A/N: To Nicole, happy birthday girly…I was gonna expand to have it tie into the anime's final Goku/Chichi moments before he leaves (you know, where she shouts at him to promise that Gohan won't fight)…but none of my sources had the episode…bitches.
OPEN YOUR EYES
"Seriously?!"
"Seriously."
"You threw Gohan's tutor out the window?"
"Well, he whipped my son and insulted my husband. I thought tossing him and chasing him off the property was a good idea."
Goku laughed loudly as the image was painted in his head.
The couple was sitting in an open field by the river outside their house. Chichi had a pile of flowers in her lap and was tying the stems together. Goku's chuckles subsided as he leaned back on his hands and sighed. He and Chichi hadn't done this since their son was born. He honestly was surprised when she asked him to take a walk with her. The last time they 'snuck' out was when she was pregnant. He smiled to himself as the breeze kissed his cheeks. The night was beautiful, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and all the stars were light enough for the forest setting. He was happy that he was spending tonight with his wife. It was nice to sit and talk about nothing, to just share stories, or simply find satisfaction in smiling at each other.
"There. Finished."
He looked over and saw his wife tie two ending stems together in a circle before placing the ornament atop her head and smiling widely at him.
"No fair!" He laughed. "I want a crown!"
She smirked. "A flower crown?"
"Oh yeah, you know it!"
Chichi laughed and began to pick more daisies around her as she started work on another headset. Goku flopped back in the grass as he stared up at her. She always looked so girly; cooking, cleaning, fussing with her hair, contemplating what clothes to wear, taking forever when she shopped. Sometimes when he watched her he would wonder how he met her at the Martial Arts Tournament.
"Hey Hon?"
"Mm?"
"Why did you start fighting?"
She paused at tying to stems together to blink at him twice before smiling.
"Oh that's simple. Papa wanted me to learn. To defend myself, you remember how it was back then."
"Well yeah, I guess." He scratched his cheek before folding his hands behind his blonde head. "But why did you continue to practice it? I mean, you could have stopped after all the danger disappeared."
Chichi shrugged as she continued to twist the flowers together. "I guess…I guess I just loved it. I felt things when I fought that I didn't feel with anything else. A certain rush that it gave me. It was like…I was one. I was whole. Back then…before we got married…I was the princess. I was always trying to please everyone. Martial Arts…that was for me. That was something that I did for myself."
Goku watched with a new wonder as her coal colored eyes drifted closed and she smiled so very softly.
"When I fought…the world just became kind of quiet…and it was only me and my opponent. That was all that mattered. I wasn't Princess Chichi, or the Ox King's daughter…I was just Chichi. I was one person. And there weren't a lot of decisions to make, or things to do. There were just two choices. Win. Or loose. And when you won…there wasn't a better feeling."
Her eyes opened and she glanced down at his open stare before blushing and laughing.
"Oh, I must sound so confusing."
"No." His voice was soft. "I understood exactly what you mean."
Chichi nodded once before twisting the two final stems together and nodding.
"Okay. It's done."
The Saiyan sat up and gave his famous grin as she put the crown on his head.
"Yes, a crown for me. Don't tell Vegeta, he'll want one too."
They became silent as the thought of the Saiyan prince with a crown of flowers on his head floated across their mind's eye. Teal eyes met black, and they erupted into a fit of laughter.
When their giggles faded Chichi watched as he smiled at her, so carefree and as if there were no troubles in the world at all. No androids. No battles. No fear. No death.
Her smile faded and she laid her hand over his.
"Goku…do you really believe that you can defeat Cell?"
He grinned, in that care-free everything-is-going-to-be-fine-because-I'm-Goku way. But she noticed that it didn't meet his eyes. Before he opened his mouth to reply she cut him off in her firm, motherly tone.
"Please remember that I am your wife…please don't lie to me."
The shimmer in his eyes fell and his smile became very sad. This was her Goku being incredibly serious, and it broke her heart.
"I don't know, Chichi."
Her fingers tightened over his and her vision became blurred.
"Then why…why haven't you been training this week like you normally would?"
"Because…" He frowned, trying to find the right words for what he wanted to say. Something that was different, but alike in the explanation he gave Krillin. Chichi wouldn't buy, nor did she deserve the 'these are precious times' thought. Even though they were.
"Because I want my best friend to spend a week without fear." He scooted closer to her, taking the crown off his head and putting it next to them with care. "Because I wanted my son to be a kid, and do normal things like play and study."
With his next statement, his eyes met her, and he gave her the biggest and most honest smile she had ever seen him wear.
"Because I wanted to make sure my wife smiled as much as she could in a week's time."
He reached up and his thumb brushed away the tears that had unblinkingly left her eyes. She sucked in a shuddering breath before she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Chichi's fingers clutched desperately into his hair as he slowly turned her to lie beneath him on the grass.
His hands slid down her sides as he held her to him, one arm creeping around her waist as the other moved to tuck her dark hair behind her ear as his lips trailed to breathe so gently in her ear it was almost like he was a ghost.
"I love you…"
I want so much to open your eyes. Cause I need you to look into mine.