" Till Time Do Us Part ? "

Written By: :Chi Chi

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story (apart from Yama) belong to me, I was just bored on the holidays and borrowed them to write this story.

Rating: R

Warnings: Violence, angst, lime, OC, sap

Title: Till Time Do Us Part?

Author: Jess (aka Chi Chi)

Notes: Goku feels guilty about always leaving Chi Chi alone, so decides to do something about it, but there’s a terrible price he has to pay.

 

Till Time Do Us Part

Part 4

Goku gave a yell of surprise and jumped back slightly, then covered his mouth, quickly turning back to the house to check if he had woken Chi Chi up.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she was still asleep, then, hastily scrubbed at his face in an effort to remove the remainder of the tears. He then turned back to Krillin, who was still slightly out of breath from making himself fly faster than he ever had before. Krillin had felt compelled to catch up with Goku, that it was critical to try to find out what had his best friend so, well, distraught.

Goku worried that Krillin had heard what he had whispered before turning around, and, for the second time that day, his jumbled emotions lit a small spark of anger that was quickly fanned to a bonfire by his grief.

‘How long have you been you been standing there?’ he hissed angrily, ignoring Krillin’s stammered apology.

‘I-I-I'm sorry, Goku, b-but I was really worried a-about you,’ Krillin replied, taken aback by the anger that was blazing in Goku's eyes.

He wondered how he could have surprised Goku. Goku had always picked up on Krillin’s ki, and vice-versa, even when there was a very large distance separating the two of them (which had made playing hide-and-go-seek when they were younger unbelievably monotonous), so how could Goku have failed to pick up on it at this range?
Goku’s hands involuntarily balled into fists, and he powered up to Super Saiyan without even realising he was doing so.

‘I asked you a question. How long have you been standing there?’ he repeated.

Krillin shrank back from the enraged Super Saiyan.

‘I just got here. I'm nowhere near as fast as you; you know that.’

Desperate for anything to change the subject, he looked around him, then past Goku at Chi Chi, who was still slumbering peacefully.

‘She’s really pretty. Do you know her from somewhere?’ he asked Goku, indicating Chi Chi.

The question caught Goku off-guard.

‘Yes, of course I…No! No, I…I don’t know her at all…’

He gave up, and lapsed into silence.

He suddenly realised that he was in Super Saiyan form, and quickly turned back into his Saiyan form. As he did so, he felt the anger escape him and he once again felt deflated. Emptied of everything inside him that mattered.
As his hair and eyes turned black again, he desperately tried to think of an excuse for why he had been sitting there bawling his eyes out, knowing that Krillin would ask why he was there. He was also acutely aware of the fact he had never been any good at lying, nor thinking of excuses, although, now that he thought about it, he had never really had a reason to before.

Krillin scratched his head.

‘Well, um, why did you come here then?’ he asked.

‘I…I was just passing by, and I saw her, and…’

Once again, he gave up, and stood there silently, knowing he hadn't fooled anyone, but not wanting to say anything that could give Krillin an idea of who Chi Chi was to him, or how he knew her.

Krillin was starting to get upset.

‘Goku, what’s going on? What’s happening to you? You're changing; you're turning into someone else. And I don’t think I like the new Goku.’

Goku turned away. When he next spoke, he was so quiet that Krillin almost didn’t hear him.

‘Just leave me alone, Krillin. I'm sorry if I've upset you, but I just need to be by myself for a while.’

Krillin had had enough.

‘Oh no, I'm not upset,’ Krillin said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘Why would I be upset? My best friend’s suddenly turned all weird and doesn’t even trust me anymore. What makes you think you’ve upset me?’

He regretted his words the instant he saw Goku’s shoulders slump even further.

Shit, if his shoulders go any lower they’ll snap right off, he thought.

‘I'm sorry Krillin,’ came the almost inaudible reply, as Goku started to fly off.

‘Wait! Goku, I'm sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Goku, wait! Just hear me out, ok?’

Goku sighed as he stopped and slowly turned back to Krillin, waiting.

‘I didn’t mean that Goku. You know I didn’t. Goku, I…I just want you to know that I'm always here for you, ok?
You know you can talk to me whenever you want to.’

Goku sighed.

‘Yeah, ok Krillin. Thanks. But Krillin, I can’t tell you what this is about. I'm sorry. I...I just cant.’

Krillin lowered his eyes.

‘I would’ve thought that you could trust me. How many years have we been friends now?’

‘No, Krillin, it’s not that. You know I trust you. I…I just can’t tell anyone, ok?’

Krillin felt a spark of anger. He might act like things didn’t upset him, but that didn’t mean that they didn’t. He was tired of people acting like he was stupid, like he couldn’t quite understand everything that went on.

‘Why not, Goku? Why not? What's the worst that can happen? You know I’ve kept all your secrets, that I've never told anyone a thing you’ve asked me not to. So why wont you trust me this time?’

He suddenly remembered how temperamental Goku had become, and cringed, waiting for the tirade of anger. When none came, he looked up, and was shocked to see how old and weary Goku looked. He felt the anger die as suddenly as it had begun.

‘Goku?’ he ventured.

He waited for an answer from Goku, but none came. He sighed, and turned to leave.

‘Krillin, wait.’

Krillin almost ignored Goku, but then the pain and anguish in Goku’s voice registered in his confused mind.
He turned back to Goku. He was still angry, but he knew he couldn’t ignore his friend when he needed him the most.
Goku drew in a shuddering breath.

‘Krillin, I…I'm sorry, ok? I really want to tell you what’s going on, I desperately need to talk to someone. I gotta get this off my chest, but…but I can't. I…I can't tell anyone, it’s not just you. I'm really sorry Krillin.’
He opened his mouth to say something, changed his mind and closed it, then opened it again.
‘Krillin, I might not be back for a while, ok? I really need to be on my own, or I know I'm going to end up blurting this out to everybody. You do understand, don’t you Krillin?’ he asked, his eyes searching Krillin’s, inwardly praying that Krillin would understand, but doubting that he would.

‘No, I don’t, Goku, but I guess what you decide to do is up to you, and I'll go along with that. I just hope you can change your mind about telling me. You never know, I might end up being able to help.’

‘I…I really hope that ends up happening, Krillin.’ Goku said sincerely. ‘I'd better get going. Thanks, Krillin,’ he added.

‘Uh, thanks for what?’ Krillin asked.

‘For respecting my decision. I really appreciate that,’ Goku replied, with one last longing-filled glance at Chi Chi, who was beginning to stir.

Krillin noticed the look Goku sent to the sleeping black-haired woman, and, for about the tenth time in the two or three minutes since he had caught up to Goku, wondered what the hell was going on here.

Goku broke into Krillin’s silent pondering.

‘Krillin, uh, could you please leave now?’ he asked. ‘Only I don’t want Chi…uh, I mean, I think it’d be a good idea if the…the woman in there didn’t see either of us. She, uh, she might, um, I don’t know, um, panic or something.’

‘Um, ok, Goku,’ Krillin replied, trying to work out why it was so important that she didn’t see them. Heaps of people had seen the all of the Z warriors flying together, and Goku hadn't thought anything of it, not once.
In all the tournaments they had entered, each of them had flown all over the place when they had been up against each other. Thousands and thousands of people had seen them there, both the crowds in the stadium and the viewers in their homes, watching the tournaments on their TVs.

‘Well, then, I guess you’ll be back in a coupla days at the most, right?’ he asked Goku, still a little puzzled, but not really wanting to show it.

‘Yeah, ok. Bye Krillin.’

Goku turned and flew off.

Krillin looked at Chi Chi once more, shaking his head to try and clear the confusion.
As he flew off, he wondered who this woman was, and how she fitted into what was happening to Goku. He decided to find out.
***
Ox King looked up as Chi Chi entered the room.

She was refreshed from her nap, but couldn’t shake the feeling that she had missed something very important while she was sleeping.

‘Hey Chi Chi. Did you have a good sleep?’ her father asked, with a mischievous glint in his eye.

‘Yes thanks dad,’ she replied warily. She knew (from experience) that something unpleasant, and usually quite humiliating, followed whenever her father got that look in his eyes. She didn’t have long to wait to find out what it was about this time.

‘Uh, by the way, someone called for you while you were asleep,’ he added casually- too casually.

Oh, no, Chi Chi groaned silently. She had a pretty good idea what this was about. She felt a blush start to creep up her neck. She quickly turned away from her father and started tidying up the bookshelves.

‘Yeah, and?’ she prompted, trying as hard as she could to sound uninterested.

Her father continued in that too-casual voice.

‘Oh, he wanted to know if you wanted to go to the movies with him.’

Chi Chi’s head snapped around.

‘What?!’

‘Yeah, he sounded kind of familiar too. I don’t know where I might have heard that voice before. Oh, that’s right, it was right before he blew a kiss…’

‘DADDY!’

*Pause*

‘So, are you going to go?’ her father asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Chi Chi replied irritably, trying to calm her racing heart.

Ox King looked sideways at his daughter. She gave in first.

‘Oh, all right. Did he, uh, leave his number or something?’

Her father smirked at her.

‘And stop looking at me like that!’ she added.

‘In answer to your question, no, he didn’t leave his number, but next time he calls I'll let him know how you swooned away in a dead faint the moment I mentioned his name.’

The Ox King then ducked out of the room just in time. Chi Chi seized a thick heavy book off the bookshelf she had been pretending to tidy. It hit the wall exactly where her father had been standing a few scant seconds after he ducked out of the room. At almost the same time the book fell to the ground, so too did Chi Chi.

Chapter 5

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