may be if he made it six instead she would calm better and be more willing to make up with him.

Goku was still walking and trying to ease his frustration, thinking of the little miseries in his life , when a terrible idea occured to him. The thought was so distressing that it caused a physical pain in his heart to be brought forth. No matter how difficult at times, he couldn't imagine his life without Chichi in it. Even when she was angry at him, she was the one home he could always return to. The thought of Chichi dying was like imagining losing Grandpa Gohan all over again, and he being left all alone in the world once more. Not even his children, or grandchildren would be enough to make up for that loss: he was their anchor, but Chichi was his.

If he was aging so much slower than Chichi, what ever would he do with himself when she was finally gone?

His mind just couldn't get around it.

Given they weren't exactly on speaking terms, though, at the moment that wouldn't make much of a difference. So he just kept walking some more, indulging in his own little miseries.

Suddenly, his musings were cut short when a bright intense light in front of him blinded him. He lifted a hand to cover his eyes, and when he withdrew it, he gasped at what he saw.

There, in front of him, smiling, was a teenage girl with straight black hair and silver highlights, silver sky blue eyes, very fair skin, and a strange shape of a crescent moon marking her forehead. That sign was familiar, he though. Where had he seen it? However, what really attracted his attention was what he saw lingering behind her: a tail! A silvery white tail!

He blinked.

"Are you an alien?" he asked.

The girl smiled. "I'm a saiyajin like yourself, but only half," she whispered.

"Half saiyan? How come? Who are you? Where do you come from?" Where there really more saiyajins out there in space? That could mean trouble. They would surerly be looking for Vegeta, their prince, and that was no good if he recalled last time, with Paragus and Brolly.

"My name's Hikari, father," said the girl, "and I come from the future..."

Now Goku was astonished.

Another time-traveller?

Now?

"Fa...father?! You come from the future!?" he repeated. He remembered a very similar conversation with Mirai Trunks. The memory was a good one. "I'll be having more children?" The thought made him grin. "That's cool! I always wanted a baby girl!"

The girl, Hikari, just laughed at her father's antics. Goku approached her a bit more, feeling ecstatic.

"Are you really my daughter? Why are you here? When will you be born? Wait! Aren't you supposed to not tell me at all so that you can be born?"

'Hikari' seemed confused. "Please, dad, one question at a time!" she giggled.

Goku calmed a bit. "Ok. How old are you?"

"I'm fifteen... Actually, I'm going be sixteen the day after tomorrow," she answered.

"Wow. Really? When will you be born, er, Hikari?"

She grinned sheepishly. "Um. A hundred and twenty years from now, exactly"

At this, Goku was puzzled. "Really? How come?" Why would a time-traveller from so far ahead in the future want to be here and come to him?

The half saiyan girl seemed a little reluctant. "Well, Dad. You already told me in the future it would be a bit hard for the 'you' in the past to understand this... It's difficult to explain, but, you're immortal now- er, I mean, in my time"

The tall saiyan blinked. "Immortal? You mean, live for ever? Like Vegeta used to want?"

Hikari nodded. "Yes. A lot of things happened. And the result was that you became immortal"

Goku looked at her intensely. "Is that why you're here? Something will happen in the future?"

The girl who claimed to be his future child tried to make him relax. "Don't worry... There are going be new enemies, but you'll defeat them. I only came here because you always talk about my two half brothers, Gohan and Goten, and, since they're already long dead in my time, I wanted to meet them"

Goku had started wondering what 'half brothers' meant, when other thing caught his attention.

"Long dead? Were they killed?!"

Hikari smiled to herself. Her father was always trying to ensure the safety of his family. That was the reason him and her mother argued sometimes: he would try to do everything in his power so that she didn't have to fight and expose herself to danger. True, he couldn't really do much about it: it was her mother's mission to protect the universe.

"No daddy, they weren't killed. They all died of age. They hadn't become immortal like you had"

The great warrior of Chikyuu was saddened.

"But... why? All of them? Please, Hikari, tell me what happened"

The teen took a big breath. "It's going be long," she warned.

"Please do". His heart tightened when he remembered the previous fight with his spouse. "I have time".

"Ok" she started, "It's like this... Six years from now, you'll return home after having spent ten years training Uub. When you do, you'll get a call from Bulma warning that this foe from your childhood, Emperor Pilaf, is gathering the dragonballs to wish for world's dominance. It's alright: You'll stop him. The problem is, he will manage to wish you a little kid by accident, saying he liked it better when you were younger since you were easier to beat back then'. Then, someone will tell you about this set of evil tainted dragonballs, called the Black Star Dragon balls, that are spread all around the universe, and that if a wish isn't made within a year, the Earth will explode. So you decide to leave this planet in order to reunite them and wish yourself an adult again, and Trunks and Pan will go with you, Pan by accident because she sneaked into the ship: Goten was the one who was supposed to go, and not her..."

The full blooded saiyan was amazed. "I guess there is more of me in her than I thought. But, will we be able to reunite these Black Star dragonballs in the end?"

"Yes, you will. But then you'll find out this evil guy, who claims to be the last sufurujin, from that other race on Planet Vegeta that the saiyajins slaughtered. Well, he will come to Earth seeking revenge on the last saiyans, which is you, Vegeta, and the descendants of you two. You will defeat him also. When you try to use the dragonballs to repair the damage, that will free seven evil dragons that aren't Shenlong. You will all have to fight them also, and you will beat them, but then Shenlong will finally reveal himself and tell you that the evil dragons appeared because, every ten thousand years, the dragon realm claims the soul of a pure hearted mortal in exchange for all the wishes made withall the sets of dragonballs; and you had to meet their demand in order for the planet to be safe again"

When saying this, Hikari's eyes saddened and she lowered her gaze to the ground. Goku could sense something was very wrong here.

"Who did it?" he asked, "Did someone leave with the dragons? Who was it?"

Hikari's stare lifted towards his face sadly, her eyes a bit teary. Her father was so naive... "You did. You left with the dragons, Dad. You did it to save everyone... In order to do that, you gave yourself to the dragon realm and were forced to stay there for eternity, becoming immortal..."

Goku started trembling, he almost lost his foot and fell.

"M...mee??!" he stuttered "I left for the dragon realm for ETERNITY????!"

She nodded sadly. "You had no other choice. This time, there wasn't really any other chance: the dragons' magic would have destroyed Earth for good, and there wasn't anything anyone else could have done to stop it"

Goku frowned, then he started becoming upset. "I, I didn't know Shenlong was evil! How come we never knew? Why didn't Kami, Piccolo, any of the namekians say something?!"

"They didn't know. None of them had lived long enough to ever hear about it: it only happens every ten thousand years. That was why the Great Supreme Kai from fifteen generations before had said mortals were never meant to count on that kind of power, but the old kai had been sealed in the Z sword for so long he had lost track of time and he didn't know the dragons would be claiming their pure soul so soon... He would have warned you all if he had realized it would happen during your lifetime. And it isn't Shenlong's fault either: it was a deal all the eternal dragons made with the first namekians millenia ago... When Kami first created his dragonballs, Shenlong knew he would have no other choice but to abide to that rule too... You often said it was the fault of mortals: we had let ourselves forget our part of the bargaine"

Goku let himself sit on the ground, face lowered. He was a bit shocked, to say the least. It had never crossed his mind, or anyone else's for that matter, that the dragonballs' wishes would come with a price. Let alone such a large one.

"Was anyone killed, anyone else taken with me?"

Hikari shook her head. "No. You don't worry about it. They only wanted one good hearted person. Everyone else was allowed to stay here on Earth safely. That is why you were never able to see any of them again, except little Pan, but only when she was already very old, and just for a little while. You also got to meet her grandson, Goku Jr." Hikari smiled a bit "You said he looked just like you when you were little, the same way Goten did. And he was strong too, even if he was only 1/16 a saiyajin he could still turn Super."

Goku smiled weakly. "At least Pan will take care of continuing my legacy, I hope"

The girl nodded again. "She will" she paused "In the future, you miss them all terribly... You tell me things about them all the time... That's what made me want to come here and meet them"

Goku lifted his eyes to her, grinning. "Are there still time machines like Bulma's around in the future you come from?"

She shook her head once more, "No. I came through the Gates of Time in Pluto"

Goku blinked. What was that? Then he frowned and his eyes widened when something occured to him: "You said I only got to see Pan again. That means my wife, Chichi, died too..." He looked straight at Hikari. "That, that means you aren't her daughter, doesn't it?" he asked with a small voice.

The girl nodded yet again. This time, though, she did it very slowly, never taking her eyes of Goku's. He was taken aback.

"Who... who's your mother then? Another poor soul caged in the dragons' realm?"

She smiled softly. "No. She's the very one who freed you from that prison. She has this sacred jewel made of silver that only she can use, it's full of power. With it, she was able to deliver enough pure energy to the dragons to convince them to let you go"

It was only after a few minutes that he finally spoke.

"She must be very powerful, then." Goku didn't know what else to say. He didn't know what to think.

"She is. She is also a fighter like you. She just uses other weapons: magic, light and feelings. Sometimes, her faith in someone is enough to make them turn to the path of good, just like you did with Piccolo, and like you say that Bulma did with Vegeta and Mr. Satan did with Fat Buu... But, when the decision is needed, she has also the strength to fight and stop all those who aren't willing to leave their evil ways. She does so because she's a legendary warrior predestined since the beginning of time, whose mission is to protect the whole universe, just like you've been doing. The gods gave her immortality to her too, so that she could do it for eternity"

The tall saiyan was mystified. The girl kept talking excitedly and telling him new things, but he was only half listening. He couldn't help but be still hung on the fact that someday, everyone he knew would die; that he would be forming another family altogether. That was too much to grasp in one night. With Mirai Trunks, it had been somewhat different. It was one thing to learn a bit about the next few decades of your future...

He was a bit confused.

"I suppose I help too, don't I? I don't let her do all that alone, do I?"

"No. You two usually fight together... even though you would like it better if she stayed apart with me... You always leave me in Kami's Lookout when you two leave to fight some threat." The teenager seemed a little annoyed by this. It was only natural for her to want to participate: she was half saiyan after all.

Goku smiled softly, though; that made him feel a bit relieved. He may not know this girl yet, but she was supposed to be his kid and, same as Vegeta's daughter, she did not really look like a fighter. If that was the case, he wouldn't have wanted her to truly share that burden.

"By the way, people call you two the Legendary Saiyan and the Queen of the Stars, Cosmos," Hikari added after a while.

The saiyan blinked again. "Cosmos, is that your mother's name?"

The teen laughed. "No, daddy! I already told you that's what they call her. Her real name is Serenity"

Goku tasted the name, "Serenity... What a beautiful name." He frowned deep in thought. Where had he heard it before? Heck, he really suffered memory failure nowadays. Goku wanted to sigh, but smiled for the girl's sake instead; sending his worries to the far end of his mind. "So, you're staying for a week?"

This was a lot to take in.

Hikari seemed a bit disappointed. "Yes. That's because Mom's using her crystal to erase all of your memories as soon as I leave... The shorter I stay, the lesser people's memories she'll have to erase. She doesn't want to attract any undesired attention." She continued as soon as she saw her father's face, "Dad, there's no other way... If we let, even just you, to keep the memory of this, we would risk never coming to be... You wouldn't want that, would you?" she tried to fight through her choking throat. For a few moments, Goku just stared at her.

So this is what he had learned: some time in the future, his wife would die and he would be trapped somewhere else. Part of Goku knew he should be upset about this news, yet another part, the more experienced, wiser one, had learnt years ago there was only so much control one could exert over one's own fate. Right now, discovering the truth about the dragonballs had only helped to confirm that lesson. Besides, if what she'd been telling was right, all these events that she had described wouldn't be happening just yet, at least for a couple of years... Looking at the girl in front of him, staring at him with anxious, hopeful eyes, he couldn't bear the thought of leaving her broken-hearted with his rejection.

He wondered if this was life's ironic way of answering his earlier concerns and questions. If it really was, Goku would do then what he did best when faced with life's unfathomable mysteries: he shrugged.

There were times in one's life such as this one, when all you had left was to take a leap of faith. Towards destiny.

He smiled to himself, a truer smile this time. He was a man of faith; so he would have faith in the future.

He would have faith in Life's ways... even if he didn't currently understand much about them.

Turning back, he grinned to the girl in reassurance. "No, you're right. I don't want that: I like you already. I would love having a daughter like you. And I can bet that, if you're this such a good girl, then you're mother must be great too. I can't wait to meet her"

The girl grinned mischievously. "You are saying that already," she giggled. Her relief and happiness were contagious. Goku smiled again. Looking at her right then, he knew he had made the right decision.

Then the future father looked at his would-be daughter anxiously. "Tell me what she looks like? You haven't told me that yet... Is she pretty? With a daughter like you, she must be," he whispered slyly.

Hikari frowned, then giggled again "I can't tell you that much!" she teased.

Goku pouted. "What! Aw, no fair! I'm your father, young lady, I demand you tell me what your future mother looks like!" He was having fun. It seemed to him he would enjoy parenting this girl.

His daughter laughed. "No need to start ordering me around already, Dad! I haven't even been born yet! You'll only be my father in a hundred years, then, you need not act like it now. Besides, you'll be meeting mom by the end of the week: she's picking me up"

At this, Goku's eyes widened and brightened " I get to meet her! That's great! I can't wait for you to leave, then!" He laughed at his daughter's pouting face " Hehe, just kidding, sweetheart," he reached for her and hugged her tightly, ruffling her hair.

Hikari grinned against his shoulder. 'He's already calling me sweetheart. That's what he calls me back home,' she thought.

Goku began to take off, he lent a hand towards her. "Come, Gohan's house is in that direction. You'll also get to meet his wife Videl, your sister-in-law, and Panny, your niece. We can also phone Goten and tell him to come over"

Hikari was ecstatic. "I would really like that," she whispered. She took his hand, and they both took off for Satan City.

All the way, though, a fading figure was watching from above, lavender eyes showing knowledge and satisfaction at their little moment of joy...

"Its' amazing how this brief encounter managed to lift your spirits, Goku, child," 'It' sighed, "You'll be able to protect my princess more than even her senshi, Endymion or I ever did, and you'll ease her solitude and her pain at having lost everything and everyone. Perhaps, the two of you together'll be able to permanently seal Chaos' evil..." After a pause, the ghostly form continued, "Goku, please take care of my daughter and new grandchild. Thanks to you, I'll finally be able to rest in peace"

With those parting words, the spirit of Queen Serenity faded from view entirely, under the form of the full moon shinning brightly all above the peaceful Black Forest.

THE END...to the first chapter

2nd A/N: Before you REVIEW, make sure you read this. I already posted this fic in another site, but it was written differently and the character's name wasn't Hikari but Shyanna. I made quite a few changes when I decided to post here, but basically it's the same story by the same author.

You also need to know that:

A) I've started another fic, "Paths Crossing", that describes the moment Goku meets Cosmos/Serenity, when she frees him from the dragon's hold. If it goes well enough, I might extend it later up to Hikari's birth.

B) 2009 A/N: This story is going through major editing without notice... some scenes may have changed slightly from what you remembered, but all in all I tried to keep the background idea behind each one of them. You'll find the changes aren't terribly drastic.

I would like to hear suggestions on what could happen during that week, according to the readers. You can send all your ideas. Thank You!

And now, please R&R!

Jay.